How Aisha Adamu Augie’s Yale cultural fellowship opens a new global path for CBAAC

Aisha Adamu Augie’s selection for the 2026 Yale Directors Forum gives Nigeria’s Centre for Black and African Arts and Civilisation a place in an international network focused on preserving cultural heritage.

Augie is one of 12 cultural leaders chosen for the 12-month fellowship, convened by Yale University’s Institute for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage. She is one of two Nigerians and one of six African women in the programme’s second cohort, which brings together leaders from Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean.

For CBAAC, the fellowship represents more than recognition for its director general. It creates an opportunity to build relationships with heritage institutions across the Global South, exchange knowledge and improve the organisation’s work in innovation, conservation and cultural exchange.

Yale describes the fellows as leaders preserving, protecting and sharing both tangible and intangible heritage. Their work ranges from artworks, photographs, archives and other collections to living traditions such as cuisine, music, textiles and practices passed between generations.

Augie’s inclusion reflects CBAAC’s mandate to preserve and promote the arts, history and civilisation of Africa and its diaspora. The forum brings her into contact with leaders of museums, archives, libraries, community heritage sites and other practitioners working across different regions. Yale Director of International Programs Charlotte Ashamu said the cohort reflected the “breadth and depth of leadership shaping the cultural heritage sector.”

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breadth and depth of leadership shaping the cultural heritage sector