The Ankara Festival Africa, which began in Los Angeles in 2010, is expanding to Nigeria with plans to establish Lagos as a hub for promoting African culture through fashion, music, and entertainment. The festival's convener, Peter Efezokhae, said the growing global visibility of African fashion and music presents an opportunity to bring the platform back to where its cultural story began. The Lagos edition aims to create a broader platform for the creative and hospitality industries.
The Ankara Festival Africa was created to promote African culture in the diaspora, initially focusing on Nigerian designers before expanding to creatives from other African countries. Efezokhae said the festival's original mission was shaped by the limited visibility of African culture in Los Angeles and Hollywood when the event began. The festival has since featured designers from several African countries and attracted entertainment acts, including its most recent edition which brought together designers from Burkina Faso, Kenya, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Senegal, and Ghana.
The Lagos festival is expected to go beyond a conventional fashion show, incorporating music, food, art, interior design, hospitality, and other creative activities. Laura Udoh, co-convener of the festival, said the Lagos edition would create opportunities for creatives and businesses to connect, collaborate, and showcase their work. The festival will provide an avenue for talent from West Africa to gain visibility among audiences and industry players connected to Los Angeles and the wider diaspora.
Isi Atagamen, co-convener of the festival, said the aim is to look beyond fashion to create a broader platform for the creative and hospitality industries. The plan is to bring together art, music, fashion, and hospitality in a single space where practitioners can showcase their work, build connections, and access new opportunities. The organisers want the Lagos platform to serve as a bridge between African creatives and the diaspora.
The expansion into Nigeria comes as Ankara continues to evolve beyond its traditional use as clothing material. The festival's concept document describes Ankara as a cultural medium that has moved across generations and social classes, appearing in fashion, art, design, and other forms of creative expression. The organisers' ambition is not simply to stage an annual fashion event but to create a platform that documents cultural stories, creates opportunities for creatives, and encourages new interpretations of African heritage.
Efezokhae said the festival's origins were linked to a desire to change the way Nigeria and Africa were represented in the diaspora. When he moved to the United States in the early 2000s, stories about Nigeria in the diaspora were often dominated by negative narratives around fraud and poverty. The festival sought to put greater attention on the music, fashion, and films coming out of Africa. The organisers believe culture stays alive when people continue to use it, question it, reinterpret it, and make something new from it.
The Lagos expansion is intended to become the next stage of the festival's journey, with plans to eventually move beyond Nigeria into other African markets and connect African creativity more directly with the global diaspora. The festival's organisers say they are not interested in preserving culture by putting it behind glass but rather in creating a platform that encourages new interpretations of African heritage. The festival will take place in Lagos, providing a unique experience for attendees.
Key points
- The Ankara Festival Africa is expanding to Nigeria to promote African culture through fashion, music, and entertainment.
- The Lagos edition aims to create a broader platform for the creative and hospitality industries.
- The festival's organisers plan to eventually move beyond Nigeria into other African markets and connect African creativity with the global diaspora.
