UK/Kenya
Season 2025
Celebrate creativity and innovation:
arts, culture, and education.
A celebration of creativity and innovation
In collaboration with partners in Kenya and the UK, we are presenting a programme of activities in 2025 that celebrates creativity and innovation across the arts, culture and heritage, and education. With a thematic focus on innovation, the UK/Kenya Season 2025 will open up new opportunities for connection, exchange, and collaboration. Running from May to November 2025 in Kenya and the UK, and a few events in Italy, the Season will feature public events spanning architecture, design, fashion, literature, music, visual arts, performing arts, and film.
A series of events and collaborations will be hosted by The Africa Centre and their partners in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.
UK/Kenya Season Finale
The UK/Kenya Season Finale in Kenya will be a celebration of Nairobi’s vibrant arts, culture, and heritage scene. Across four weeks, in collaboration with our partners Creatives Garage and NBST will bring together artists, designers, technologists, performers, cultural spaces, and audiences to think, create and celebrate the future of culture and creativity. Experiences will include exhibitions, performances, workshops, talks, screenings, public art, and immersive experiences drawing on the themes of climate and technology, the future of learning, performance and storytelling in the AI era.
The UK/Kenya Season Finale supports emerging and established voices, deepens UK–Kenya cultural exchange, and celebrates a city defined by imagination and a flourishing creative community. Registration links for events will be updated soon.
In transit under another sky
In transit under another sky first showed in Kampala and Nairobi as part of Art Exchange: Moving image, a 2023–2025 programme supporting curators from Africa and South Asia to engage with moving image works and the British Council Visual Arts Collection. As part of UK/Kenya Season 2025, the exhibition was presented at The Africa Centre in London. The show explored themes of home, memory, and migration and ran at the Centre from 21 May until 16 June.
The exhibition explored art and artists living in-between spaces, geographical and identity-based, and how movement shapes experience. It used moving images to explore feelings of transit, borders and the space between arrival and departure.
Artists are Larry Achiampong, Mohamed Almusibli, Kabi Kimari, Mogoi, Neema Ngelime, SCARLETMOTIFF and Emma Wolukau-Wanambwa.
Catalyst Grants
The projects cover various themes including, Theatre and Dance, Creative Tech and Digital Innovation, Visual Arts and Film, Music, Cultural Heritage, Diversity, and Community Building. These projects lift up marginalized voices, celebrate cultural pride, and spark cross-cultural conversations and social change through creative collaboration.
The grant brings together creatives and cultural hubs from the UK and Kenya to work on exciting projects, like a comedian from Manchester teaming up with Kenyan comedians for a show; music producers from both countries experimenting with new ways to create music across continents; and gaming fans and companies exploring how games can drive social activism, especially around climate change. A wide range of events, workshops, and activities will take place in Kenya, the UK, and beyond, open for audiences to explore and experience.
Venice Biennale
The 2025 British Pavilion exhibition in Venice, titled "The Geology of Britannic Repair," is showcasing a high-profile UK-Kenya collaboration as part of the British Council’s UK-Kenya Season. Selected through an Open Call launched in November 2023. The project results from innovative proposals for a UK-Kenya collaborative exhibition. It explores reversing colonial impacts through local architectural repair practices, celebrating connections between the two countries.
Practitioner team are:
- Kabage Karanja and Stella Mutegi, Co-founders and Directors, Cave Bureau , Nairobi
- Owen Hopkins, Director of the Farrell Centre at Newcastle University
- Kathryn Yussuf, Professor of inhuman geography at Queen Mary University of London
As part of the programme, 46 Venice Fellows will travel to Italy over five residency months - 42 from UK partners and four from Kenya partners. The Kenyan fellows are:
- Consolata Njeri Muchina – Photographer, Shujaa Stories
- Elvis Ramboh – Contemporary Oil Painter, Shujaa Stories
- Rehema Mumbi Kabare – Constructive Engineer Manager, Nairobi Now
- Tony Bulimu Adembesa – Artist and Curator, Nairobi Now
Bradford City of Culture
In 2025, we are collaborating with Bradford 2025 UK City of Culture on two projects, the Bradford - Nairobi Producer Exchange and B Day Festival (UK), a collaboration with Blankets and Wine Festival.
