About the Rotimi Foundation
The Rotimi Foundation is committed to promoting and preserving African Arts and culture. We are dedicated to fostering a greater appreciation for the unique role Africa and the African diaspora play in cultures around the world today. The Rotimi family founded the Rotimi Foundation in 2002. The Foundation draws from the artistic vision of the late Ola Rotimi, one of contemporary Africa’s leading playwrights and theater directors, and his late wife and artist, Hazel Mae Rotimi. Based in Ife, Nigeria, the Rotimi Foundation seeks to engage institutions of higher and public education, community-based organizations, and audiences worldwide with all aspects of African cultural representation. The Rotimi Foundation aims to promote public discourse and scholarship on emergent and traditional African theater, art, and culture.
Our Mission
The Rotimi Foundation, a Non-Governmental Organization, established to safeguard, animate, and project the traditional and modern culture of African people through the medium of artistic performance. We believe that the ultimate testimony to the significance of any people is the contribution of their collective culture to the enrichment of universal civilization.
The benefits to be gained from efforts to safeguard and project the cultural identity of African peoples, should be as timely to the present, as they would prove enlightening to posterity. The Rotimi Foundation’s aim to foster the infinite value of the African people can be summed up in the words of Kurunmi Alaafin Atiba who founded New Oyo (Ago-Oja) in 1837.
Our Steps Toward Success
The Rotimi Foundation is committed to introducing the world to African culture at a level that exemplifies artistic excellence, and fostering an appreciation for African culture and heritage. We intend to do this by:
- Promoting productions of African Theater.
- Hosting Cross Cultural Exchange programs between individuals and institutions worldwide.
- Creating and maintaining resources for individuals and institutions interested in the study of African culture.
- Creating a markets for African art and culture.
- Sponsoring and conducting research into the issues as they relate to African Arts and Culture
Ori Olokun
In 1968, Ola Rotimi founded the Ori Olokun Theater Group. Playwright Rotimi envisioned Ori Olokun bringing African theater to Nigerians from all walks of life, ‘a meeting of town and gown.’ He realized his vision in the theater troupe made up of students, academics, farmers, shop owners, mechanics, representing the varied sectors of the community. Academics and laborers within the Ori Olokun Theater group shared their expert knowledge of traditional theater, music, art, and cultural practices. Founding Ori Olokun member Bose Ayeni Tsevende talked about how Ola Rotimi’s inclusive vision also extended to gender,
When I was employed by Ori Olokun, we were the first two ladies who worked in the theatre company as professionals, that is myself and Mosun Falode. In those days, Ola Rotimi didn’t let us experience any visible biases as females in Ori Olokun. We were able to mix freely with the men in the theatre and we worked together. Sometimes, women had to play male roles. We built the set together. Ola Rotimi had one research methodology; it was to take all the cast and crew to a village to learn first-hand the history of the real-life characters we were to imitate. The feeling of being part of the production was there. There was no closing time for rehearsals. All the vigilantes in Ife knew us. The bus would take us home after rehearsals and wait until you enter into your apartment before moving on. Akin Euba taught us music; we ladies learnt to play omele (African drum usually played by men) and went on tours. Our first tour was in Germany. And Peggy Harper taught us dance drama.
Ola Rotimi stated he chose theater in the round as the theatrical stage of the Ori Olokun productions, a more representative platform for African theater and African principles,
Sitting around in a theater, then, is in itself a ritual. It is our as- association with eternity. By this we create a wholeness, a unity and communality which is very crucial for the maintenance of peace and harmony within the community. In the circle there is order, no matter how crude the formation of the circle may appear.
The inclusion of all Nigerians in this art form extended to the directorial instructions as illustrated in Professor Rotimi’s instructions for a mock trial scene in his play Ovonramwen,
“The day a people lose their tradition, is the day their death begins: Weeds, they become- climbers, seaweeds, floating, they know not where to. Doomed”
“Admittedly, art may not impose peace and love automatically on a people, but art could proffer mediums for a communal sharing in what is helpful to harmonious relationships”. (Ola Rotimi)