LIMCAF and the long game of investing in young artists

More than N60 million will be at stake when 100 artists converge on Enugu for the grand finale of the 19th edition of Life in My City Art Festival (LIMCAF). This year’s edition, themed “Open Letter”, concludes in the final week of October at the International Conference Centre of the Institute of Management and Technology, Enugu.

Six art professionals have been appointed to the 2026 National Jury Panel. They include: Chike Obeagu as chairman, Adiwu Talatu Onkala, Ugochukwu-Smooth C. Nzewi, Bella Anne C. Ndubuisi, Dotun Popoola and Frank Omoh Agbiyoa Ugiomoh, while Jerry Buhari, a professor, will curate the exhibition.

Their task is to sift through the works that have survived the selection process in LIMCAF’s regional centres. The 100 artists who emerged from the different parts of the country now face the final selection.

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Chike Obeagu, who chairs the panel, is a contemporary artist, scholar, curator and an associate professor at the Federal University of Lafia. He has curated LIMCAF three times.

Adiwu Talatu Onkala, an artist and associate professor of Painting at the University of Maiduguri, has engaged with gender, identity and the social realities of contemporary Nigeria, particularly the experiences of women in the Northeast.

Ugochukwu-Smooth C. Nzewi, an artist and art historian, is the Steven and Lisa Tananbaum Curator at New York’s Museum of Modern Art. He previously held curatorial positions at the Cleveland Museum of Art and Dartmouth’s Hood Museum.

Bella Anne C. Ndubuisi, a cultural affairs specialist, has worked in culture, community development and international development. She has also been involved with LIMCAF in Taraba.

Dotun Popoola is a contemporary sculptor known for making works from discarded scrap metal.

Frank Omoh Agbiyoa Ugiomoh, an artist, art historian, critic and educator, has more than four decades of experience. African art history and historiography are central to his scholarship.

Buhari, the exhibition’s curator, has been a professor of Fine Art at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, since 1982. His career has included studio practice, teaching and curating exhibitions in Nigeria and abroad.

The prize money is only part of what the festival has built up since Robert Orji, founder of Rocana Nigeria Limited, started the competition for young artists in 2007. Over the years, LIMCAF has spread its selection process across different parts of the country, while some of its past winners have gone on to establish themselves on the Nigerian visual arts scene.

At the top of the pile is the Elder Kalu Young Artist of the Year Prize, formerly the festival’s overall winner’s prize. It was rechristened last year and is now worth the naira equivalent of $2,000. The prize is sponsored by the family of the late Elder Kalu Uke Kalu, a former LIMCAF chairman and visual arts aficionado.

The category prizes cover photography, painting, sculpture, drawing, ceramics and digital art, ranging from ₦500,000 to ₦1 million. The Chinelo Chime Prize for Best in Photography carries ₦1 million, while the prizes for painting, sculpture, drawing and ceramics are worth ₦500,000 each.

There are also prizes with more specific briefs. The Armstrong Agoreyo Prize is for the best artwork made from waste paper, while the Kanyeyachukwu Tagbo Prize recognises an outstanding work by an artist living with a disability.

Individuals, families and organisations have established other prizes. They include the Justice Anthony Aniagolu Prize for Originality and the Dr Pius Okigbo Prize for Technical Proficiency. Regional prizes include the Mfon Usoro Prize for Best Entry from the Uyo Centre and the VinMartins Ilo Prize for Best Entry from Enugu.

The festival’s rewards do not stop at the prize money. One of them is a two-week, all-expenses-paid trip to Dakar, Senegal, for the Dakar Art Biennale, or Dak’Art. There are also residencies and boot camps.

There are special prize categories for female artists, while LIMCAF’s workshops take its activities to primary and secondary school children, with particular attention to those living with disabilities. Abuja and Enugu have hosted some of these workshops in recent years.

Behind the prizes and programmes is a list of supporters that has grown over the years. They include the Alliance Française network in Nigeria, the Institut Français and the French Embassy, as well as Clam Lab, Paris; Rocana Nigeria Limited; the Pan African Circle of Artists; Honeywell Group; FBN Holdings; the Enugu State Council for Art and Culture; the Centre for Contemporary Art, Lagos; and Thought Pyramid Art Centre, Abuja.

The prizes themselves have attracted endowments and special donations from the Justice Anthony Aniagolu family, Vin Martin Ilo, Thought Pyramid Art Centre, Mfon Usoro, the Pius Okigbo family, Art Is Everywhere, the Centre for Contemporary Art, Professor El Anatsui and Engr. Gesi Asamaowei, among others.

Robert Orji started LIMCAF in 2007 as a competition for young artists. Since then, artists from different parts of the country have entered each year, while several past overall and category prize winners have gone on to establish themselves on the Nigerian visual arts scene.

This year’s finalists will meet in Enugu in October, as LIMCAF looks forward to its 20th edition next year.