Tope Babayemi, a founding member of British reggae and pop band, UB40, has joined Qed.ng as an arts and culture columnist beginning from Friday, September 9, 2016.
Babayemi, a prince of Gbogan in Osun State, is the Managing Director of Different Aesthetics Arts & Culture Management.
He was percussionist with UB40 when the group was formed in Birmingham, England in the late 70s.
The circumstances of his leaving the band can be found here and here.
An arts and culture manager of many years standing, Babayemi trained at the University of Ibadan where he got the professional Diploma in Theatre Arts and the University of Ife where he obtained a Bachelor of Arts, Music/Drama (Combined Honours).
He holds the first Master of Philosophy, Black Performing Arts in the United Kingdom after which he was head-hunted by the Arts Council of Great Britain (now the Arts Council of England) to become the first non-white arts form officer for West Midlands Arts Board. The Cadbury Trust and Arts Council of Great Britain funded the post.
Babayemi worked extensively within the cultural establishment in the UK before coming home to become the pioneer head of operations and deputy chief executive at the prestigious MUSON Centre, Lagos.
He left MUSON in 1995 to establish Different Aesthetics Arts and Culture Management.
The organisation is the producer of the annual Macmillan Literary Events, Danse Africana – the Lagos Festival of African Dances and the promoter of the Little Theatre, a pioneering hundred seater studio theatre at the Artists’ Village, Lagos.
As development consultant and festival director to Ka Ma Baa Gbagbe – The Festival of Yoruba Arts and Culture under the chairmanship of Emeritus Professor JF Ade Ajayi and the 2nd National Film Festival, under the Chairmanship of Mrs. F. Y. Emanuel (CON), Different Aesthetics ACM has become a leading arts development agency in Nigeria.
Babayemi was a sectional director of the 3rd Lagos Black Heritage Festival 2010 under the distinguished chairmanship of Professor Wole Soyinka.
As well as being an arts management trainer, Babayemi has also acted in a consultancy capacity with key guilds and associations in the Nigerian culture sector including the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN) and the Association of Nigerian Authors ANA (Lagos).
He played a pivotal role in the creation of the Nigeria Artists’ Collective, a coalition of arts organizations, artists, and workers in the Nigerian creative economy.
Babayemi coordinates activities at the Artists’ Village, NCAC, Lagos.
He is the first son of the historian and late Olufi of Gbongan, Oba Solomon Oyewole Babayemi J.P.; Ph.D.
His weekly columnist will be known as Different Aesthetics.