Bradford - Nairobi Producer Exchange
The Bradford 2025 UK City of Culture, the Bradford Producing Hub and the Bridges Producers Fellowship programme in Kenya have launched an international Bradford - Nairobi Producer Exchange. Taking place between August and September 2025, this exciting exchange programme offers a unique opportunity for Bradford-based producers from the African Diaspora working in live arts, performance, or arts and culture events.
B Day Festival
Blankets & Wine Bradford City
Kenya comes to Manningham! Celebrate African music and culture across two stages in Lister Park.
The UK City of Culture is teaming up with the internationally celebrated African music and lifestyle festival Blankets & Wine, for an all-day celebration of Kenyan music and culture across two stages in Lister Park – and it’s all free.
Blankets & Wine Bradford promises a full day and evening of live music, DJ sets, and cultural experiences across two stages, featuring the most exciting Kenyan artists and electronic music producers & DJs. Attendees can also expect a curated selection of food and drink at the “Onja Onja food market, including authentic African flavours, alongside artisan craft stalls and a warm inclusive festival atmosphere.
We’re inviting some of Kenya’s most exciting acts to Bradford, including, Bensoul, Boutross Njerae, Elsy Wameyo, Euggy, Blinky Bill, Tina Ardor, and Coster Ojwang.
You bring the blankets; we’ll provide the wine.
Date: Saturday 6 September 2025
Location: The Beacon, Lister Park, Bradford, United Kingdom
Cultural Heritage Symposium
As part of our Cultural Heritage for Inclusive Growth programme, we hosted a hybrid symposium in Nairobi - the Cultural Heritage Symposium - under the theme Heritage in the Digital Age, from 24–26 July 2025. The event explored how indigenous heritage intersects with technology, bringing together community voices, creatives, researchers and policymakers from Kenya, the Global South and the UK. Sessions highlighted how cultural heritage and creative tech can address global challenges.
Catch British Council Director for Arts Ruth Mckenzie, CBE’s reflections and other sessions from the symposium here.
Hay Festival and NBO LitFest
Launched by Book Bunk in 2021, NBO LitFest has fast become a standout event on the international literary calendar - celebrating free expression, cultural exchange and bold storytelling. In 2025, the festival entered an exciting new chapter through a partnership with the Hay Festival to co-design dynamic programmes in Wales and Nairobi that brought readers, writers and thought leaders together to celebrate and inspire different views and perspectives.
Held between 22 May –1 June 2025, the Hay Festival included the participation of Kenyan historian and digital humanities scholar, Chao Tayiana Maina and award-winning Kenyan poet Ngartia Kimathi.
This year’s NBO Litfest took place from 26 to 29 June with four vibrant days of conversation, creativity and connection. The 2025 edition brought together over 60 writers, poets, artists, thinkers and educators from across Africa and around the world for a programme of 43 sessions that aimed to spark new ideas and perspectives.
Centred on the theme Exploring Alternative Knowledge Systems, the festival invites us to rethink how we learn, share, and imagine beyond the usual ways of knowing.
SoCreative
The SoCreative eLearning is a free, expertly developed online programme that supports aspiring and early-stage young African entrepreneurs. Created through a collaboration between University of London, Belle & Co, Henley Business School, and African Nolly Creative Hub, the programme addresses key knowledge gaps identified in the creative industries.
Courses range from understanding the creative economy to raising capital for business growth, exploring the power of technology, and delving into impact entrepreneurship and pitching. So far, over 30,000 learners have successfully completed the programme, with a further 25,000 currently enrolled and studying. On completion, participants receive a certificate that unlocks access to mentoring, coaching, incubation, and acceleration initiatives across participating countries.
