By Ogova Ondego
Published November 24, 2015
An event that seeks to popularise art through an annual auction-cum-fundraiser has just wound up in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi.
Marla Stone, the Coordinator of the event known as The Affordable Art Show that ran October 23-25, 2015, says they received more than 425 pieces of art that were juried down to 309 for exhibition.
RELATED:Nairobi’s Annual Art-Popularising and Fundraising Show Returns
Saying 400 people attended the three-day art exhibition, Dr Stone, who also serves as Honorary Secretary of Kenya Museum Society (KMS) that organises and hosts the annual fundraising show, says 86 pieces, that represents 28% of the show, were sold and brought in Sh2.8 Million (about US$28000).
RELATED:International Theatre Festival Comes to Kampala
“After paying the artists their 70% off sales and other our expenses, and with sponsorship from Safaricom, Commercial Bank of Africa and our own members, we cleared Sh1.2 million. Those proceeds will be awarded to the National Museums of Kenya over the next few months for infrastructure and exhibition projects,” Dr Stone says.
She says the next annual show is scheduled for October 28-30, 2016 at Nairobi National Museum.
Meanwhile, Uganda is getting ready for the second edition of the Kampala International Theatre Festival (KITF)as South Africa’s Badilisha Poetry X-Change hosts a live poetry event in Cape Town.
RELATED:African Artists In Residency (AIR) 2015 Programme Awards Announced
RELATED: Consider Customs Charges When Purchasing Gifts Online
While KITF presents “theatre productions and theatre professionals from across the world” at Kampala National Theatre November 25-29, 2015, South Africans shall “celebrate the end of the Badilisha Road Trip – a trip into the African continent to meet and record the work of the poets who live and work here” at The Beautiful Life, located at 70 – 72 Bree Street in Cape Town, on December 4, 2015.
The post Nairobi’s Art Show Raises Funds as Kampala and Cape Town Celebrate Theatre and Poetry appeared first on ArtMatters.Info.
Sixty-eight of Africa’s ‘most provocative, 
Music:
The 2015 edition of AIR, Africa Centre says, is held in partnership with eight residencies across the globe. They include Bundanon Trust (Australia); Fountainhead (USA); Instituto Sacatar (Brazil); JIWAR Creation & Society (Spain); Khoj International Artists’ Association (India); Kuona Trust Arts Centre (Kenya); Nafasi Arts Space (Tanzania); and The Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center (Italy).
A two-day pilot programme aimed at developing both the 
The event was seen as a ground-breaking initiative as it was supported by local resources from Banana Hill Art Gallery, Bonzo Art Gallery, Kenice Investment, and Mugwe Manga.
“Work collectively. Form associations. Support one another,” Mugwe Manga advised, saying this could facilitate easier commissioning of work and place more money in the pockets of artists at the grassroots.
The gathered artists expressed their frustrations on issues such as the lack of a national art gallery, the duration of exhibitions at Nairobi National Museum (NNM) as being too long for any one single artist and thus denying many more of the opportunity to showcase their work, and that NNM took way too long to pay any artist whose works had been sold during any exhibition it hosts.
The two day workshop was graced by three generations of fine artists in Kenya with the aim of bridging the gap among these artists by giving them a platform to work together, share experiences and ideas to help develop the art sector of the country.
As our team of curious writers, videographers, critics, 
“I plan to turn this property into a museum of Akamba artifacts and college of creative writing,” he reiterates.
It may be a long holiday in Nairobi; many city dwellers are away till after New Year’s Day. But that does not mean the 
Children and youth in 
How does it feel like to be a 
Estabrak Al-Ansari, a former refugee from Iraq, was raised in London. She is a visual artist and filmmaker. She has exhibited in renowned galleries in Britain, winning a prize for her underwater photographic series, ‘Omanius Under Water.’ Her work examines the relationship between the body, the self, dress, movement, conformity, and the taboo concepts of sexuality, privilege, oppression, power, and understanding.
Works by more than 20 contemporary American and Portuguese artists will be on display January 21-February 19, 2016 in Mississippi State’s 
An exhibition that explores the possibility of artists, 
“In exhibiting the remnants of these interventions here,” say co-curators Neo Sinixolo Musangi and Joost Fontein, “we seek to reflect on how the traces of events outlive their particular moments, mirroring how our approach emphasises process than product, emergence rather than finality, the subjunctive rather than the conditional, and the possible rather than the certain.”
South Africa’s Mother City, Cape Town, shall not host its annual 
The plight of Infecting the City festival mirrors that of many donor-funded creative and cultural events across Africa. From South Africa in the south to Somalia in the east; and from Senegal in the west to Morocco and Tunisia to the north; and all the other places in between, creative and cultural initiatives that depend on ‘donors’ are in trouble over ‘lack of funds’.
