Open Arts Development Foundation

Open Arts is a cultural and arts collective committed to promoting the arts and creative endeavors. Open Arts as a creative organization touches the expression of passion in the creative arts as part of its mission of making a positive difference in the lives of people in the community through work of arts. We prioritize works of art and stories from people (women, young people in villages and communities) whose voices have been excluded from the universal conversation, using arts and culture as narratives to influence and shape the reality of life in northern Nigeria. Open Arts curates the Hausa International Book and Arts Festival (HIBAF), a crisscross festival of arts and language by and for African creatives across the UK, West and East Africa with a touch of what the arts in Hausa ought to be. The inaugural festival held in October 2021 in Kaduna, Nigeria was attended by over 300 participants. It is the aim of this festival to open up discussions about the Hausa language through history, music and arts from the past and present to a glorious future to be displayed to a new and exciting young audience. Open Arts combines the tools of arts and literature through new digital collaborations and conversations to seek fresh perspectives about the role and meaning of culture in a time of crisis.