The Think Art Festival discovers, nurtures emerging artists in Nigeria

The Think Art Festival, an annual virtual art stage for young creators, has reasserted itself as a springboard for passionate nascent creatives, as it empowered emerging student artists in Nigeria for its 2024 edition.

Launched in 2021, the Think Art Festival is acclaimed to be Abuja’s first-ever virtual art contest, building a community of student artists with flair and passion for painting , sculpture, or drawing.

Being a virtual contest, the programme is only done via Instagram and Facebook with students expected to submit a work they hand-made with any material they choose and record a 90-second video of themselves while creating the work as part of the entry requirements.

Contestants include students between 7-17 years , given the opportunity to showcase their artistic prowess, win prizes and join a growing community of young artists.

The 2024 edition, held on December 26, brought together talented youngsters, with Aletan Oluwajuwonlo Jewel emerging the winner of the contest, clinching the grand prize with his iconic work, ‘The Nature’s Heart Beat’.

“I had a rewarding experience participating in the Think Art Festival.I’m an artist who specializes in figure painting, but the contest theme challenged me to create a painting outside my area of art specialty and this I found refreshing and as a result,” Jewel said.

He added: “ I felt inspired to explore my newly discovered artistic skill in landscape painting. I also felt inspired to try my hands on other areas of visual arts to see how far my artistic skill can take me.

“Finally, this is to confirm that I’ve received my cash prize and I am using this medium to thank the organizers of the Think Art Festival. I’m glad to have been a part of this year’s festival. Love you all,” he said.

Armstrong Agoreyo, founder of the Think Art Festival, said: This is not “just another contest.It’s an annual movement created to celebrate student artists across Nigeria.”

According to him, the festival aims to develop, expose and inculcate the flair and love for art amongst talented pupils and students in both public and private schools.

For Agoreyo, the path to the creative industry wasn’t paved with encouragement; it was built on the resilience of a child who was told “no.”

Having been discouraged from pursuing art early in life, those quiet moments of rejection eventually became the fuel for his life’s mission: ensuring no other young creator feels invisible.

For him, the Think Art Festival is more than a platform for discovering and development of budding talents-it is a promise kept to his younger self, a destiny fulfilled by becoming the very encouragement he once needed to find his way.