ENHANCING CREATIVITY FOR YOUTH EMPOWERMENT AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT Proceedings of the 2nd Arts, Education and Community Engagement Conference hosted by The Technical University of Kenya. Nairobi, Kenya • February 7th — 8th 2019 Edited by Emily Achieng’ Akuno, Simon Peter Otieno & Rachael Anyango Diang’a ISBN: 9966-7028-8-1 Contents Preface ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................ iv I Artist Development for the Industry ........................................................................................................................... 1 Reimagining the place of the Kenya National Theatre in 21st Century Realities Fredrick Mbogo .................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 2 Training the 21st Century Kenyan Artist: How the Competency-Based Curriculum lends itself to art training. Lydia Muthuma, ............................................................................................................................................................................................... 7 Exploring the Role of Networks within Creative Industries in Kenya Mawira Gibson, ..............................................................................................................................................................................................14 Promoting Youth Empowerment Through Modern Creative Dance in Kenyan Higher Education Institutions Franklin Nyambane ........................................................................................................................................................................................ 19 The University Curriculum and the Creative Economy: The Case of Training Theatre Artists in Kenyan Universities Shikuku Emmanuel Tsikhungu ........................................................................................................................................................................ 25 II Community Engagement .......................................................................................................................................... 30 From Kamaru to Kwame: Cultural Awakening through Music Maina wa Mũtonya, ........................................................................................................................................................................................................31 Community Engagement through the Creative Arts With Reference to Film and Television Eston N. Munyi ............................................................................................................................................................................................. 35 The Role of Public Art and Community Participation within University Setting Otieno Jayne, ................................................................................................................................................................................................... 38 Art Songs By African Composers Performed In Nairobi: Investigating idiomatic music expressions in performance practice Sylvester Makobi, ............................................................................................................................................................................................43 III Research Agenda ....................................................................................................................................................... 51 Cultural Globalisation as a Means of Sustainable Community Development Dorothy Muchere Bulinda, ...............................................................................................................................................................................................52 Leveraging Self-Assessment as a Tool to Enhance Creativity in Music and Visual Art Benjamin Bolden1, Dr. Ernst Wagner2, .........................................................................................................................................................56 Enhancing Design Practice and Planning in the Jua Kali Sector through a Competency-Based Design Training Framework Mary Clare Akinyi Kidenda, PhD, ...................................................................................................................................................................62 Research on Dance or Dance on Research: Recognising the scientific in cultural dances of Kenya Kahithe Kiiru, MSc., .......................................................................................................................................................................................77 Finding a Definitive Style in the Animation Industry Nyabere, Emily ............................................................................................................................................................................................... 83 Film and Restoration of Ruined Humanity: Judy Kibinge’s Something Necessary Wafula Yenjela ................................................................................................................................................................................................ 89 Turning Monologue into Play: A journey through self-revelatory theatre in the one woman play Diary of a Divorced Woman by Zippy Okoth Okoth Zippora ................................................................................................................................................................................................93 IV Emerging Trends ....................................................................................................................................................... 97 Augmented Creativity and Connectivity through Digital Musical Instruments – First Empirical Insights Prof. Dr. Benjamin Jörissen, .............................................................................................................................................................................................98 Identity and Purpose from Erasure to Valorising: Mending Broken Creative Education with Urban Youth Flora Mutere-Okuku, ....................................................................................................................................................................................103 Enhancing Creativity through Assessment for Learning Benjamin Bolden, ...........................................................................................................................................................................................110 The Viability of Using Character Animation as a Visual Medium in Educating Sign Language Users at Primary School Level in Developing Countries Munyao, Isabella ...........................................................................................................................................................................................116 Preface A nation’s quest for human development and resource mobilisation is often tackled from various, diverse yet complementary angles. Whereas in Kenya, there has been a perceived rift between the academy and industry in the creative and performance disciplines, the desire for knowledgeable and skilled human resources is voiced in many fora. The Development of Creativity for Youth Empowerment and Community Development is an initiative that works towards ameliorating the skills deficiency in the creative industry. As a multi-pronged project supported by the National Research Fund, it engages with the needs of industry in order to propose content for training that will help fill this gap. Granted, no single mitigation will be sufficient, because the needs of industry and society are complex, and hence our appreciation that this is one among many projects. The papers in this publication capture some of the issues under discussion at the Creativity for Youth Empowerment conference hosted by the Technical University of Kenya at the Sarova Panafric Hotel in Nairobi on February 7 - 8 2019. I hope that they will provide knowledge and points of discussion way beyond the conference forum. Emily Achieng’ Akuno Project Convener. I Artist Development for the Industry Proceedings of the 2nd Arts, Education and Community Engagement Conference 2 hosted by The Technical University of Kenya • Nairobi, Kenya • February 7th — 8th 2019 Reimagining the place of the Kenya National Theatre in 21st Century Realities Fredrick Mbogo The Technical University, Department of Music and Performing Arts Abstract: This paper traces the origin, and rationale of the Kenya National Theatre. It seeks to understand the metanarrative underscored in the process of creating a national theatre. It problematizes the idea of a national theatre especially within the historical meeting points that Kenya is presented with – from a colony to an independent state. Such questions as, “Who performs at the national theatre? What do they perform? For whom do they perform?” are interpreted within concerns of “Who decides what is to be performed? Are there censorship concerns? What is the place of politics in the performance tradition at the Kenya National Theatre?” A historical replay on Ngugi wa Thiong’o’s “rehearsals” of his play I will Marry When I want