Established in 1990, this group of artists and activists collaborates closely with youth and a wide network of partners, including the SDI Kenya, Muungano wa Wanavijiji, Maalima, Bridge Shakers and Ubunifu Hub. Tempo Arts is located at the convergence of Mathare and Nairobi rivers, developing and maintaining a green space on a previously neglected site. Their primary driver is youth empowerment through creative expression – acrobatics, dance, poetry, music, drama and visual arts – which is intrinsically linked to their goal of advocating for, and physically creating cleaner, greener, and safer public spaces. Their methodology fuses art with environmental action; they conduct workshops, tree planting actions, and public space co-design sessions, using tools like photography and theatre to advocate for social and environmental change. Tempo’s work is enabled by a strong artistic vision but is often constrained by the limited support from local authorities, especially in relation to land insecurity.
Working towards justice:
The initiative uses creative workshops as a medium for community members, especially youth, to voice their concerns and actively co-design their own environment and education. This artistic process ensures local voices are central to the transformation of public space. The project provides powerful recognition for youth as creative agents of change and for art as a legitimate tool for urban development and political activism. It validates their environmental perspectives and empowers them to lead advocacy efforts. The project distributes benefits by providing youth with valuable creative and technical skills, while delivering safer, cleaner, and more inspiring public spaces to the entire community, directly addressing the unequal distribution of quality green areas.
The potential to benefit people and nature:
Tempo Arts Centre demonstrates how creative advocacy can bring ecological benefits, directly restoring the local environment. They actively manage a vibrant, secure green space through diverse urban agriculture: cultivating crops like bananas, arrowroots, and maize, planting more than 1700 trees, and establishing aquaculture with fishponds. Their work shows a smart adaptation to the local landscape; by deliberately using cleaner water from a nearby swamp for farming instead of the polluted river, they make a strategic choice that enhances food safety and project health. This practice of working with existing natural features to solve challenges is a cornerstone of effective environmental stewardship.
Situated at the important intersection of the Nairobi and Mathare rivers, their role as an artistic and environmental hub is amplified. This unique platform and their proven success make them ideal pioneers for showcasing more advanced blue-green water management. Their model of combining advocacy, art, and direct environmental action provides a powerful, replicable example for other communities.
