Vol. 2 No. 1 (2025): Reimagining Cultural Leadership and Policy in Nigeria: Traditions, Innovations, and Transformative Practices

The inaugural Open-access volume of IMPRESSARIO opens at a critical moment in the evolving discourse of cultural administration in Nigeria. As the nation contends with the rapid shifts occasioned by globalisation, digital disruption, and social transformation, its cultural institutions and creative practitioners are confronted with urgent questions: How can indigenous leadership traditions be reinterpreted in contemporary organisational contexts? What role does policy consistency—or its absence—play in shaping the impact of Nigeria’s cultural industries? And how might artistic practices transcend performance to engage broader civic and developmental agendas?

This issue, titled “Reimagining Cultural Leadership and Policy in Nigeria: Traditions, Innovations, and Transformative Practices,” gathers scholarly contributions that offer fresh insights into these concerns. Collectively, the papers reflect a deliberate interrogation of the nexus between traditional values and modern management systems, policy frameworks and institutional accountability, artistic innovation and civic engagement. The unifying motif across these diverse studies is a commitment to exploring how culture—beyond its expressive dimensions—functions as a dynamic instrument for social coordination, governance, and identity negotiation.

The volume opens with Hannah Modupe Akpodiete’s case study on the Fabulous Orchestra, a rural performance troupe sustained through informal cultural entrepreneurship and Druckerian management principles. This is followed by John Bardi’s reflective account of private theatrical production within a university setting, highlighting the tensions and possibilities of academic-led artistic initiatives. Eseigbe and Oboho offer a compelling theoretical mapping of performing arts as instruments of civil society activism, blending performance theory with social capital discourses.

Shalom ÌBÍRÓNKẸ́ and Roseline Yacim’s concept of Kabiyesism provides a critical intervention into the understanding of authority, power distance, and the cultural psychology of Nigerian organisational life. In a related institutional vein, Ohenhen, Iwuh, and Abakporo’s analysis of Ahmed Yerima’s leadership at the National Theatre illustrates how transformational leadership can navigate bureaucratic complexity to achieve structural and artistic relevance. Joseph Idogho underscores the role of controlling in performance management, situating theatre administration within a framework of decision science and operational efficiency. Lastly, Osedebamen David Oamen’s article probes the longstanding inconsistencies in cultural policy implementation, proposing structural reforms for coherence and development.

Together, these articles offer a kaleidoscopic view of cultural management in Nigeria—one that foregrounds indigenous values while engaging with contemporary policy, leadership, and administrative challenges. They underscore the need for a glocal approach—anchored in local realities, yet responsive to global standards of best practice. The editorial board hopes that this issue will stimulate scholarly debate, inspire institutional reforms, and contribute to the broader reimagining of cultural administration as a cornerstone of Nigeria’s development trajectory.

We commend the contributors for their intellectual rigour, and invite our readers—researchers, cultural managers, policymakers, and practitioners—to reflect deeply on the questions raised herein, and to extend these conversations in their own fields of engagement.