Key Takeaways
- Leisure Week Africa (EWA) 2026 will happen in Lagos from November 17 to 22, underneath the theme ‘Closing the Hole.’
- The occasion expands the Style and Magnificence program, constructing on its success from earlier years and connecting African designers with industrial alternatives.
- EWA has develop into a significant platform for Africa’s inventive financial system, attracting over 67,800 attendees in previous editions and producing vital on-line engagement.
- The 2026 version will prioritize structured industrial codecs, together with the EWA Deal Room, Content material and Music Markets, and extra.
- EWA goals to foster significant connections between creatives and {industry} stakeholders, enhancing entry, studying, and enterprise alternatives.
LAGOS, NIGERIA — JULY 2026 — Entertainment Week Africa (EWA) will return to Lagos from 17 to 22 November 2026 for its fifth anniversary version, marking half a decade with an expanded pan-African version constructed round deal movement, capital entry, expertise improvement, mental property and continental market entry throughout Africa’s inventive financial system.
The anniversary version runs underneath the theme “Closing the Hole,” reflecting EWA’s mission to transform African inventive visibility into long-term worth, possession and alternative. 5 years in, EWA is evolving from a significant cultural gathering right into a structured creative-economy platform; {the marketplace} the place expertise, founders, buyers, commissioners, consumers, policymakers, platforms, manufacturers and establishments meet to do enterprise throughout a $59 billion inventive financial system.
Below the theme “Closing the Hole,” Leisure Week Africa 2026 expands its Style and Magnificence programme, constructing on a Runway Coterie that obtained 120+ entries in 2025 and put ten rising designers on a continental stage, because the platform evolves right into a structured market surroundings connecting African designers with consumers, model companions, and industrial infrastructure.
What started as a Lagos creative-industry occasion has grown right into a pan-African platform connecting tradition, capital, expertise and international alternative. Throughout its first 4 editions, EWA has develop into an establishment of 67,800+ cumulative attendees. The 2025 version alone drew 28,683 pass-holders from 8+ nations and 50+ industries throughout 61 classes, 93 movie screenings, 20 music showcases and 9 trend showcases, producing 5M+ on-line engagements and 800M+ digital attain and impressions throughout Africa, Asia, North America and Europe.
Celebrating Leisure Week Africa At 5
- EWA has convened 67,800+ cumulative attendees throughout its first 4 editions, together with 28,683 pass-holders in 2025, driving 5M+ on-line engagements and 800M+ digital attain and impressions final 12 months
- The anniversary version brings programming and delegations from Kenya, Rwanda, Ghana, Senegal, Uganda, Tanzania, South Africa, and extra, concentrating on 18+ African nations, with 30–40% of delegates travelling from outdoors Nigeria
- Seven tracks: Artwork & Animation joins Movie & TV, Music, Style & Magnificence, AI & Tech, Reside Occasions & Manufacturing and Artistic Enterprise
The 2026 Style and Magnificence programme builds on one in every of EWA’s most compelling platforms for rising African design expertise. The 2025 EWA Runway Coterie obtained over 120 entries and put ten rising designers on a stage that reached 28,683 attendees from throughout Africa and past. In 2026, EWA expands that platform right into a extra structured industrial
surroundings, connecting African designers with consumers, model companions, press, and the industrial infrastructure that turns runway moments into lasting companies. For designers, stylists, magnificence founders, editors, consumers, and trend {industry} executives, EWA 2026 is probably the most vital trend enterprise platform on the African continent.
EWA 2026 will cowl seven core tracks — Movie & TV; Music; Style & Magnificence; AI & Tech; Artwork & Animation; Reside Occasions & Manufacturing; and Artistic Enterprise. Every monitor is designed not solely as a content material programme however as a platform for sensible outcomes: pitch alternatives, closed-door {industry} classes, expertise improvement, market entry and post-event follow-through.
The 2026 programme locations a stronger emphasis on structured industrial codecs, anchored by the EWA Deal Room, its Content material and Music Markets, the EWA Capital Desk, the Creators Hub, and LABSPOT, the platform’s expertise and enterprise improvement engine, connecting sellers in movie and music to consumers, distributors and buyers, and pairing expert creatives with actual alternatives.
The 2025 version demonstrated the demand for a platform of this scale. The EWA Deal Room obtained 178+ entries, with 9 firms advancing to the accelerator programme and 4 firms — Aktivate, FriendnPal, Growwr and Sports activities Reels — attracting dwell investor curiosity within the room. Buyers and ecosystem companions related to the Deal Room and Hackathon included Future Africa, Catalyst Fund, Consonance Make investments and Askya Funding Companions. For 2026, EWA will design extra intentional pathways between creatives, founders, buyers, commissioners, consumers, distributors, platforms and establishments.
EWA’s worldwide momentum has grown by means of EWA Artistic Join, the unique convening collection extending the platform past Lagos. EWA Artistic Join launched earlier
this 12 months in Los Angeles throughout Grammy Week 2026 earlier than persevering with in London in the course of the Nigeria-UK state go to. The collection has convened senior executives from Warner Data, Adobe, Amazon, Dramabox, Afrexim, Unilever, the British Movie Institute, Diageo, NBO Capital, Ministry of Commerce and Funding, and lots of extra international manufacturers, bringing senior diplomatic figures into direct engagement with Africa’s inventive financial system.
“As we mark 5 years of EWA, this second is deeply vital,” mentioned Deola Artwork Alade, Convener of Leisure Week Africa and Group CEO of Livespot. “EWA began with a easy however pressing perception: African creativity deserves stronger platforms, higher entry and larger worth. At this time, the work is not nearly convening the {industry}; it’s about constructing the programs that assist expertise meet capital, concepts meet alternative, and tradition develop into long-term financial energy. EWA 2026 is our boldest expression of that mission.”
“Leisure Week Africa has at all times sat on the intersection of creativity, tradition and alternative,” mentioned Darey Artwork Alade, Co-Founder and Chief Artistic Officer of Livespot. “As EWA enters its fifth 12 months, we’re targeted on creating an expertise that’s not solely inspiring, however helpful. The following technology of African inventive expertise wants entry, studying, platforms, neighborhood and actual pathways into work and enterprise. EWA 2026 is about constructing these bridges with intention.”
Extra images from the Leisure Week Africa Occasion…
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