Kugali's visual arts project

For enthusiasts of visual arts in Kenya, the new concept appears to be gaining ground through the efforts of  Danson Njoka, the CEO of Kugali, who is planning a number of groundbreaking visual arts projects not only in Kenya but beyond.

Notably, also the efforts by Kugali, an African entertainment company, are some of the activities in line with the current global digital transformation process which is making inroads in various social media platforms.

According to Njoka, Kugali is a not-for-profit training and development platform which will be offering free authentic visual arts training for artists in Kenya.

Others involved in the visual arts project alongside Kugali are Freehand Studios and Nalo Studios who Njoka says have played a key role in keeping alive the new concept.

To meet their production needs, Kugali has been involved in various activities ranging from identifying, nurturing and training budding visual arts talent from across the African continent.

Over the last five years, they have developed, tested and proven an internal training approach, that achieved and exceeded their expectations.

Their first, an original collaboration with Walt Disney Animation Disney series, was  Iwaju which features Joy, who is a Kenyan artist.

Her role was an eye-opener for similar roles by other up-and-coming Kenyans to take part in African visual storytelling.

Most of these projects were, however, confronted with a limited supply of highly skilled African visual arts’ talent with specific cultural knowledge and understanding.

Alongside the artistic skills to produce those projects. This is an industry with wide challenges limiting the quality and number of projects created.

There has been gradual value for African artists and economies, with lucrative production work for African stories done abroad.
Similarly, according to Njoka, “most education offerings don’t produce the necessary level and range of artistic skills needed, and are based on western and eastern art practices that are not informed by, or tailored to African cultural needs and visual uniqueness”.

Kugali has worked with several new artists from different disciplines, some of who had never collaborated with others or worked on a commercial project.

The team has been able to train and transform them into global-level talent, enabling them to fill in some of the talent needs on multiple Kugali projects including their debut Disney series Iwaju.  

In-house artist training is common in the budding  African visual arts industry, but with individual studios applying a fragmented approach with limited resources, progress has been rather slow.

As Njoka noted they endeavor to empower the African visual arts industry.

They will commence with a pilot project based in Kenya, delivered as online courses that will be split into four levels - over 18 months. Later the successful graduates of each level will progress to the next level. There will be a starting group of   100 students.

Compiled by Amos Ngaira
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