Valentine Onyeka Ogunaka Takes "Framing for a Cause" to New York

By Udemma Chukwuma 

                                                                              Ogunaka

Nigerian creative strategist and poet Valentine Onyeka Ogunaka, who works professionally as Brainbox or OV Onyeka, is preparing to carry a Nigerian voice into a global conversation about how stories shape the way the world sees vulnerable people. According to the announcement, he will present his Framing for a Cause methodology at the Communicating for a Better World Conference in New York this October.

The gathering, set for October 21 to 23, 2026, will be hosted across Columbia University and the CUNY Graduate Centre. It is expected to bring together practitioners, researchers and communicators whose work touches development, advocacy, migration, artificial intelligence and information integrity.

Ogunaka's session will look at framing, the choices that determine how complex social and development issues are described and understood. The announcement says he will draw on examples including narratives about refugees and the ethical training of artificial intelligence systems, two areas where the language and images used can quietly decide who is treated with dignity and who is reduced to a stereotype.

The approach grew out of Ecrafti, the creative communications venture Ogunaka founded. Through it, he has developed Framing for a Cause as a way of thinking about development storytelling, with attention to how narratives about people and social issues are built and passed on.

His appearance adds a Nigerian perspective to an international exchange on how communication can influence public understanding of global challenges.

 Image courtesy of the artist. All rights reserved.

© Arts and Culture Place