The not-for-profit organisation began its austerity measures by focusing on its core programmes—weekly school outreach, fortnightly mobile cinema, monthly film forum, quarterly internship, annual festival—while freezing staff allowances (not salaries), reducing the number of staff and then stopping staff allowances altogether. While some staff members left, this enabled LKS to remain alive for a while.
CFC says its ‘core mandate’ was “to promote Cape Town and the Western Cape for local and international filming” and that this role was served “through relationships with the Department of Trade and Industry, the International Emmys, the Association of Film Commissioners International (AFCI), the South African Consulates in various territories, the Department of Home Affairs and the film industry.”
Winners of the 
The artists selected for AIR 2015 are:
AC says “Artists selected for residencies at The Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center will be announced in April 2016.” It says it “will be revealing more about these artists, including their residency proposals” on its website over the next fortnight.
Africa’s amusement, entertainment and retail industry could benefit immensely by participating in 
Analysts say Africa, a US$2 trillion economy with six out of ten fastest growing economies globally, could benefit from DEAL that is touted as being the largest amusement and entertainment exhibition in the Middle East and Africa region.
DEAL 2016 organisers say the show shall “unveil state-of-the-art innovations”. They further predict the trade show shall grow from 35% in 2015 to 40% in 2016 as African participation “grow exponentially” from 12% in the previous year due to what they describe as “rapid transformation of the African theme parks and amusement sector.”
Having studied painting at the age of 16, Onyango developed a vocabulary of “photo pictures” in his mind to which he still refers in his recent paintings. He met his European girlfriend, a voluptuous Italian woman named Drosie while working as a young artist; he produced his most famous series of works on their brief love affair. The paintings are snapshots or a slice of life during his more flamboyant days.
A leading promoter of 
The aim of OYASAF being to promote awareness and appreciation of African art, the not-for-profit oganisation stocks a large collection of paintings and sculptures, covering traditional, neo-traditional, modern and contemporary bronze, stone, wood, metal, glass fibre, recycled material, textile and photographs of Nigeria’s fast disappearing cultural festivals.”
Gatundu-Galavu says a gala in honour of the late Maathai will be graced by Margaret Kenyatta, the wife of Kenya’s President, Uhuru Kenyatta.
Busara invites artists from the Middle East and Indian Ocean regions to apply for consideration.
Meanwhile, the countdown to the announcement of the winner of the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award (ALMA) for children and youth is on.
Two of the shows–Who I Am Who We Are; and Celebrating Women with Art–end on March 28 and 31, respectively. So it makes sense to view them during this Easter weekend.
The address of the event, to be held 6:00-8:00 PM, is 2920 M Street, NW, Georgetown, Washington, DC, USA.
She fled to the British Kenya Colony to escape war in Europe, not to look for a career or status. But her work in the fields of art, culture and conservation has turned her into an icon, a legend around whom 
Joy Adamson may sound very much like a mythical figure that only exists in one’s mind. But her paintings of plants, people and landscapes put her in the realm of history: she was born in Czech Republic and migrated to Kenya at the age of 27. Here, she lived, loved, worked and died some 43 years later. She lives on. Through her paintings, line drawings, books and ideas.
RELATED:
We, from Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, Nigeria and United States of America are ecstatic as we go through our full day’s programme at NNM, the flagship of the National Museums of Kenya (NMK).
Before heading out for lunch at Nairobi Safari Club, our home for the next six days, we have to go through the entire museum. We view displays of slave raiders, what Kenyans went through during colonialism and even the evolution of humanity. We also view contemporary art and listen to talks about using art for conservation.
I’ve been struggling to find a way to summarise this project. The best I’ve managed so far is ‘radically inventive mash-up of photography, tech, 
It’s an exciting alternative to the traditional gallery set-up, and an excellent example of the innovative ways the digital world can be used to enhance the physical one.
‘Another Space & Time’ takes viewers on a journey through the American desert in search of the meaning of life, via 15 locations in East London. The Space Explorer app will guide explorers along a route from Hackney Central to Regent’s Canal, with 15 billboard-sized artworks hidden along the way. Once in the GPS zone of the artwork, the app immerses its users in a bespoke soundscape designed to complement and enhance the image, thus turning the untapped spaces of the neighbourhood into a four-dimensional outdoor gallery.
The project is run with the support of Hackney Council as part of its regeneration scheme, and is accompanied by the free Space Explorer magazine, available from cafés and shops along the route. The publication explores the story of the exhibition in depth and showcases up-and-coming photographic talent from the local VSCO community.
