Students in Kenya Enter Festival Season
Students from our programs in several Crossing Thresholds (CT) schools in Nairobi have begun another season of the Kenya National Music Festival. From June 9-11, they are participating in the first level of the competition, taking place in their home neighborhood of Kibera — one of the largest informal settlements in the world.
Months of diligent rehearsals have entailed everyday training with SCS/CT Kenya teaching artists, taking place after school and on weekend afternoons.
Participation in festival season has become an annual tradition for the program. In fact, since 2016, SCS/CT students have won first prize in the national competition six times!
In 2023, SCS/CT Kenya Music Director Jacob Saya remarked, “The children get a chance to get out of Kibera to experience another world. It is invaluable, rejuvenating, and exhilarating; it disrupts the status quo [perception] that people from Kibera are limited.”
As in previous seasons, the 2025 festival season comes with many expenses, including transportation, meals during field trips, instruments, uniforms, and teaching artist compensation.
Thank you to everyone who has helped us raise $1,200 toward our $5,000 goal to support our work in Kenya. Your contribution today will help fund this year's festival season for our talented young students — and will help support this thriving program's longevity and continued expansion.
VIDEO OF THE WEEK
Check out this clip of the MOBJAP School's winning performance in 2023, conducted by SCS/CT Kenya alumnus Erickson Maboko!
