The Drum Cafe 2010 Peace Arts Festival/Conference a showcase of performances, presentations, workshops, displays and demonstrations of music, theatre, dance, storytelling, food, films, traditional medicines and crafts at various venues in Dandora, Kibera, Kawangware, (slum areas which all experienced terrible consequences of the last post election chaos where by neighbours turned against each other, killed and or destroying each others property) and within Nairobi city centre.
· A peace march through the Nairobi city main roads
· A two-day conference on peace in our world- providing a platform for civic and religious leaders as well as cultural, educational and community spokes people.
· A wide range of performances on different stages with tailored productions on peace.
· A screening of various films on a variety of stalls around festival venues.
· A display of art facts and other materials on peace making on a variety of stalls around festival venues.
The Drum Café 2010 Peace Arts Festival/Conference will be a seven-day celebration presented by and for the various Kenyan ethnic subgroups and communities living in Nairobi and their international guests.
The Drum Café 2010 Peace Festival/Conference aims to create a safe place for all Kenyans and their international guests to value the importance of culture as a tool in conflict resolution and culture’s vital role in maintaining peace in local communities, nation and throughout the world.
Your Excellence, World peace has been depicted as a consequence of local, self-determined behaviours, which inhibit the institutionalization of power and ensuing violence.
The solution is not so much on the agreed agenda or an investment in higher authority whether divine or political, but rather a self-organized network of mutually supportive mechanism, resulting in a viable politico-economic social fabric.
The power of the arts is a potential tool that can be used to raise an issue, showcase an idea, communicate a message or campaign, channel people’s attention for a good cause, change a negative perception, inspire a community and positively influence a society.
We have been inspired by the fact that all around the world arts and heritage professionals are increasingly expected to fulfil a range of functions including strategic planning, governance, development, and curation.
If we fail to use creativity as a force for social justice, transformation and articulation of human need we may unwillingly find that we are letting down the very people in whose name we work.