Britam Holdings is sponsoring the Kenya National Drama Festival 2016 for Sh6.2 million.
This grants the company the naming and branding rights of the drama festival, now to be known as the Britam National Drama Festival. This sponsorship will support the national festival which is currently on-going at Meru School.
The gala award will be on April 12 and 13, and later a State Concert at Sagana State Lodge and tThe theme of this year’s festival is “Enhancing artistic talent for national development”.
Diversified financial services group plans to render long-term support to the festival through the Britam Foundation, which is the vehicle through which the group and its subsidiary Companies will carry out corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities. The Foundation’s flagship initiative will be to support the performing arts in Kenya and East Africa, and will work with established institutions to tap and nurture creative talent amongst primary, secondary and college students in the country.
Britam Group Managing Director Dr Benson Wairegi said the sponsorship showcased the company’s commitment towards supporting and nurturing artistic talent among the young people in the country.
“We want to help nurture the next generation of artistic talent to be trained, mentored and ultimately be exposed to the industry. The potential for the performing arts industry in Kenya and in the region is immense, and has barely been touched,” Dr Wairegi said.
He added: “As one of Britam’s core missions is to improve livelihoods, we will help budding artists to develop and professionalize their skills, enabling them to earn a decent living and attain financial freedom,”
Dr Wairegi said Britam will work closely with the Ministry of Education and other stakeholders to help grow the arts and culture sector in the country, noting that the industry has the potential to create thousands of job opportunities for the youth and trickledown effect to the economy.
Thanking Britam for the support, the Chairman of the Kenya National Drama Festival, Patrick Khaemba noted the importance of the festival to the wholesome growth of students, adding that the event remains a key fixture in the schools’ calendar.
“The Kenya National Drama Festival plays an important role in nurturing and developing the abundant artistic talent in our schools and colleges. Much talent have been discovered and many careers have been nurtured in these festivals. It is critical that we join hands together with private sector players like Britam to ensure that the festivals continue to play this important role,” Khaemba added.
Kenya National Drama Festival is an annual co-curricular activity aimed at communicating effectively and convincingly and creates awareness on topical and emerging issues affecting society, including alcohol, drug and substance abuse.