Kenya’s oldest cultural institute

By Wangeci Kanyeki

The Kenya National Theatre stands today, paling in comparison to the Norfolk Hotel opposite and dwarfed by masts towering from the Kenya Broadcasting Corporation next door.

The concept of a cultural centre in Kenya was birthed in 1949 to bring together, in one centre, all those societies, which were interested in  expression of  music, drama and the arts.

Through a charter that expressed the British government’s desire to set up the centre, a steering committee consisting mainly of British settlers and Indians pushed the colonial government to undertake a project in which the diverse communities could interact culturally. 

An ordnance affirming the same followed in 1950, leading to the establishment of the nation’s oldest state cultural institution, the Kenya Cultural Centre in 1951 through a statutory parliamentary Act Chapter 218 of 1951.

According to the current director for Kenya  Cultural Centre, Aghan Odero Agan, the government provided a piece of land LR NO 2095956,  which was strategically positioned on Harry Thuku Road located  opposite the Norfolk Hotel. Adjoining plots were LR 2095918 on which Kenya Broadcasting Corporation now stands and LR 2098407 where the University of Nairobi is located.

safe zone

This was safe zone for the Britons and Asians and a no-go area for the Africans other than those who were pulling rickshaws into Norfolk Hotel.   The rest of the Africans were restricted to Eastlands and could not venture beyond present-day Gikomba.

Using  resources from the British government through the colonial office and with the help of a steering committee and cultural associations such as the East African Conservatoire of Music and European National Theatre Movement Trustees,  Architect Messrs Hughes & Polking Horne designed a two-phased  plan to construct a cultural centre.

The first phase was to build a 450-seater theatre that would accommodate various diverse expressions of the dramatic arts, musical arts and dances.  However, there was hardly representation of  African culture in the productions. 

The theatre  consisted of a contemporary auditorium with a curtained stage, orchestra pit at the basement and a balcony where the audience  could watch the stage performance.

At the back of the stage were changing rooms, washrooms, and various workshops  for building sets and props.   The balcony also had a foyer extension where there is a bar and restaurant for serving refreshments during intervals of the performances. 

first phase

In 1952, the national theatre building was finished and opened by Sir Ralph Richardson as the first phase of the Kenya Cultural Centre.   The second building that stands in the 1.9 acres is a one-storey block of offices and rooms that was build almost eight years later and was completed in 1960. 

Its function was to accommodate training of musical instruments and other western art expressions such as a dance studio and to provide a  smaller sized stage Ukumbi Mdogo for mini concerts.  The building was also able to accommodate the offices and residence of the administrators who were managing the Kenya Cultural Centre at the time. 

The  long delay between the construction of the two was caused by the state of emergency that Kenya was experiencing at the time. 

Agan says that from 1960 when the second building was completed, the cultural centre seems to have frozen in time and no other developments  have been made to Kenya’s national cultural centre since post-independence. 

The cultural centre has had its ups and down. The most infamous was the controversy over a disputed piece of land between the theatre and adjacent premises all under the Government of Kenya title.  

A ‘Berlin wall’ type of structure has been erected there to demarcate the properties. As a result the land, which was preserved for future expansion and development activities related to theatre and culture is now used as a parking bay. Friends of theatre expressed their opposition to the allocation of the theatre plot and on two occasions the artists demolished the erected  wall.

According to the outgoing 2012 chairperson of the Kenya Cultural Centre’s Governing Council, Dr Salome Mshai Mwangola, after 1963, “all government institutions were handed over to the Government of Kenya from the British Crown.   However, the colonial government handed the Kenya Cultural Centre to British Council to run its activities as there was no government ministry or  department that dealt with culture issues.”

looking forward

Mshai argues that instead of looking for another piece of land to set up an international cultural centre as per the Vision 2030, the land on which the present facility stands should be retained and developed further.

According to a September 1991  presidential directive, the land adjacent to the theatre was to be preserved for future expansion and development activities related to theatre and culture. 

Several renovations have been done, funded by international sponsors; a leaking roof has been repaired, lobby painted, audio system upgraded and woodwork repaired by American volunteers Gray McCormic and Maria Cortese who in 1994.

“This is the only land allocated as a cultural zone, yet we are being squeezed out of it due to an inter-government agency conflict. The land should be reserved for future expansion where a cultural complex can be erected to serve as a one-stop venue centre to show case Kenya’s diverse cultures,” says Agan.