Nairobi Celebrates Art, Film, Heritage and Self Expression

By Irene Gaitirira
Published May 13, 2017

Despite rising inflation and mounting anxiety over impending general election in Kenya, the arts and entertainment calendar for May remains packed as attested to by African Arts & Entertainment Diary that is updated around the clock.

Running at Nairobi National Museum the whole of May 13 is the 5th Nairobi International Cultural Festival on the theme ‘Celebrating Cultural Diversity’. This single day event brings together participants from all walks of life around the world to celebrate diversity in Art, Cuisine, Music, Dance, Handicrafts and Fashion.

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Coming hot on the heels of the cultural festival at Kenya’s house of culture and heritage are two art shows.

The first exhibition, that runs through May 30, 2017 in the Temporary Gallery, is a display in text and images by Patrick Abungu and Okoko Ashikoye and it looks at the abolition of slave trade in East Africa and its legacy on contemporary Kenyan society of slave descent.

The second show, in the Creativity Gallery, runs through June 30 and is by Michael Soi, Patrick Mukabi and Joseph Bertiers who are described as artists who do not flinch from controversial issues.And true to the description, their exhibition is titled Museums and Contested Histories: Saying the unspeakable in museums.

Both exhibitions are aimed at celebrating the International Museum Day on May 18, 2017.

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Not to be forgotten are other art shows that have been running at Nairobi National Museum and Nairobi Gallery since April 2017.

While the former, titled Hope: A Story of Courage & Sacrifice, ends on May 30, Transitions, the latter, ends on June 30. You can read more about them in the African Arts & Entertainment Diary of ArtMatters.Info.

This paves way for the 26th annual European Film Festival, a seven-day (May 15-21) event scheduled to run at 5:30-7:30 PM (weekdays) and 3:00, 5:30 & 7:30 PM (weekend) at Alliance Française. Coordinated by the European Union Delegation to Kenya, the event will then move to Nairobi, Kenya National Museum on Museum Hill May 22-24.The European Film Festival has no gate charges.

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The 100th Lola Kenya Screen film forum (LKSff), Nairobi’s longest running and most consistent monthly motion pictures gathering, shall be held at Goethe-Institut on June 26, 2017 from 5:30 PM. It is the premier critical movie platform that marks its 12th year in 2017.

LKSff is held with the aim of screening and critiquing films, encouraging filmmakers and exploring ways of integrating film production in eastern Africa with other socio-cultural and economic sectors in order to come up with a sustainable motion pictures industry.

One of the five programmes of the Lola Kenya Screen (LKS) media & arts festival, skills-development programme and marketing platform for children and youth in eastern, LKSff is often one of the first places where new films can be seen and young talent spotted.

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LKSff is presented by ComMattersKenya’s ArtMatters.Info cultural journalism and arts criticism initiative in collaboration with Goethe-Institut and in association with IPO-Eastern Africa.