Arts for Peace and Change in Kenya
Engaging arts as a medium of social, economic, and political transformation
in urban and rural Kenya
Proposal Summary
WHO: The Center for Partnership and Civic Engagement (CEPACET) and its nine coalition partners represent an active network of over 90 community based Kenyan organizations. In collaboration with Cultural Strategies Initiative, Inc. (CSI) and its international partners, we seek to raise money from a broad consortium of funders to coordinate and implement a 2-year project to work with artists, arts organizations and civil society organizations throughout Kenya to create lasting intra-community networks of peace building, civic participation and democracy, beginning with Kenya’s 2012 election cycle.
During the election season (PHASE I), projects will focus on reducing election-related violence to provide for full democratic participation by all, particularly women and youth. PHASE II Post-election projects will involve Anti-Corruption & Accountability campaigns.
WHAT: All activities integrate democratic civic engagement principles with arts practice, to create or strengthen working relationships between artists, civil society organizations and communities. Components include:
- training in arts and non-violent conflict resolution developed within the Kenyan context
- dialogues and workshops to promote and facilitate cross-sector collaboration
- locally-generated artistic presentations across the country in all mediums
- arts programs for and by youth and gang members in the Mathare Valley ghettos
- a community radio stations networking project
- community dialogues to promote constructive self-expression
- community leadership workshops for women and youth
- arts projects in schools
- art parade escorts to the polls and pop-up arts centers for voters waiting on lines
- intra-community peace postcards
- photographic contests and exhibitions
- participation in an interactive worldwide network of exhibition platforms
WHY: Arts have been a central part of all cultures across the world; as a gateway for the transmission and sharing of values among communities and nations, passing down the stories of the origin and development of humanity across generations. Through arts, we are able to discern and appreciate nature and morality. Arts participation gives voice and form to the human aspirations that foster and develop respect, empathy, pride in place and social cohesion. The arts can help citizens who desire peace, respect and stability in civic affairs to foster public self-expression and lasting and effective intra-community networks. Arts for Peace and Change will develop an infrastructure of bridges between individuals and organizations across sectors and geographies that will continue to facilitate communication and understanding in the future as we work together to build the country we know Kenya can be.
HOW: CEPACET will lead a centralized Kenyan Administrative Team that will develop and adopt rules, guidelines and protocols for project participation; deploy reporting structures for collecting data, coordinate project strategy as it develops and monitor compliance. It will create toolkits and organize trainings in arts and conflict resolution and cross sector collaboration. The Field Operations Team of nine Kenyan organizations will conduct project activities in 37 Kenyan counties. They will: create social profiles for each region, including a report on the potential for violence, abuse or conflict; conduct outreach; identify and engage leaders; build relationships with local communities to create buy-in for project goals; and conduct trainings, workshops and discussions with local artists and community members. They will coordinate arts activities calendars and assist with venues in the regions. The International Team will work with the Kenyan coalition, providing support on: arts and conflict resolution; cross-sector collaboration; maximization of available technologies; and social science research on impacts and outcomes of the project. Kenyans have reached out internationally to focus attention on the political violence in our country. The International Team will activate a worldwide network of exhibition platforms, physical and virtual, where Kenyan art & media from the project can reach a global audience that can, through interactive social media channels, respond critically and artistically to the work, creating an “active witness” response to events in Kenya as they unfold.
Kenyan Lead Partners – Center for Partnership and Civic Engagement (CEPACET), Millennium Youth Development and Cultural Organization, National Volunteer Network Trust, Kilele Foundation Kenya, SAY Kenya Initiative, Nyamira County Development Forum, Network of Young Women Leaders, National Network for African Human Rights Educators- Kenya, Tana Alim, Duara: STOP the BULLET! The Kenyan partners, have currently identified over 90 organizations, nine radio stations and ten gangs, with whom they work regularly.
International Partners – Cultural Strategies Initiative (CSI), African Medical and Research Foundation (AMREF) – U.S. & Africa, Duara Foundation – Naomi van Stapele (Netherlands), Global Arts Initiative (GAIN) – U.S., International Center for Ethics, Justice, and Public Life at Brandeis – Peace building and the Arts – U.S., Mission, Models, Money (MMM) – Great Britain, Sacred Slam/Youth at War and Peace (YAWP) – U.S.
THE FULL PROPOSAL FOR “ARTS FOR PEACE AND CHANGE” IS AVAILABLE IMMEDIATELY UPON REQUEST
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