Name: Creativity builds nations
Uploaded: 2019-09-27T16:16:40Z
Duration: 11 min 46 s
Description: In a hopeful talk followed by an empowering performance, musician and TED Fellow Muthoni Drummer Queen shares how industries like music, film and fashion provide a platform for Africans to broadcast their rich and diverse talents -- and explains how the shared experience of creativity can replace attitudes of exclusionism and othering with acceptance and self-love.

In a hopeful talk followed by an empowering performance, musician and TED Fellow Muthoni Drummer Queen shares how industries like music, film and fashion provide a platform for Africans to broadcast their rich and diverse talents -- and explains how the shared experience of creativity can replace attitudes of exclusionism and othering with acceptance and self-love.

Creativity builds nations

Kenya's creative industries offer a powerful path to unity and self-love in a nation fractured by colonial legacies and exclusion. Despite having a common language and infrastructure, deep identity wounds persist. Music festivals, inclusive media, and homegrown films have already put over $100,000 directly into artists' hands and spotlighted diverse Kenyan voices. Real nation-building, it’s argued, starts when people see themselves reflected, valued, and celebrated in what they create.