Here, philanthropy is deeply rooted in community-based practices and a shared sense of responsibility
In Nigeria’s dynamic artworld, philanthropy has never been just about giving. It is also rooted in building platforms, ecosystems and futures. Women have been and continue to be at the forefront of this movement, redefining cultural stewardship. From establishing galleries and fairs to creating artist residencies, publishing platforms and alternative schools, their contributions signal a shift from dependency on Western models towards grounded, context-specific improvisational systems of care reflected in the multi-operational platforms emerging that are a hybrid of public and private institutions. Yet the absence of structural support – such as tax incentives, public funding or formal grant systems – means that much of Nigeria’s art ecosystem relies on improvisation and personal initiatives. While this informality enables a certain agility and responsiveness, it also limits scalability and long-term sustainability.
This is no more evident than in commercial galleries in Nigeria. Once seen as purely transactional spaces, they now function as hybrid institutions, simultaneously nurturing emerging and established artists while generating local and global market-access. These include Rele Gallery, Retro Africa, Tiwani Contemporary, Bloom Art Lagos, Kó Art Space, SMO Contemporary Art and Wunika Mukan Gallery – all run by women who bring both vision and risk-taking into their gallery operations, which often extend to philanthropic collaborations with local and global partnerships. Rele Gallery, for instance, operates the Rele Arts Foundation alongside its commercial space – a nonprofit initiative committed to fostering the development and reception of contemporary art in Africa, while emphasising art’s potential as a powerful agent for social change and positive impact. Their efforts shape the values, aesthetics and infrastructure of a rapidly evolving art landscape.
One of those women is Wunika Mukan, whose eponymous gallery in Lekki in Lagos was launched in 2020. Drawing on her nonprofit background – she worked for many years at the African Artists’ Foundation (a nonprofit organisation founded by Azu Nwagbogu in 2007, which later established Lagos Photo Festival, among other activities) – she created a space that merges community and commerce. “While we operate as a commercial gallery, we prioritise building a network where artists, collectors and the community can engage meaningfully,” Mukan says. This layered approach resists the rigidity of adopting Western philanthropic models in art that often focus on grant-making and institutional support, while in countries like Nigeria philanthropy is deeply rooted in community-based practices and a shared sense of responsibility across the sector. She notes that many initiatives “originated from passionate cultural enthusiasts collaborating with the art community to uplift artists and enrich our cultural landscape”.
A similar ethos drives Dolly Kola-Balogun, founder of Retro Africa, who operates out of Abuja and sees Nigerian philanthropy as “a hybrid of Western models and local, adaptive, relational programmes”. For her, the impulse to give arises from necessity rather than mimicry. “These programmes emerged not from a desire to mirror Western models… but from the absence of public infrastructure, state support or grants, and the necessity of creating our own.” Foundations like Guest Artists Space (GAS), established by Yinka Shonibare in 2019 and offering residencies and public programming across two sites, one in Lagos and the other part of a working farm in Ijebu Ode; while Angels & Muse, founded by artist and writer Victor Ehikhamenor, is described as a thought laboratory for African artists, writers and curators – artist-led and community-rooted, both spaces reflect this homegrown ingenuity.
Kola-Balogun also clearly states the central role Nigerian women play. “We aren’t just participants,” she insists, “we are architects of the ecosystem, shaping its values and possibilities for the future.” She credits the late Bisi Silva, founder of CCA Lagos and the Àsìkò Art School, with laying the foundation for this generation of women leaders who now build galleries, fairs and educational platforms.
Adenrele Sonariwo, founder of Rele Gallery, echoes this generational responsibility. Her gallery’s Rele Arts Foundation supports early-career artists, helping them transition to the international stage by showcasing their work through an annual exhibition showcase, Young Contemporaries, and facilitating an art summit and a residency programme connecting midcareer African and diaspora artists in Lagos. “The best outcomes occur when Nigerian philanthropists understand the value of anchoring artists in place… before launching them globally,” she says. She also argues that the country’s philanthropy resists traditional Western frameworks. “Patronage here often draws from cultural traditions of communal responsibility and prestige through cultural contribution.”
Tokini Peterside-Schwebig, founder of the art fair ART X Lagos, views Nigerian philanthropy as driven by a deep commitment to place. “There’s a strong sense of responsibility to invest in Nigerian artists, as this directly strengthens the local art ecosystem and promotes cultural pride,” she explains. “It’s less about choosing [between local and global] and more about prioritising growing the local art ecosystem while still building global connections.” ART X Lagos – West Africa’s first international art fair – was born out of this sense of urgency. She sees Nigerian women as patrons and cultural entrepreneurs responding to the system’s gaps. “The majority of art entrepreneurs in the country are women,” she says. “They’re identifying challenges within the art ecosystem and stepping forward to address them.”