This programme is part of the British Council’s broader Creative Economy work, aimed at nurturing a vibrant entrepreneurial ecosystem and supporting Africa’s next generation of creative leaders.
Past Events
Event | Location | Dates | |
|---|---|---|---|
Season Launch | Official launch of the UK/Kenya Season 2025. | British Council, Nairobi | 2nd May, 2025 |
Venice Biennale Exhibition Opening | Geology of Britannic Repair is a unique UK-Kenya collaboration by a multi-disciplinary curatorial team. | Venice, Italy | 8th May, 2025 |
Open City and UK/KE Season | Networking event co-convened by British Council and Open City during Biennale vernisage. | Venice, Italy | 9th May, 2025 |
In Transit Under Another Sky | An exhibition featuring works from the British Council Collection and East Africa Moving Image. | The Africa Centre, London | 21st May - 16th June, 2025 |
Hay Festival | This edition included the participation of Kenyan historian and digital humanities scholar, Chao Tayiana Maina and award-winning Kenyan poet Ngartia Kimathi. | Hay-on-Wye, Wales | 22nd May - 1st June, 2025 |
Coffee & Chocolate Festival | A showcase of African coffee and chocolate brands, highlighting Kenyan organic producers. | The Africa Centre, London | 24th May - 1st June, 2025 |
Sounds of Freedom | An immersive experience of the Mau Mau struggle for independence in colonial Kenya. | Karura Forest, Nairobi Richmond Park, London | 1st June, 2025 |
Making Space: Inside, Outside | A partnership of young curators from Nairobi's GoDown Arts Centre and Leeds Transform Festival to amplify underrepresented voices. | Nairobi, Kenya | 1st June, 2025 |
South by Southwest (SXSW) | A partnership to host a Kenyan delegation for a discussion on AI's impact on music and creative industries. | Shoreditch, London | 2nd - 7th June, 2025 |
Architecture as an Earth Practice | A talk by Stella Mutegi, Kabage Karanja, Owen Hopkins and Kathryn Yusoff, | Royal Geographical Society, London | 9th June, 2025 |
Makonde Modern | Exhibition and discussions by Dar es Salaam blackwood sculptors and researchers centred on the Salim Lalani collection of Makonde art sculptures. | Alliance Française, Dar Es Salaam & Online | 18th - 26th June, 2025 |
Mafilo Arts & Film Festival 2.0 | A digital exhibition of films by deaf filmmakers. | Online | 20th June, 2025 |
Nairobi Litfest | The Nairobi Literary Festival, in partnership with Hay Festival, featured authors from Kenya, the UK and Brazil under the theme, Exploring Alternative Knowledge Systems. | McMillan Memorial Library, Nairobi | 26th - 29th June, 2025 |
Bien's Listening Party | A series of guitar & dance workshops and intimate music performance by renown Kenyan singer/songwriter, Bien. | The Africa Centre, London | 8th - 9th July, 2025 |
Kenya & Friends In The Park | A two-day celebration of Kenyan culture, connection and community featuring music, food, fashion, and games designed to promote wellness, unity and entrepreneurship. | Acton Park, London | 26th - 27th July 2025 |
Heavy Is The Crown | A series of conversations and performances highlighting singer Chimano’s unfiltered story as a queer Kenyan superstar. | The Africa Centre & Bricks, London | 29th - 31st July, 2025 |
Culture Grows Symposium | A hybrid symposium on Heritage in the Digital Age, exploring indigenous heritage and technology. | Nairobi National Museum | 23rd - 26th July 2025 |
Africa Fashion Week London | Kenyan fashion designers' presentations on panel conversations, showcasing opportunities and participation in the market. | The Africa Centre & Space House, London | 8th - 10th August, 2025 |
Consensus Gentium 2 | Launch of the interactive storytelling experience featuring AI visuals, branching narratives and voice interaction. | Virtual | 15th August, 2025 |
The UK/Kenya Season 2025 is a cultural programme co-created with our programme partner The Africa Centre.
