Our strong drive for the industry is to spearhead research, organize incubation programs through training and mentorship, curate and promote legacy art-cultural festivals and events that support community-engaged artists to break new ground for Nairobi’s creative economy; and transform the city’s poor suburbs into vibrant, friendly and dynamic neighborhoods; that widen opportunities for wealth and job creation.
The training platform provides flexible, needs-based programs tailored to address the unique challenges and varying skill levels within the arts community. These programs are offered both in short-term and long-term formats. In partnership with the University of Nairobi, the platform hosts an annual Art-Life Symposium and a monthly series of thematic workshops called the "Let's Talk Art Workshop Series." The initiative aims to equip women, disability, and at-risk youth in Nairobi with art-making business skills. The training helps participants become effective "community artivists," capable of driving meaningful dialogue on contemporary social issues, contributing to cultural preservation, social change, and environmental consciousness, while addressing challenges that affect the development of arts in their communities.
Art-Life Group has teamed up with the University of Nairobi to create an Arts Innovation Hub that supports the career and entrepreneurial growth of vulnerable artists in Nairobi and beyond. This hub offers resources for research, ideation, conception, design, development, testing, planning, branding, market access, feedback, and alignment with market needs. It represents a vibrant and dynamic Value Creation Initiative dedicated to empowering women, people with disabilities, and at-risk youth from street families, ghettos, and refugee communities. Artists receive mentorship from the university's leading educators to transform their creativity into viable ventures, ultimately helping them achieve their art-life dreams.
The Art-Life Wellness Center, is the first-ever psycho-social support counseling unit dedicated to supporting community artists and art-makers in Nairobi, that may be psychologically deprived to help manage their emotional and mental health. The program is a collaborative initiative between Art-Life Group and the University of Nairobi, expected to provide affordable mental health services using a community-based approach. Beyond addressing mental illness, the initiative promotes the values of arts engagement (such as listening to music, dancing, painting, attending concerts, etc.) as a therapeutic tool for emotional well-being. Additionally, it runs a non-pharmacological clinical music program to support mental rehabilitation.
Our music development program is strategic and deliberate in design - the Art-Life Musical Academy is a strategic one-year program designed to develop artists' songwriting, vocal skills, and instrumental proficiency. Through a series of week-long boot camps, participants learn band development, explore various musical instruments; and blend classical elements of traditional and contemporary Kenyan musical styles e.g. afro-pop, afro-fusion, hip-hop, jazz, etc ..with lyrical influences that draw from the stories of their personal experiences, communities, cultures and people. The program will foster co-creation and exchanges that contributing to a much-needed recalibration of what is presented on both local and global musical markets
The Art-Life Digital initiative is a transformative program at the intersection of technology, art, and culture, aimed at unlocking Kenya’s creative and cultural industries. Recognizing the profound impact of digital art, the program provides young artists and technologists with a platform for co-creation, networking, and showcasing their work. One of the poignant pillars of collaboration between Art-Life Group and the University of Nairobi, focuses on building the capacity of local digital artists by equipping them with advanced digital techniques that aren’t possible with traditional media, such as layering, undo functions, and AI-assisted creation. The initiative also enhances artists’ competitiveness in animation, gaming, social media, and crypto art, leveraging on new global revenue streams enabled by blockchain technology.
The Art-Life festivals program is designed to strengthen Kenya’s creative and cultural industries by providing art-makers with unique festival experiences that promote networking, showcasing, training, and cross-border collaborations. The program targets to help artists and cultural actors aged 18-35 to foster co-creation, market positioning, and income generation. Rooted in collaboration, community, and innovation, it aims to brings together state and non-state actors to create multi-art spaces for underserved artists – helping expand their access to cultural markets. Our festivals are designed to enhance the arts monetization capabilities of local artists through a diverse range of events, including live music, performing arts, visual arts, digital media, fashion, literary arts, and workshops. Our flagship festivals include the Nairobi Art-Life International Festival; Nature-Fest (a climate-action initiative), and West’A Fest (a Trans-Western Cycling Festival).
The Art-Life Fashion initiative aims to revolutionize Kenya’s local fashion industry by blending pre-colonial cultural fashion with modern innovation. Through research and creativity, it seeks to revive traditional aesthetics using contemporary designs, incorporating vibrant colors, fabrics, handcrafts, beadwork, recycled materials, batik, leather, and metal wear. The **Art-Life fashion program** will sustainably merge cultural heritage with modern aesthetics, leveraging AI and contemporary design trends. A key aspect involves deploying young fashion designers on immersive journeys into Kenya’s cultural hinterlands to explore and rediscover the unique styles and traditions of the country’s 45 ethnic groups, uncovering hidden fashion gems to redefine Kenya’s cultural identity and aesthetic.
Art-Life believes that modern industrial civilization was built on the innovations of traditional arts and crafts, which shaped specialized production, skilled labor, and artistic advancement. The Hand-Craft Program seeks to revitalize Kenya’s underdeveloped cultural industries—such as pottery, textiles, weaving, sculpting, metallurgy, stained glass production, beadwork, leatherwork, woodworking, basketry, ceramics, toy crafting, and upcycling art from waste —by transforming them into thriving cottage industries that drive job creation and economic growth. Through research-driven innovation, the program aims to enhance artisans’ creativity, refine techniques, and integrate artistic expression with technology and AI to boost quality, branding, and market competitiveness. Additionally, these arts-based industries can become key suppliers for sectors like interior décor, entertainment, event planning, and local businesses, further strengthening Kenya’s creative economy.
Our community arts residence program provides a dedicated space for booth camp mentoring and networking activities, tailormade to support emerging and established artists from within Kenya and beyond. As an extension of our incubation program, the arts-residence is a nucleic home of artistic exchanges, meditation, rehearsals, accommodation, and co-creation. It serves as a seasonal Nairobi homily for mentoring the at-risk art-makers from the city’s underserved as well as conflict riddled backyards of Kenya’s cultural hinterland, engaged in visual arts, music, performance, and other interdisciplinary arts. The residence will also be home to visiting foreign artists that seek to volunteer skills OR co-create collaboratively with local artists, as well as help build bridges of cultural exchanges between Kenyan arts and that of their home country.
Art-Life is a progressive non-profit founded in 2014 (and incorporated in 2019) to empower underserved Kenyan youth through the delivery of far-reaching and high impact art-cultural programs, services and resources across various disciplines of arts. We engage communities with an aim of supporting the growth and welfare of vulnerable art-makers like women, disability, refugees, and at-risk youth artists living in the greater Nairobi metropolitan area and beyond
