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| Kigali Up! Festival | |
|---|---|
| Name | Kigali Up! Festival |
| Location | Kigali, Rwanda |
| Years active | 2014–present |
| Founded | 2014 |
| Dates | October |
| Genre | Music, Dance, Visual Arts, Film, Theatre |
Kigali Up! Festival
Kigali Up! Festival is an annual multidisciplinary arts festival held in Kigali, Rwanda. The festival presents contemporary music and dance alongside visual arts, film, and theatre with a focus on contemporary African creativity and global collaborations. It attracts artists, curators, producers, and audiences from across Africa, Europe, North America, and Asia, contributing to Kigali's profile as a cultural hub in the Great Lakes region.
The festival showcases contemporary Afropop, jazz, electronic music, hip hop, contemporary dance, performance art, visual arts exhibitions, and short film screenings drawn from networks spanning Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya, Uganda, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ghana, Senegal, Morocco, Egypt, France, United Kingdom, Germany, United States, Canada, Brazil, India, China, Japan, Spain, Italy, Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Australia, New Zealand, Portugal, Switzerland, Austria, Ireland, Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary, Russia, Turkey, Israel, Lebanon, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam, Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Peru, Colombia, Venezuela, Cuba, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, Nigeria’s Lagos scene, South Africa’s Cape Town circuit and Kenya’s Nairobi collectives. The festival partners with institutions such as the Ministry of Sports and Culture (Rwanda), Kigali City Council, Institut Français, Goethe-Institut, British Council, United States Embassy in Rwanda, European Union delegations, African Union cultural programs, UNESCO regional offices, African Arts Trust, Prince Claus Fund, Open Society Foundations, Ford Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, Wellcome Trust, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and private sponsors.
Founded in 2014 amid a surge of post-1994 cultural rebuilding, the festival grew from grassroots initiatives linked to Inspire Rwanda collectives, contemporary clubs in Kigali Central Business District, and artist-run spaces. Early editions featured collaborations with festivals such as Afropunk, Sauti za Busara, Festival au Désert, Made in Africa Festival, FESPACO, Mawazine, Cape Town International Jazz Festival, Felabration, MTV Africa Music Awards, Gidi Culture Festival, Felabration Lagos, Bushfire Festival, and Accra[dot]Alt. As the festival matured, it hosted curators and delegates from Venice Biennale, Documenta, Art Basel, Frieze, Serpentine Galleries, Tate Modern, Centre Pompidou, Musée du quai Branly, The Getty, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Modern Art, Victoria and Albert Museum, Smithsonian Institution, British Museum, Louvre Abu Dhabi, Rijksmuseum, Centre for Contemporary Arts (Glasgow), and major biennales across Venice, São Paulo, Istanbul, Sharjah, Johannesburg, and Dakar.
Program strands include headline concerts, curated dance programs, gallery exhibitions, film screenings, panel discussions, residency showcases, and industry labs. Signature components draw on models from Red Bull Music Academy, SONAR, MUTEK, Coachella, Glastonbury Festival, SXSW, WOMAD, Roskilde Festival, Tomorrowland, Pitchfork Music Festival, Lollapalooza, Burning Man, Jazz à Vienne, Newport Jazz Festival, Montreux Jazz Festival, Ake Festival, Hay Festival, Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Avignon Festival, Berlinale Talents, Cannes Film Festival sidebar programs, and Sundance Institute labs. Industry-facing elements include music business workshops inspired by BIMA and MIDEM, dance mentorships modeled on ImPulsTanz, and curator exchanges akin to Independent Curators International programs.
The festival presents established and emerging figures from across continents, aligning with names associated with Burna Boy, Angelique Kidjo, Fela Kuti’s legacy, Miriam Makeba, Hugh Masekela, Youssou N'Dour, Salif Keita, Anjulie, Aṣa, Tiwa Savage, Wizkid, Diamond Platnumz, Mafikizolo, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Seun Kuti, Shingai Shoniwa, Adele, Beyoncé, Jay-Z, Kendrick Lamar, Koffee, Protoje, Skepta, Stormzy, Sauti Sol, Sampa The Great, Sho Madjozi, Zahara and contemporary dancers linked to Pina Bausch legacies, Alvin Ailey company alumni, Kodo percussionists, and choreographers from Gaga methodology circles such as those influenced by Ohad Naharin. Collaborations have involved film directors and producers associated with Ousmane Sembène, Abderrahmane Sissako, Ava DuVernay, Steve McQueen, Wes Anderson, Abdellatif Kechiche, Raoul Peck, Djibril Diop Mambéty’s heritage, and playwrights connected to August Wilson, Wole Soyinka, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, Femi Osofisan, and Chinua Achebe’s cultural milieu.
Events take place across Kigali’s cultural topography including Kigali Convention Centre, Kigali Arena, KCC Stadium complexes, Inema Arts Center, Niyo Arts Gallery, Kigali Cultural Village, Campaign Against Genocide Museum, Genocide Memorial Centre Kigali, Nyamirambo Women's Centre, Kimironko Market precincts, boutique hotels used as pop-up venues, and open-air settings on the slopes overlooking Mount Kigali. Partnerships extend to regional sites like Golden Tulip Hotel Kigali conference spaces, and collaborations have linked satellite showcases in Butare (Huye), Gisenyi (Rubavu), Kibuye (Karongi) and cross-border events with Kigali International Airport-adjacent zones for international delegations.
The festival runs community outreach including school concerts, youth music academies, dance workshops, visual arts training, film labs, and sound engineering apprenticeships. Programs have referenced models from El Sistema, Youth Music, National Dance Institute, Arts Council England initiatives, Afrika Youth Movement partnerships, and fellowship schemes resembling Ashoka and Acumen social innovation cohorts. Local collaborations include University of Rwanda departments, African Leadership University, Kigali Institute of Education-affiliated arts units, and civic exchanges with Rwandan Development Board cultural units.
Critics and cultural commentators from outlets such as The Guardian, The New York Times, Le Monde, The Washington Post, Al Jazeera, BBC News, France 24, Deutsche Welle, CNN, The Economist, Financial Times, Bloomberg, Forbes, The Atlantic, Pitchfork, NPR Music, OkayAfrica, Okayafrica-style platforms, Afropop Worldwide, and This Is Africa have assessed the festival’s role in promoting cultural tourism, creative industries development, and transnational artistic exchange. Economic and cultural impact studies echo assessment frameworks used by UNDP, World Bank, IMF cultural reports, OECD creative sector metrics, and African Development Bank cultural economy briefs. The festival is cited in regional arts policy dialogues alongside references to Rwanda Vision 2020 and subsequent strategic plans oriented to service sector growth, while attracting delegations from municipal and cultural offices in Addis Ababa, Nairobi, Kampala, Harare, Lusaka, Dar es Salaam, Maputo, Accra, Abuja, Dakar, Casablanca, Cairo, Tunis, Algiers, Tripoli, Khartoum, Moroni, Victoria (Seychelles) and international city partners including Stockholm, Paris, London, Berlin, Amsterdam, Brussels, Rome, Barcelona, Lisbon, Madrid, Athens, Vienna, Prague, Budapest, Warsaw, Moscow, Istanbul, Tel Aviv, Dubai, Doha, New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Mexico City, Buenos Aires, Santiago, São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Jakarta, Bangkok, Seoul, Tokyo, Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Sydney as observers or partners.
Category:Festivals in Rwanda Category:Music festivals in Africa Category:Arts festivals