East African projects nominated for Music Cities Awards 2023

Ubunifu Arts Centre (UAC) in Kenya was nominated for the Best Organisation or Individual Supporting Music in their City category, while the Kisiki Hai project in Tanzania was nominated for Best Initiative Using Music to Support Environmental Sustainability.

The Music Cities Awards is a global competition designed to acknowledge and reward the most outstanding applications of music for economic, social, environmental and cultural development in cities and places all around the world.

UAC is a community-based organisation based in Kariobangi on the east side of the capital Nairobi. The organisation offers inspiring, creative, artistic and cultural experiences at its hub where young creatives are welcomed and valued. UAC collaborates with the local community to create a platform for intergenerational exchange to encourage the continuation of cultural heritage but also to educate residents about their culture, history and identity, which is intertwined with the arts.

Kisiki Hai, meanwhile, is a project at the intersection of environmental sustainability and music. It’s a collaboration between the LEAD Foundation and Tanzanian rapper Frida Amani, and aims to scale up farmer-managed natural regeneration and rainwater harvesting techniques in Dodoma Region in central Tanzania.

LEAD Foundation said: “Kisiki Hai meaning ‘living stump’ is a low-cost, sustainable land restoration technique used to combat poverty and hunger among poor subsistence farmers in developing countries by increasing food and timber production, and resilience to climate extremes. It involves the systematic regeneration and management of trees and shrubs from tree stumps, roots and seeds.”

The 2023 Music Cities Awards received more than 200 applications from some 25 countries in five continents, showing how people across the world use music to drive tourism, wellness and youth development, and transform old buildings into cultural hubs.

Past winners of the competition include Warner Global DEI Institute (US), DGTL Festival (Netherlands), Auckland City of Music (New Zealand), Palestine Music Expo (Palestine) and Roskilde Kommune (Denmark), among others.

The winners of the Music Cities Awards will be announced at the Mars Music Hall in Huntsville, Alabama, US, on 18 October during a ceremony that will also serve as the opening day of the Huntsville Music Cities Convention. About 20 nominees and applicants from five continents are expected to attend.

Learn more about the nominees here.