Creatives Garage is an arts collective and agency that was founded in 2013 with the aim of bringing together Kenya’s creative and artistic community. Today, the agency has a community of 13,000 (and growing) creatives that they connect to work and business opportunities.

“We create and distribute content fed by varied African narratives. We film scripts written by undiscovered talent, publish books by revolutionary women, host live and virtual art gallery showings, develop games, record and distribute podcasts, host virtual festivals and other projects in the creative industry,” said founder, Liz Kilili. 

“For over 12 years we have worked to make positive contributions through our key strategic pillars: cultural networks, social innovations and cultural activism. We work on content by Africans for Africans that the world needs and wants to see, we’ve never held back and won’t stop now.”

Creatives Garage grant will fund projects that include archiving and distributing African music and oral history from various parts of Kenya, publishing interactive audio-visual content, building an n e-commerce website and Apps. “Authentic African stories are being told all the time, But low production value and poor distribution mean that they are not getting the attention they deserve. This grant will help us change that."

Kilili added: "The grant will help us create sustainable income streams for creatives who focus on the African narrative. Further, it will increase the amount of high-quality content from these creatives and thus increasing its consumption,” she said. “Too often our stories have been told by people who are not Africans. African culture and society is shown through a foreign lens that completely ignores the lived experiences of people from here. Not only that but growing up viewing art from this skewed viewpoint has led to African artists creating from that skewed viewpoint. It's time to decolonise our art."

Website: www.creativesgarage.org