Fulton County Arts & Culture and Uni-Spectrum Inc. have partnered to stage “Threads of Heritage” a festival celebrating Nigerian art, performance, and diaspora connections in Atlanta.
Veteran Nigerian art icon Chief Nike Okundaye, who has been actively mentoring, promoting, and staging artists from across Nigeria since the early 1970s, is leading the delegation of cultural ambassadors to Atlanta for the exhibition.
Supported by Fulton County, the exhibition brings together work from Lagos and other states across Nigeria, presenting regional traditions in one space.
Organisers disclosed these details during a virtual press conference held on 9 May 2026. Pre-event activities commenced on 6 May, the formal opening will be on 15 May 2026 at the Fulton County Arts and Culture Downtown Exhibition Space on Peachtree Street SW. The programme will run through the end of June.
Events include an international exhibition at the Fulton County Administration Building, Adire and textile workshops, live painting, artist talks, panels, mural projects, youth and HBCU programmes, and collector and diaspora outreach.
The lineup comprises a cross-section of Nigerian art and culture. Chief Nike’s eldest daughter, Shayee Awoyomi, leads youth engagement and HBCU collaborations as cultural coordinator and head of Nike Art Gallery US. Around her, painters and sculptors anchor the visual programme: Lasaki Olubunmi provides workshops and sculptural mentorship; Adeleke Akeem stages live painting and artist talks; panels, mural projects, youth and HBCU programmes, and collector and diaspora outreach.
For Chief Nike, the project represents cultural diplomacy with a personal dimension. Holding titles including Yeye Aladire of Ede Land and Yeye Oba of Ogidi-Ijumu, she has spent decades preserving and internationalising Adire and Nigerian artistic heritage. “Too many artists migrate in search of opportunity only to set their practice aside,” says Shayee Awoyomi, CEO of Nike Art Gallery New York. “This exhibition provides them with the opportunity to focus on their work again.”
Shayee describes her role in art and culture promotion as a continuation of the artistic journey her mother began years back in Nigeria.
In 2022, Mayor Andre Dickens proclaimed 25 May as Nigerian Cultural Day at event Dr. Ismaila had organized to Chief Nike’s Birthday and recognition of the cultural relationship between Georgia and Nigeria. With “Threads of Heritage”, organisers state that the vision, embedded in that symbolic proclamation is now operating at an institutional scale.
Artist Doba Afolabi notes the need for broader regional representation and encourages organisers to expand participation beyond the Southwest. Okundaye states that the open call reached artists from the North, Middle Belt, and East, citing recent awards to artists from Igbo and Edo backgrounds at international festivals.
Lagos-based art educator and consummate visual artist, Yusuf Durodola, implores the media to help create the right narratives, saying: “The project provides expanded international visibility for Nigerian artists, Nigerian traditions, indigenous textile practices, and African cultural institutions while strengthening cultural diplomacy and diaspora relationships.”
For Atlanta and Georgia, organisers expect the initiative to enhance tourism, educational engagement, creative economy development, and multicultural collaboration. As Awoyomi states, “Chief Nike built an art family in Nigeria that is now a global community. We are extending it here in Georgia.”
