Nakuru artists will this coming week converge to discuss their issues and ways in which they will highlight and inform their residents about the Constitution. Jukumu Letu, an initiative that seeks to inform Kenyans about the Constitution through art, will be in Nakuru, after holding successful events in Mathare, Nairobi County and Wote, Makueni County.
Some of the types of artists involved in the initiative include musicians, dancers, bloggers, puppeteers and Disk Jockeys (DJs). These creatives who, Jukumu Letu partners have identified are energetic and have abundance talent.
“Their potential is in the creative and economic areas but they are bogged down by stereotypes entrenched by politicians coupled with other cultural fears,” asserted Mathew Ondiege, a director and artist with Dance into Space.
The stereotypical challenges in Nakuru are at the heart of Jukumu Letu. The artists will be enlightened not just about the Constitution and their rights but also how to explore them into meaningful messages for society.
Nakuru County also has abundance of issues which through the right ways, can be better narrated to people. Areas like Molo have had perennial conflicts in successive elections since 1992 up to 2007. Naivasha is also politically volatile and on the new for bizzare news from time to time.
Beyond these governance issues, the county being agricultural has on the one hand flourishing large scale flower industries while on the other hand, small scale farmers of maize, vegetables and potatoes have challenges of poor road network which inhibit their ability to get products to markets, diseases which affect crop yields and inability to buy fertilizers that will increase crop yields.
From Monday 20th of April to Friday 24th, 2015, these issues will be organically explored by the trainers and trainees in various art spaces in Nakuru town including at the Nakuru players theatre. On the 24th, bloggers will also be trained on how to tell these stories through the various social media platforms for the consumption and input from interested parties around the world.
These trainings will culminate in a launch of the Jukumu Letu initiative at the Nyayo Gardens, Nakuru town on the 25th of April, 2015.