Crucially, private patronage fills gaps left by a largely absent state. Institutions like the Yemisi Shyllon Museum of Art (YSMA), the J. Randle Centre for Yorùbá Culture and History and initiatives like +234 Art Fair are undergirded by private funds – often from banks like Access and Zenith, or independent collectors and foundations. Bimpe Nkontchou, a prominent figure in the African art scene, known for her roles as a collector, philanthropist and advocate for contemporary African art, actively supports the African art ecosystem through various philanthropic initiatives. She is a trustee for the Yinka Shonibare Foundation in London and GAS Foundation in Nigeria, and a member of the Africa acquisitions committee of Les Amis du Centre Pompidou, organisations committed to nurturing African artists and facilitating cross-cultural exchanges.
She highlights a shift from state-sponsored support (such as the monthlong FESTAC festival in 1977) to the emergence of private collectors and philanthropists filling the void left by government inaction. Her work through platforms such as w8 Advisory and the YSMA, a university museum dedicated to engaging diverse audiences by promoting knowledge of Nigerian art through exhibitions and educational programmes, positions her at the intersection of wealth management and cultural investment, enabling her to support the arts strategically.
She underscores that many wealthy Nigerians today are beginning to see art patronage not just as a status symbol but as a cultural responsibility. “For a long time in Nigeria, the state has not been the main patron of the arts – private individuals, families and collectors now play that role, but their motivations are very different. Some give back out of a sense of cultural responsibility, others because it enhances their image or wealth portfolio,” she notes.
However, she also points out that private tastes can skew public narratives of what is ‘valuable’ or ‘worthy’ art, raising questions about whose stories are being told and supported. “We now see those private collections – and private money – determine who gets shown and who gets supported. It’s a double-edged sword: it fosters talent but can also sideline less commercially appealing practices.”
While applauding private patronage’s vital role in the last decade, many within the scene have voiced concern about what might be lost in its wake. As commercial visibility rises, there is growing unease that risk-taking, experimentation and critical inquiry may be sidelined in favour of safer, more market-friendly narratives.
The need for critical engagement remains urgent for Bukola Oyebode-Westerhuis, independent publisher, editor and founder of influential (but now closed) art magazine The Sole Adventurer (TSA). She points to artists – not institutions – as the ones increasingly driving discourse and challenging dominant paradigms as the ecosystem evolves. In 2015 Oyebode-Westerhuis launched TSA to address the lack of critical art-writing and serious engagement within Nigeria’s visual arts landscape – particularly for emerging and underrepresented artists, especially women. At a time when commercial galleries such as Terra Kulture and Nike Art Gallery largely shaped public perceptions of art, TSA sought to shift focus from sales and visibility to reflection, meaning and critique. Through interviews, essays and curatorial collaborations, TSA served as a vital platform (and now an important archive) for expanding the definition of contemporary Nigerian art. Oyebode-Westerhuis similarly identifies the late Silva and CCA Lagos as pivotal in introducing curatorial thinking, research and experimentation into a scene dominated by market forces. Continuing that legacy, she argues, remains essential for the future of Nigerian art, calling for long-term institutional thinking beyond the art-fair calendar and the art market.
In recent years a welcome rise in independent curators, artist collectives and alternative spaces like Treehouse, 16/16, QDance Center, FF Projects and Padà has signalled a shift towards more diverse and daring practices. Yet, as Oyebode-Westerhuis notes, support for such work remains precarious. While writers like Emmanuel Iduma and Ayodeji Rotinwa have contributed to reframing Nigerian art within global discourses, she continues to advocate for deeper structural support – educational programmes, independent publishing and funding streams that nourish critical voices. For her, the future lies in international recognition and sustained local investment in thought, care and curatorial depth. “What we’re seeing now”, she observes, “is more fragmentation, but also more possibility.”
As Nigerian philanthropy continues to evolve, it remains a space defined by improvisation, personal conviction and a commitment to both care and excellence. Commercial galleries, once peripheral to the notion of philanthropy, now sit at its very heart, creating the conditions for visibility, experimentation and sustainability. And at the centre of it all are women, creating and fostering the very systems that allow art to thrive, expand and evolve.
Jareh Das is an independent curator, scholar and occasional florist
ArtReview’s May 2025 issue is accompanied by a standalone publication on philanthropy in the arts, with essays exploring funding models in North and South America, Africa, Europe and Asia, profiles of four prominent philanthropists and a guide to philanthropic initiatives around the world. This publication was created with the support of the Christian Levett Collection
