UCA and NCAC announce
Global Creative Partnership

Nigeria’s National Council for Arts and Culture (NCAC) has entered into a wide ranging Memorandum of Understanding with University for the Creative Arts, focused on forging a strategic partnership to strengthen global creative collaboration.

07 May 2025

The University for the Creative Arts (UCA), United Kingdom, and the National Council for Arts and Culture (NCAC), are proud to announce a groundbreaking partnership aimed at advancing the creative and cultural industries in Nigeria.

This collaboration marks a significant milestone in fostering academic and cultural exchange, capacity building, research development, and international showcasing of Nigerian creative talent. The partnership will enable joint programming, innovation labs, workshops, and cross-cultural initiatives to empower a new generation of creatives and cultural leaders.

Key highlights of the collaboration include:

• Curriculum and Technical Support for Nigeria’s National Centres of Excellence.
• Creative Talent exchange initiatives.
• Academic and Technical Collaboration through Federal Min of Arts, Culture, Tourism and Creative Economy’s capacity building platform, CLAP and the ICE hubs network of the NCAC.
• Collaborative research on innovation and sustainability in the creative economy.
• Pathways to UK Industry and other Professional and Academic Partners through UCAS for Nigerian creatives.
• Showcasing Nigerian arts and culture on international platforms through Industry led UCA network.

In a further development, the National Council for Arts and Culture has officially joined the UCA’s Creative and Cultural Industries Leaders Network – a global forum of thought leaders, institutions, and organisations advancing the future of creative industries through partnership, innovation, and inclusive dialogue and (in the first edition there were leaders from Apple, Warner Brothers, BFI, British Film Commission and many more as NCAC seeks to build global partnerships to enhance opportunities for Nigerians in the creative space. We are proud to be the first global partner.

Professor Lyndsay Duthie, Pro Vice-Chancellor Academic Partnerships and Industry Engagement at UCA, remarked: “We were delighted to have such a productive meeting with the Director-General of the National Council for Arts and Culture and to learn about NCAC’s ambitious plans to develop the creative and cultural industries in Nigeria. With significant alignment in our strategic objectives, UCA is excited to begin working with NCAC and our respective networks of academic and industrial partners on a range of innovative projects which have the potential to be truly ground-breaking for the creative sector.”

Mr Obi Asika, Director-General of NCAC, said: “It was an absolute pleasure to tour the incredible facilities at UCA’s campus at Epsom and look forward to seeing the other two campuses at Canterbury and Farnham, we are aligned in terms of vision, and I must thank the UCA leadership for their warm reception, readiness to engage and validating our own work as we seek to build forward together.

“We are focused on moving our ecosystem forward and to enhance these sectors in Nigeria by partnering with world class institutions to enable more Nigerians to bring world class facilities home and to expand the ecosystem by producing many more professionals for the sector. I am excited by the possibilities our partnership offers for the Nigerian Creative Ecosystems and look forward to what lies ahead.”

This alliance is part of a broader vision and mandate by the Nigeria’s government to position our creative arts and culture as a catalyst for sustainable development, economic growth and education, and global cooperation.

Learn more about the Creative and Cultural Industries Leaderships Network.