A lot of creative artistic talent is discovered every year in the Kenya National Drama and Film Festival which involves students from primary, and secondary schools, and colleges but the question is, What happens to all the raw talent after the glamorous festival?
Most of the talent goes to waste and those who display it move on to other things after secondary school. In local colleges and universities, they pursue other courses that can offer them career opportunities and a livelihood.
In Kenya, unlike several other African countries, there have not been Talent Academies and arts and entertainment. This means stage acting, singing and dancing, stand-up comedy, poetry and filmmaking have not been taken as meaningful or serious career choices.
In the United States of America, there have been universities and colleges which offer training in film and music. These include the American Film Institute and the CalArts School of Film and Video, dreamt up by the legendary Walt Disney shortly before he died in 1966. These institutions, together with other schools such as the Los Angeles Film School, have nurtured several stars who appear in the blockbusters in the film and music world.
In Africa, some nations have invested in colleges to nurture creative talent and have created superstars. These schools include the National Film Institute of Nigeria (which is the alma mater of most Nollywood stars), AFDA (Africa Film Drama Art) in South Africa, Imagine Film Institute in Burkina Faso and the WITS School of Art (WSOA) in the University of Witwatersrand in South Africa and Rhodes University School of Journalism and Media Studies in Eastern Cape, South Africa. They continue to nurture creative talent which makes the bulk of film and music stars in Africa and the rest of the world.
Locally, the stars we see on screen and on stage are self-made. They have made it to the top through cheer self-confidence and resilience. With the advent of TikTok and other social media avenues, these characters have started making serious money and Kenyans have woken up to the fact that there is money to be made in entertainment.
Kenya is catching up. With the quick-fire global development of creative media, content creation and television, Kenyans have come to realise that entertainment can be much better paying than conventional careers. This was the rationale behind the creation of the Cape Media Talent Academy, a collaborative effort between Cape Media and Mount Kenya University which was unveiled at Mwai Kibaki Conventional Centre, Thika.
MKU Vice Chancellor Prof Deogratius Jaqanyi said the talent academy will offer post-secondary students hands-on training in such diverse fields as acting for television, screenwriting, cinematography, video production, Stage Live Production, directing, production design, animation as well as costume, make-up and styling. They will also offer hands-on training in film editing, visual effects, music production, dance and choreography, among others.
During the Talent Academy launch MKU students displayed their talent with short play, acted by Warren Odhiambo, Charity Imali, Steve Odewa, Jewel Machuka, Stephen Kibe, Alvin Asuza, Alice Mwangi, spoken word, Rachel Nganga, narrators, Antony Macharia, Jacob Koli, couple dance, Andrew Mshairi, Faith Wanjiru, instrumentalists, Manasseh Giita Waweru, Daniel Simiyu Wamalwa.
During the event at the Mwai Kibaki Convention Centre in MKU last Thursday, several performances were staged and screened to emphasise what the new initiative is all about, which is offering training and coming up with artistic pieces which are professionally done and, more importantly, palatable to the general public. The pieces presented during the ceremony were mostly by students from MKU’s Film, Creative and Performing Arts Department.
Among the items was an oral narrative about a student whose father, a university professor, forces his son to repeat Form Three to gain interest and pass the subjects that will see him qualify as a lawyer.
When the boy gets to the university, he graduates with a top-class degree in what he likes most: music.
The narrative by Jacob Ikali and Anthony Machatia with background percussion music by MKU’s brass band had a simple theme that parents should not force children to take up careers that the children don’t like.
Instead, they should encourage them to choose for themselves. The narrative also showed that students can nurture creative talent into rewarding careers.
The MKU choir presented three songs while other performances were a free-style dance, a mime, a solo dance, a battle dance and brass performances by the university brass band. There was also a spoken word presentation, a play, and dances among other items. According to William Luta, the senior technician in the creative and performing arts department of the university, the pieces are just some that are lined up for recording and public release by the department.
“The intention of the programme is to teach creative arts as a subject and to create material for the consumption of all Kenyans. To enable local artistes to produce high-quality material for airing in local media, they need to be given professional hands-on training and also afforded opportunities,” said Mr Mwenda Njoka.
Ms Nelly Muluka, Kenya Film Classification Board acting chief manager, of corporate services and administration said that the new initiative will seek to harness, cultivate, nurture, showcase, and monetise the talents of young Kenyans through training. She said that the programme will target students in universities and that beneficiaries will acquire professional hands-on training as well as employment opportunities.
Artistes who have excelled in entertainment after being nurtured in the drama festival as Dagoretti South MP John Kiarie, comedian Eric Omondi, and Daniel Ndambuki among others. Those were the few who got a chance.
When we have more of such initiatives as this one, our youth who are into creative arts will get more and better opportunities and the public will be given quality entertainment material,” said Students from the MKU Institute of Creative and Performing Arts praised the launch of the Talent Academy, saying that it will open new doors for them. One of them, Jewel Machuka. She said that those of them with a passion in arts now have an opportunity to exhaust and use this platform created to unlock their endless possibilities.
According to the senior technician of the Institute of Creative and Performing Arts, William Luta, the initiative will be trained in skills such as stand-up comedy and content creation and how to market their brands to make a living from them. This will lead to job creation, he added.
