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Not less than two hundred scholars, artists, technologists and cultural leaders will gather at the University of Lagos on 10 and 11 November 2026 to ask what becomes of the creative arts in the age of Artificial lntelligence (Al), as the Faculty of Creative Arts, University of Lagos, holds its Maiden International Conference from Tuesday 10 to Wednesday 11 November 2026 at the Faculty of Creative Arts Theatre Hall, under the theme “Creative Arts in the Age of Artificial Intelligence.”
The two day gathering will bring together about two hundred scholars, practitioners, technologists, students and cultural leaders. It is the first time the Faculty has convened an international community around a single question. The Vice-Chancellor of the University of Lagos, Prof. Folasade T. Ogunsola, OON, FAS, is the Chief Host, and the Dean of the Faculty, Prof. Stephen Olusoji, is the Host.
Main focus
The conference examines how music, theatre, dance, film, visual art and sound production are being reshaped by artificial intelligence, and how the people who make and teach these arts can shape the technology in return.
Delegates will take up questions of authorship, ownership, credit and the value of human creative labour. They will ask how African languages, rhythms and stories can be present in AI systems as authors and owners, not merely as data. They will also explore the opportunities: preserving endangered traditions, opening the studio to people once shut out of it, and preparing graduates to compose, stage, design, direct and write with confidence in a world where AI is part of the studio.
More than forty research and creative papers will be presented across five panel sessions, alongside two keynote addresses, a hands-on workshop on artificial intelligence, performances of music and dance by students of the Faculty, and a closing ceremony and dinner.
Resource persons
Dr. Olusoji Adewumi, first keynote speaker (Tuesday, 10 November, 10:00 am). Dr. Adewumi is of the Faculty of Education, Distance Learning Institute, University of Lagos. He is an Artificial Intelligence educator, digital technology specialist and innovation advocate whose work centres on harnessing emerging technologies to transform education, research, professional practice and human creativity. He has delivered keynote addresses and training for institutions including the University of Lagos Library, the African Regional Training Centre for Teaching and Learning (AFRETEC) and the Organisation for Women in Science for the Developing World (OWSD). He advocates the use of AI as an enabler of human imagination and judgement, not a replacement for them.
Dr. Oreofe Williams, lead of the hands-on AI workshop (Tuesday, 10 November, 3:00 pm). Popularly known as Awo Jesu, Dr. Williams is the Founder and President of The City of Talents Worldwide, a filmmaker, scholar, mentor and film educator. He holds a PhD in Film Studies and Media Communications from the Federal University Oye-Ekiti. He founded The City of Talents in 2008 as a film village and creative development ecosystem, served as a consultant to the National Universities Commission on Theatre Arts, Film and Media Studies curricula, and is the author of From the Script to the Street.
Dr. Shaibu Husseini, second keynote speaker (Wednesday, 11 November, 9:00 am). Widely known as “Mr. Nollywood,” Dr. Husseini is the Executive Director and CEO of the National Film and Video Censors Board (NFVCB). A journalist, film critic, academic and cultural administrator with a PhD in Mass Communication from the University of Lagos, he spent more than three decades in the field, including as Culture and Film correspondent for The Guardian Nigeria, and wrote Moviedom: The Nollywood Narratives.
The panel sessions are coordinated by Dr. Akinwale Onipede.
Dr. Florence Ewomazino Nweke,who is the Conference Chair, said: “This conference exists to ask how music, theatre, dance, film, visual art and sound production are being reshaped by artificial intelligence, and how the people who make and teach these arts can shape the technology in return. We approach the question with curiosity and with care, because we are neither cheerleaders nor gatekeepers. We are artists and researchers who want to understand what is changing, what must be protected and what is worth building.
When a machine can imitate the surface of expression, what remains irreplaceably human? That is the question we invite every delegate to carry through these two days. I thank the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Folasade T. Ogunsola, for her encouragement of the arts at the University of Lagos, and the Dean, Professor Stephen Olusoji, for his leadership and trust. I invite everyone to listen to one another across disciplines, to disagree well and to leave with partnerships that outlast these two days. May this conference be a worthy first of many.”
