The Yemisi Shyllon Museum of Art (YSMA), Pan-Atlantic University, has hosted its first Residency under TheMuseumsLab Fellowship, welcoming two cultural professionals from the United Kingdom and Uganda for a week of professional exchange, learning and engagement with Nigeria’s museum and creative ecosystem.
The Residency, which ran from 13–19 September 2026, marked an important milestone in YSMA’s growing international engagement following the Museum’s admission earlier this year into TheMuseumsLab Partner Museums Network, a network that currently connects 66 museums and cultural institutions across 21 countries in Africa and Europe.
TheMuseumsLab is an African-European joint-learning programme for emerging leaders in museums, heritage and cultural institutions. Its 2026 Fellowship, themed “Building Futures from Memory: Museums and Memorial Sites as Agents,” brings together 50 Fellows from 31 African and European countries and combines learning modules with professional residencies at partner museums.
YSMA’s first Residency brings together Jessica Juckes, British Art Network Manager at Tate, United Kingdom, and Jim Joel Nyakaana, Ugandan artist, photographer, curator and researcher associated with Page 4 Cinema Archive.
The Residency was designed around the Fellows’ respective professional interests while providing an opportunity for them to encounter YSMA, Pan-Atlantic University and the wider cultural landscape of Lagos. Their programme included guided engagement with the YSMA collection, conversations with the Museum’s Director and Curator, meetings with university leadership, engagements with the Pan-Atlantic University students, an artist studio visit, and conversations with cultural organisations and practitioners.
The Fellows also facilitated a workshop for undergraduate students of Pan-Atlantic University, exploring photography, digital storytelling, editorial practice, exhibitions and public installations. The session generated an extensive exchange between the Fellows and students, with the Fellows noting the depth and thoughtfulness of the students’ questions and contributions.
L-R: Glory Okwara – Administrative Officer, YSMA, Jess Castellote – Director, YSMA, Jessica Juckes (UK) – TheMuseumsLab 2026 Fellow, Jim Joel Nyakaana (Uganda) – TheMuseumsLab 2026 Fellow, and Solomon Nkwagu – Head of Corporate Communication and Visitors’ Services, YSMA.
Reflecting on his experience at YSMA, Jim Joel Nyakaana said:
Jim Joel Nyakaana Facilitating a Workshop for Pan-Atlantic University Students during TheMuseumsLab Residency at YSMA on September 16, 2026
“What has stood out for me is the way YSMA sits within a university environment and how that creates possibilities for the Museum to engage directly with learning, research and students. I have also been thinking about the collection not simply as a body of objects, but as a space through which different stories, memories and questions can be encountered. The conversations with the Museum team and the students have given me a lot to reflect on in relation to my own work around archives, photography and memory.”
For Jessica Juckes, the Residency has offered an opportunity to examine the relationship between museums, art organizations, artists and audiences from a different institutional and geographical context.
“One of the things I have found particularly valuable about the Residency is the opportunity to understand YSMA not only through its collection, but through the people and relationships around it. Being part of conversations with the Museum team, students, artists and cultural organisations has made the experience much broader than a museum visit. The exchange has encouraged me to think about how museums can create spaces for learning, professional connection and dialogue, and about the different ways these possibilities can be shaped by local context.”
The Residency has also provided opportunities for the Fellows to engage with the broader Lagos cultural ecosystem, including conversations with artists, galleries, artist-support organisations and other cultural institutions. These engagements are intended to deepen their understanding of Nigeria’s cultural landscape while creating opportunities for knowledge exchange between African and European museum professionals.
As Lead Facilitator of the Residency, Solomon Nkwagu, Head of Corporate Communication and Visitors’ Services at YSMA, described the experience as an opportunity for the Museum to place its own practice within a wider international conversation.
“For us at YSMA, hosting our first TheMuseumsLab Residency is about much more than receiving two international Fellows. It is an opportunity to open up our institution, our collection, our practices and our ideas to new perspectives, while also creating a platform for our own team, students and partners to participate in a meaningful exchange. We wanted the Fellows to experience YSMA as a living institution – one that collects and exhibits art, but also teaches, engages, asks questions and builds relationships.”
He added:
“The most rewarding aspect has been seeing the exchange move in both directions. The Fellows have challenged us with questions and perspectives arising from their own professional contexts, while their engagement with our students demonstrated the value of creating spaces where knowledge can move freely between practitioners, institutions and young people. This is precisely the kind of professional and intellectual exchange we hoped the Residency would create.”
The Residency forms part of TheMuseumsLab’s wider effort to strengthen professional networks and collaboration between museums and cultural institutions across Africa and Europe. The Partner Museums Network describes its tandem residencies as intensive periods in which Fellows and host institutions share approaches, test ideas and challenge and inspire one another.
For YSMA, the Residency represents a further step in the Museum’s development as a platform for learning, professional exchange, cultural dialogue and public engagement. It also reinforces the Museum’s commitment to providing its university community with access to international practitioners and contemporary conversations in the museum, art and cultural sectors.
The Museum’s first TheMuseumsLab Residency concluded on 19 September 2026.