Kenya is set to upgrade the GoDown art complex at a cost of US $20m. This is according to Ms Joy Mboya, the Executive Director of the GoDown Arts Centre.
The GoDown art complex sits on a 10,000 square-meter warehouse with studios, rehearsal and performance spaces in the industrial area Nairobi established in 2003. The center is a non-profit facility that provides subsidized space for Kenyan artists and public programmes for local audiences. It facilitates programs such as Nai ni Who? Dunda mtaani, The East African Art summit among others.
It has significantly contributed to the growth, recognition, and visibility of local artist by fostering and facilitating collaborations and encounters between artists from different disciplines and different parts of the world.
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The new GoDown Arts Centre
Construction of the new GoDown Arts Centre will begin in August 2019. It will be a mixed-use development built on a 30,000 square metres of area. The development will feature three storeys of art galleries, a 300-seat multipurpose auditorium, a digital resource centre, children’s creative studio and 20 visual art studios.
The founders visualize a space for community, culture, and creativity that would last for the next 100 years and to be fully implemented by 2021. This has led to the collaboration with Ulrika Stenkula of the White Arkitekter based in Stockholm, Sweden for the development of the project. The team has been tasked with the designing and drawing of the new complex with the help of Planning Systems Services, Kenya.
The entire complex is estimated to cost US $20m. The GoDown board has contributed US $2m towards the project while fundraising programs have been put in place where the public has been contributing through various platforms and are active.
The GoDown is also targeting corporates and the Government for financial support and the conversations will begin this year as they continue to nurture the international structures. Upon completion the facility will be the first major public complex for performing and visual arts to be built since Kenya’s independence in 1963.
