Zmirage Multimedia Company (ZMC) has announced the passing of Vernon Shabaka Thompson, the lead consultant and head of United Kingdom operations of ZMC. Thompson, who was 65 years old, died on Tuesday, July 4, 2023, in Saint Lucia, the Caribbean, due to heart-failure-related complications.
He was a renowned specialist in carnival management and was the director of the famous Notting Hill Carnival in the United Kingdom. Thompson was instrumental in the formation of the Association of British Calypsonians and the London Calypso Tent. He was also involved in many carnival arts projects in the UK, the Caribbean, and Africa.
ZMC CEO Dr. Teju Kareem recalled in a statement, how Thompson’s intervention changed the culture and landscape of Carnival production and management in Nigeria and Ghana.
According to him, Shabaka was a highly resourceful professional whose service would be sorely missed not just by the ZMC, but also the Nigeria carnival production community.
“At the ZMC, he spearheaded most of our operations in the UK and the Caribbeans and was a regular visitor to Nigeria, especially attending the yearly Wole Soyinka International Cultural Exchange, WSICE programme through which, in past 14 years, we not only celebrate the annual birthday anniversary of the Nobel laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka, but also contribute to the grooming of next generation of leaders through our annual essay writing competitions for Secondary Schools, and cultural advocacy sessions.
“As a matter of fact, he had just – some 16 hours before his shocking passing — submitted his travel itineraries to the Nigeria High Commission in the UK to commence his travel to Nigeria to join us in Lagos and Abeokuta for the 2023 edition of the WSICE, which holds July 13-15.
“It is such a traumatic thing to learn of the sudden death of such a major contributor to the WSICE dream to continue nurturing the future of our humanity. Our universe will miss his gentle and Africa and black cultural advocate soul.”
“We commiserate with his family and all the people he left behind in all the stations where he operated and registered irrepressible impressions and impacts on our collective humanity,” concluded Dr Kareem.
Co-Executive Producer of the WSICE, Professor Segun Ojewuyi, director of Global NewHaven, stated:
“Shabaka was a good man. A true collaborator and man of the arts.”
The Illinois, US-based Professor of Theatre, Ojewuyi, added: “Shabaka never left the motherland forever chorded through the navel of Africa to the world.”
Thompson was a highly resourceful professional whose service would be sorely missed not just by ZMC but also the Nigeria carnival production community.