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Highlights
- Duration: May–November 2025
- Catalyst Grants: £5,000 to 19 projects; 11 received an additional £10,000
- Creative DNA Fashion Funding: KSh. 142M (USD 1.1M)
- NBO Litfest x Hay Festival: June 26–29 (Nairobi), May 22–June 1 (Wales)
- Public Art Projects: Led by GoDown Arts Centre & Transform Festival
The UK/Kenya Season 2025 has launched with promises to redefine international arts collaboration while unlocking real income opportunities for creatives.
Unveiled at a press briefing at the British Council, the Season is a cultural and educational exchange programme connecting Kenya and the United Kingdom through the arts, design, and academia.
“The UK/Kenya Season 2025 is a cultural bilateral programme that will celebrate and strengthen the relationship between Kenya and the United Kingdom through the arts and Education,” Sandra Chege, Head of Arts at the British Council Kenya and Director of the Season, said.
Running from May to November 2025, the Season comes at a time when both countries are looking to strengthen cultural diplomacy while investing in their creative economies. In Kenya, particularly, the creative economy is one of Kenya Kwanza’s initiatives aimed at spurring economic growth and development.
Speaking at the press briefing, British Council Country Director Tom Porter said the time was right for the season.
“We’re lucky to have had such a great program that the organisation felt it was the right moment to bring it together. Kenya is an amazing place that the UK is really interested in engaging with and has a lot to offer in terms of innovation, creativity and the dynamic youth population. There’s a real appetite on both sides for deeper partnerships. This is the right moment to build on that energy,” he said.
Cross-cultural bridge
The programme will showcase a broad range of collaborations across various art forms, including music, literature, visual arts, architecture, design, film, and performance.
“We will work with creatives, thought leaders, and audiences from Kenya, Britain, Scotland, Wales and N. Ireland, aiming to spark new conversations and deepen cultural understanding,” Sandra Chege said. “We’ve been very intentional about inclusivity. The Season is not just about exhibitions or performances. It’s about fostering cross-cultural understanding, creating jobs, and supporting young people to step into leadership in the arts sector.”
Central to the programme’s design is co-creation. Rather than simply exporting or importing artistic talent, the Season nurtures joint storytelling between Kenyan and British artists, with shared authorship, mutual funding, and co-developed platforms.
One example is the British Pavilion at the upcoming Venice Biennale.
For the first time in the Pavilion’s nearly 90-year history, it is being curated collaboratively by a UK-Kenya team — including Nairobi-based architects Kabage Karanja and Stella Mutegi of Cave_bureau, UK writer-curator Owen Hopkins, and academic Professor Kathryn Yusoff.
Their exhibition, Geology of Britannic Repair, interrogates how architecture and colonialism have functioned as parallel systems and explores the earth as a medium for healing and memory.
Economic impact
Beyond the exhibitions and events, UK/Kenya Season 2025 will make a direct economic impact.
One of the programme’s major tools is the Catalyst Grant, which provides up to £5,000 (approx. KSh. 835,000) to Kenyan-British collaborative projects.
In 2024, 19 projects were selected — many led by young creatives and cultural hubs. Of these, 11 received an additional £10,000 (KSh 1.67 million) in 2025 to scale their ideas and showcase their work during the Season.
The projects cover a broad spectrum of artistic disciplines: from digital storytelling and dance to creative technology, heritage archives, and socially engaged theatre.
“Our hope is to support the ambition of young people as they develop their artistic practice and find their way in the world,” noted Chege.
An example of this ripple effect is Making Space: Inside, Outside, a cross-country collaboration between Nairobi’s GoDown Arts Centre and the UK’s Transform Festival.
The project brings together young curators to co-create public art in Nairobi and a youth-focused festival in Leeds.
In Nairobi, the installations will be part of the GoDown’s tactical urbanism efforts, an initiative transforming neglected urban spaces into vibrant community hubs through art.
Focus on Kenyan fashion
Thanks to a new partnership between the British Council’s Creative DNA programme and the Mastercard Foundation, over KSh. 142 million (USD 1.1 million) has been committed to Kenya’s fashion sector.
The funding supports a fashion incubator offering mentorship, market access, business training, and creative development for emerging designers. It’s a deliberate move to professionalise fashion as a viable career path and not just a passion.
Speaking to KBC Digital, the British Council Arts Project Manager, Joyce Kanze said that funding towards the fashion sector was based on research.
“Fashion continues to attract significant funding in Kenya because it sits at the intersection of culture, entrepreneurship, and youth employment. It’s a highly visible sector with export potential, and it can generate jobs, especially for young people and women,” she said.
Nairobi Literature Festival
In June, the Season will also spotlight literature through the Nairobi Literature Festival (NBO Litfest) in partnership with the world-renowned Hay Festival in Wales.
Taking place from 26–29 June at the iconic McMillan Memorial Library and its satellite branches in Eastlands and Kaloleni, the festival will explore Alternative Knowledge Systems, placing African narratives, oral histories, and indigenous knowledge at the centre of contemporary dialogue.
The Hay Festival in Wales will run from May 22 to June 1, offering reciprocal exposure to British audiences. Writers from both countries will appear at both editions, exchanging ideas and building lasting literary networks.
The official launch ceremony for the season will take place on May 2.
“The UK/Kenya Season 2025 is not just about celebrating art and culture—it’s about building lasting relationships, both artistic and diplomatic, between our nations, said Ms Chege. “This Season is about strengthening creative economies and using the arts as a vehicle for social change, empowerment, and sustainable growth.”
