Government to partner with American Grammy's to promote local talent

Kisumu Sunday June 4, 2023

KNA by Chris Mahandara 

The government has opened negotiations with the American Grammy’s to nurture and support local talent.  

Once finalised, the move will see young talented Kenyans secure training and recording opportunities with the world's prestigious music awards organisers to polish and monitize their content.

Youth Affairs Sports and Arts Cabinet Secretary (CS) Ababu Namwamba said the talks come after a successful signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with Trace TV to promote local talent.

The two agreements, he said were a milestone in the government's plan to support local creatives earn a decent living from their content. 

Through partnership with the county governments, he said an elaborate programme was being structured to identify and nurture talent to benefit from the programs.

The initiative which is under the government's Talanta Hela programme, he said was set to unlock opportunities for youths across the country.

A competition dubbed 'Who's Kenya's next big star?' he said has been planned and will be implemented in the counties to scout for local talent.

"The competition is being structured and will be announced officially next week," he said.

Each county, he added will organize competitions at the grassroots with the best of the best meeting at the nationals to select winners to benefit from the Trace TV and Grammys scholarships.

Trace which runs a radio and TV station, he disclosed will absorb 30 young artists every year.

The beneficiaries will receive training at the Trace Academy and receive support to record content which will then be promoted on Trace TV and radio.

The Ministry, he added, plans to develop academies across the country to support creatives.

"We are seeking to explore all creatives in music, fashion, pageantry, fine art, film, comedy, theatre and performing arts to ensure that all artists monetise their content," he said.

peaking during the inaugural Kisumu Arts and Culture Festival, Namwamba challenged the media to scale up airtime for local productions to support growth of the creative industry.

Local productions despite being of superior quality, he said continue to be shunned by the local media dealing a blow to the growth of the sector.

His ministry, he added, was also negotiating with social media giants Meta, Tiktok and google to open up avenue for local content.

"We want to feed more local content into the platforms including our archives and national drama festivals," he said.

Courtesy ; K. N. A