The Órüpézá Festival will return to Freedom Park, Lagos, from October 1 to 3, 2026, for its third edition, bringing together artists, cultural practitioners, performers, creatives and communities in a celebration of Nigeria’s rich cultural memory and contemporary creative expression.
Under the banner of The Freedom Party Week 3.0, the festival will transform Freedom Park into a living canvas of music, film, visual art, fashion, spoken word, cultural exhibitions, performance and community engagement.
More than an entertainment event, Órüpézá is conceived as a cultural gathering where heritage meets contemporary creativity and where audiences encounter Nigerian culture through multiple artistic forms. The 2026 programme will feature a film showcase, music concert, cultural expo, fun fair, spoken-word performances, rave, award night and fashion showcase, creating an immersive experience that moves between the traditional and the contemporary.
The third edition builds on two years of cultural programming that have established Órüpézá as a platform for bringing together different generations and creative communities. Órüpézá aims at showcasing young talents in the creative space. The festival aims to broaden the scope of attendees beyond what the dominant media channels selectively propagate.
The inaugural 2024 edition attracted more than 15,000 participants and introduced the Órüpézá Cultural Honours, recognising influential figures including journalist and culture advocate Jahman Anikulapo, renowned artist Bruce Onobrakpeya, and veteran actress Taiwo Ajayi-Lycett. The festival used music, art, spoken word, comedy and cultural programming to create conversations around identity, legacy and community.
The second edition in 2025 expanded that cultural proposition through a programme combining music, film, fashion, dance, gaming, visual arts, food and cultural showcases, while placing greater emphasis on young creatives, communities and new forms of storytelling.
For the third edition, the festival is deepening its curatorial approach by positioning art and culture not simply as attractions, but as the language through which communities tell their stories, preserve memory and imagine their future.
Festival Director, Edi Lawani, said the continued growth of Órüpézá reflects the enduring power of culture to connect people across generations.
“Órüpézá was never conceived simply as another event on the Lagos calendar. It is a cultural space — a place where memory, creativity and community can meet. With each edition, we are learning how to create more room for artists, storytellers, young creatives and communities to express who we are and who we are becoming.
“The third edition is particularly important because we are not presenting culture as something frozen in the past. We are presenting it as something alive — something that can be questioned, reinterpreted, performed and experienced in new ways. At Órüpézá, tradition can converse with contemporary art, history can inspire new stories, and celebration can become a form of cultural connection.”
The festival’s return to Freedom Park further reinforces this philosophy. The historic site, formerly the Old Broad Street Prison, has been transformed into a centre for artistic and cultural expression, making it a natural setting for a festival built around freedom, memory, identity and creativity.
Órüpézá’s organisers describe the festival as part of a broader commitment to “fostering the age of community”, using community-based entertainment initiatives to promote unity through art, music, food and culture. They noted that the festival is a cultural and entertainment initiative of Kukuruku International, established to promote unity and community through creative and cultural experiences across Africa and beyond.
