Tanzania: KAN Festival kicks off in Arusha

KAN 2020 runs under the theme, Maendeleo ni Watu si Vitu (Development is People, Not Things) and seeks to showcase socially conscious visual and performing art.

The festival's line-up includes Vitali Maembe (Tanzania), Fid Q, Siti and the Band (Tanzania), Florence John (Tanzania), Sandra Nankoma (Uganda), Juma Tutu (Kenya), Bengatronics (Kenya), Victor Kunonga (Zimbabwe) and Isabella Novela (Mozambique).

"A festival that combines all types of art and knowledge in East Africa is a rare breed that I am so proud to be a part of," Nankoma told Music In Africa.

“I am excited to experience it for the first time and being one of the Ugandans selected to represent my region is an honour. I love networking and collaborations, so be sure that it's one of the things I have set out to do on this beautiful platform."

KAN Festival will also feature panel discussions with development practitioners and artists, round tables with visual artists and filmmakers, and breakout sessions, which are meant to encourage participants to create synergies, increase mutual understanding and approach development solutions from different angles.

Now in its second edition, the festival seeks "to create opportunities for mutual stimulation and collaborative analysis of social challenges at hand such as teenage pregnancy, refugees, youth unemployment, corruption and surfacing collective action steps," the festival’s executive director, Ezra Mbogori, said.

“At KAN we recognise the power of art and firmly believe that synergising art with life in the community can be a powerful way of promoting community strengthening. Culture, including painting, is a medium for development that, if we commit to, can breathe new life into the community."

The festival will also screen films from across Africa, including Gifts From Babylon, a short exploring the psychological impact of Africa-European migration through the lens of a Gambian return migrant.