TAFTA Raised The Bar again as 8,000 students graduated from its creative academy, showing the power of arts to transform lives across Nigeria
April was a good month for the Terra Kulture family when one of the clusters in the group, the Terra Academy for the Arts (TAFTA) celebrated the artistic achievements of its latest graduating class at a ceremony held on Friday, April 11.
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This year’s edition saw TAFTA graduate 8,000 students, marking the academy’s third cohort graduation.
The event, themed “Celebrating Creative Transformation,” showcased the graduates’ talents in various creative disciplines such as film, theater, design, music, and tech-enabled storytelling.
The founder and artistic director of TAFTA, Mrs. Bolanle Austen-Peters, said the graduation was a celebration of creativity and perseverance, and also the transformative power of the arts.
She said over 30,000 people had graduated from the institution since its inception, with the support of the Mastercard Foundation, which provides access to free education and creative training.
“Anybody else that you can think of that has put on a play, a movie, or any form of creativity starts with one thought.
All of you are blank pages, but it is what you put in that page that makes you a great person later on in your life.
“So, it’s a blank page, and so does every great life.
“All of you are blank pages, but it is what you put in that page that makes you a great person later on in your life.
“Every single person here and the 30,000-plus people that have graduated from the Terra Academy are all privileged because of the opportunity the MasterCard Foundation provides. We celebrate each of you because of your vision to apply, the resilience that you had to finish, and the creativity that you all put together.”
Acknowledging the resilience, creativity, and growth of the graduands, Rosy Fynn, Country Director of Mastercard Foundation, said the graduands were not just acquiring skills but also becoming confident change-makers in Nigeria’s booming creative economy.
“The creative and cultural industries are projected to contribute $15 billion to Nigerian GDP by 2025.
“And it’s been reported that the sector has the potential to create 2.7 million jobs in 2025,” she said.
Also, veteran actor Bimbo Manuel also urged them to prioritize competence and integrity as they enter the industry.
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“Be so good they think of you first. Let your performance speak before your certificate. Have integrity; let people trust your word.”
