Creatives Garage is a cultural organization and hub for artists and innovators that allows them to express themselves, network and learn from their peers. For years, Creatives Garage has, through its brand, Sondeka Festival, showcased and highlighted the vast wealth of imagination and talent that Kenya has to offer.
This year Creatives Garage looks to award these very same artists and innovators with the help of the public via the Sondeka Awards. In order to get a nomination, applicants had to fall under a selection of categories; Dance, Alternative/Experimental music, Poetry and Spoken word, Traditional Art, Digital Art, Short Stories, Live Bands, and Online Radio and Podcasts.
Liz Kilili, founder and Chief Mechanic, Creatives Garage says “Over the years I’ve come to realize that creatives need some form of recognition especially in Kenya where exposure is limited to a select few. We hope the awards will change that.”
After a one month application period, Creatives Garage is delighted to present to you the list of nominees for public voting today, the 14th of March 2017. The panel of judges selected the final nominees from a pool of over 130 successful applicants. The criteria the panelists used to choose their finalists were:
Creativity – Technique
Execution – Delivery, implementation
Quality of Craft – Professional output, look and feel, finesse (quality control)
Innovation – What new thing was brought to the table, was media was used to put out the work unique
Overall experience – How it makes you feel
Due to a very highly competitive nomination process two categories, Spoken Word and Poetry and Alternative/Experimental music, have five nominees each while the rest have three
Inaugural 2018 Sondeka Awards Nominees
Traditional Art
Poets and Spoken word
Digital Art
Alternative/Experimental music
Short Stories
Dance
Live Bands
Online radio and Podcasts
The voting phase starts today on 14th March 2018 and ends on 24th March 2018. To vote, go to www.sondeka.org. Voters must select for all categories and can vote once a day for the next ten days.