Upcoming events
15 Nov
Code & Couture – Wearable Tech Hackathon
Innovation sprint pairing designers & technologists for wearable prototypes.
Registrations opening soon
17-23 Nov
Urithi Residency
XR Nairobi – A Showcase of Digital Worlds
Immersive exhibition exploring VR, XR & AI in preserving culture. Interactive walls, AR scavenger hunts, digital murals, and panels.
20 Nov
Fair Play Kenya 2025
A performance exploring Ireland–Kenya environmental and cultural challenges.
20 Nov
Mentorship Launch & Leadership Orientation
To establish a structured mentorship scheme that nurtures emerging leaders and fosters intergenerational exchange.
20 - 21 Nov
Code & Couture – Wearable Tech Hackathon (Begins Prep)
Two-day innovation sprint pairing designers & technologists for wearable prototypes.
21 Nov
Future of Wearables
Rotating series of talks and displays on AI’s role in design and production.
22 November
Braid Fund's Open Studio and Maker Sessions
Culmination of Braid Fund programmes celebrating impact & UK–Kenya collaboration.
22 November
Hadithi Dystopia
Experimental participatory theatre co-created with audience through AI prompts and storytelling.
24 - 30 Nov
Urithi Residency
XR Nairobi – A Showcase of Digital Worlds
Immersive exhibition exploring VR, XR & AI in preserving culture. Interactive walls, AR scavenger hunts, digital murals, and panels.
26 Nov
Hear us now: Voices across borders
A dialogue between UK and Kenya students on climate and culture, bridging perspectives on challenges and opportunities at times of uncertainty.
27 Nov
Climate & Tech — From Talk to Action
KGBS Panel discussion and workshop
Panel + walking exhibition showcasing green innovations in mobility, energy, construction & agriculture.
[tbc) Nov
Touring Films
29 - 30 Nov
Nai Hunt – Scavenger Hunt
AR-based citywide cultural exploration via mobile app and collectibles.
01 - 07 Nov
URITHI RESIDENCY
A residency by a multidisciplinary local artist exploring memory, identity, and space through fabric, metal, wood, and paper. The process will involve collaborative workshops with artisans and community members.
03 Dec
Unfold Conversations – AI x Climate
Dialogue on AI’s role in climate action; UK keynote + Kenyan climate-tech experts; AI-generated data visuals.
04 Dec
Collaborate to innovate
A day of celebrating partnerships between educational institutions in Kenya and the UK, showcasing the power of collaboration to develop solutions which address shared challenges.
4 - 6 Dec
Touring films
A day of celebrating partnerships between educational institutions in Kenya and the UK, showcasing the power of collaboration to develop solutions which address shared challenges.
5 Dec
Performing the Future, Dance Meets Symphony
High-energy performance merging dance, acrobatics & orchestral symphony.
5 Dec
Creative Arena Competition
Shah Houses
Live art creation and competition before audiences; later exhibition.
7 Dec
Art Club Exhibition
Display and showcase of the artwork created during the live art creation and competition
10 Dec
Fashioning the Future — Wearables & Identity
Future of Wearables
Exhibition & workshops showcasing Pan-African fashion innovation using AI and digital tools.
11 Dec
Touring Films
Ongoing film screenings.
11 - 14 Dec
Urithi Residency
A residency by a multidisciplinary local artist exploring memory, identity, and space through fabric,metal, wood, and paper. The process will involve collaborative workshops with artisans and community members.
12-14 Dec
Art Club Creative Arena Exhibition
Display and showcase of the artwork created during the live art creation and competition
12 Dec
Into Protopia – Volumetric Concert & AI Festival
Nairobi’s first volumetric capture concert with Kenyan & UK artists, AI performer Kamĩ, and kids’ AI play lab.
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