Catalyst Grant Grantees

Transform Festival located in the UK and The Godown Arts in Kenya will deliver a collaborative research programme titled Making Space. This initiative will connect arts organisations, artists, local authorities, and young people in Leeds and Nairobi. It aims to explore: The relationship that young people living there have with their public, municipal spaces, and how these relationships reflect their wider sense of civic belonging and participation. 

Outlook Festival (UK) and  Umojah Sound System (Kenya)  are working together on a project, "The Power of The Sound System," addressing challenges in the Kenyan music industry, partnering with the Deaf Centre, and seek to promote the new technologies available in music production that allow collaborative music production across continents. They will also discuss the impact of AI on music.

MAFILO Arts and Film Fest is an initiative by Ecila Films, a production company founded by Joan Kabugu from Kenya, dedicated to showcasing Authentic African Stories. The three-day festival explores the intersection of 'Art and Impact' in Kenya and the UK. Joan Kabugu will collaborate with Glenn Edwards, a Cardiff-based photojournalist, and various artists to share their work, emphasize the power of collaboration, and discuss their artistic journeys.

Alice Such and Kairo from the UK and Vela from Kenya will collaborate on a visually compelling magazine project, "Transcendence Across Continents: A Trans-masculine Visual Odyssey," capturing diverse stories, fostering cross-cultural dialogue, and exploring the historical identity of trans-masculine individuals in Nairobi and London. 

The project, International New Artist Collective (INAC), through the grant will fund one UK artist and a UK New Artist (UKNA) staff member to visit Mombasa, presenting Jukwaa Arts Production’s weekly Art Cocktail event in summer 2024. Likewise, one Kenyan artist and a Jukwaa Arts staff member will visit UKNA’s “Weekend Celebration of Creativity” in Derby in October 2024, taking part in the UKNA Symposium, “Navigating the Present, Shaping the Future”.

The Braiding Sessions is a partnership between down river road's Karara Community Library and Archives and the Stuart Hall Library by iniva. The project explores the various practices that cultural workers, curators, librarians, and administrators engage in their communities to promote engagement with their knowledge resources and safeguard against memory loss and historical revisionism.

Njabulo Chipangura, an Anthropology graduate from the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa, and Emmaus Kimani, a Kenyan curator and poet, seek to conduct biographical research on cultural heritage objects from Kenya housed at the Manchester Museum. Their project includes audio-visually documenting this process. The project will collaboratively research the provenance of these objects with originating communities in Kenya, whose living cultures are represented at the Manchester Museum.

Fair Play Kenya is a collaborative initiative involving The Playhouse - UK, Amani Peoples Theatre - Kenya, and Warwick University’s School of Creative Arts, Performance and Visual Cultures, building upon investments by the Arts and Humanities Research Council. The project aims to foster international collaboration and artistic outcomes addressing contemporary challenges, connecting creative practitioners, building partnerships, and developing a festival event during the 2025 UK/Kenya season. 

The project by Spell Cast Media in Kenya and Sherry Davis in the UK seeks to explore the cultural legacy of the Mijikenda people, particularly focusing on Maskushe-kushe's resistance against British colonialism. Through a comprehensive scoping trip to coastal Kenya, it aims to facilitate creative sessions, community consultations, and collaborations to celebrate and preserve Mijikenda heritage.

Hack the Future Lab is an event by Intercative Film Ltd located in the UK, and Black Rhino VR in Kenya. The Catalyst Grant will facilitate a two-day workshop in Nairobi, hosted by Black Rhino, bringing together artists, technologists, activists, and researchers to envision decolonized technology systems. The event will pilot ideas for subsequent Hack the Future Labs globally. Key activities: a comprehensive workshop agenda spanning creative sessions, local visits, and final meetings.