A NIGERIAN mature student has set up a business to develop and celebrate cultural diversity in the North-East.

Peter Adegbie has launched community interest company Culture Parade, which hopes to provide a forum for people to share heritage, arts, literature, drama, fashion and cuisine with the community through a series of exhibitions.

Mr Adegbie, 49, and his wife and business partner Nkechi, hope to launch their first exhibition in The International Friendship Centre, in Sunderland, in March next year.

He is studying for a PhD in creative writing at Newcastle University and was shortlisted in the university business planning competition the Blueprint.

Mr Adegbie became a Christian missionary with the World Mission Agency in 1996 and served in East, Central and West Africa. He created the Changing Perspectives cultural participation programme in 2007, which evolved into a multimedia archive documentation of African families living in the North- East.

“Culture Parade will be a rolling interactive exhibition of different cultures from different parts of the world,” he said. “One country’s culture at a time will be showcased to the wider community in the form of art displays, dance acts, movie screenings, cookery lessons and storytelling.”