Bolanle Austen-Peters
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Bolanle Austen-Peters Biography
Bolanle Austen-Peters (born 4 February 1969), is an award-winning Nigerian movie director, theater producer and cultural entrepreneur.
She is the founder and artistic director of BAP Productions which has produced over 135 theater plays and 5 Nollywood movies of which two has been streaming on Netflix. She's best known for feature films 93 Days and Collision Course which have both gone to African film festival and four other international film festivals. She is the founder and executive director of the arts and culture center Terra Kulture located in Lagos which has organized more than 300 art exhibitions, 100 book readings and held 200 theater performances.
Her movie and theatre company, BAP Productions, has produced musicals, including: Saro The Musical, Wakaa The Musical, Moremi The Musical, Fela and the Kalakuta Queens, The Oluronbi Musical, Death and The King's Horseman and most recently, The Trials of Brother Jero. It has also produced films, including 93 Days, Bling Lagosians, Collision Course, and Man of God.
Her company, Terra Kulture, is also currently in partnership with Mastercard Foundation to empower 65,000 Young Nigerians, an initiative that would form a significant part of the Terra Academy For The Arts (TAFTA) Program.
She partners with Google Arts & Culture Institute to create an online museum of Terrakulture.
Early life and education
Austen-Peters was born on 4 February 1969. She is the daughter of Emmanuel Afe Babalola, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria and Rtd Major, Mrs Bisi Babalola who was a medical worker in the Nigerian army. She gained a BA in Law from the University of Lagos and an MA from London School of Economics and Political Science.
Career
Austen-Peters began her career as an Associate Lawyer in her father's firm, Afe Babalola and Co Barristers and Solicitors in 1991. In 1996, she worked with United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Geneva, Switzerland .
In 2003, she secured funding to establish Terra Kulture, an educational and cultural hub promoting the richness and diversity of Nigerian languages, arts, and culture. It was Austen-Peters idea to create a multidisciplinary center with a Nigerian restaurant, art gallery, auction house, bookstore, language school, theater, film production studio, and Academy for the study of art. Located on Tiamiyu Savage Street in Lagos, its Arena is the first privately owned theater in Nigeria.
In 2013, Austen-Peters established her own production company Bolanle Austen-Peters Productions (BAP Productions). The company entered the Nigerian theater industry with its first production Saro the Musical. The musical was staged in Lagos and in 2016 went on tour to London's West End. The musical tells the story of four young men who decide to embark on a journey to Lagos where they seek to realize their dreams.
In 2015, Austen-Peters produced the film 93 Days (2016), It tells the story of the Ebola outbreak in Nigeria and premiered on 13 September 2016 in Lagos. It was shown at the Toronto International Film Festival, The Chicago Film Festival, the Pan African Film Festival in Los Angeles, the Johannesburg Film Festival, and at the Africa Film Festival in Cologne/Germany, and nominated for a RapidLion Award. It won the award for Best Lighting Designer at the 2017 Africa Magic Viewers Choice Awards, and received thirteen nominations. 93 days was also nominated for the Rapid Lion Award and in 7 categories for the 2017 African Movie Academy Awards, which was the highest nominated film in 2017 AMAA.
In 2019, BAP Productions released The Bling Lagosians, a movie about the lifestyle of the high class of Lagos.
She has featured three consecutive times in Forbes Afrique as one of the most influential women in Africa. Also described by CNN as the 'woman pioneering theatre in Nigeria'
In 2022, BAP Production released The Man of God, which was also directed by Bolanle and available for viewing on Netflix.
Philanthrophy
Austen-Peters has collaborated closely with the Nigerian Ministry of Culture to empower the creative industries through jobs and artistic projects. She was in 2015 recognised with the Award in Appreciation of Contribution to the Development of National Museum, Onikan, Lagos.
Awards and nominations
Personal life
She is married to Adegboyega Austen-Peters, with two children.
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