Vivian urges Ruto to promote Kenya-US creative exchange programme – WATCH
Singer Vivian has urged President William Ruto to put his foot down by initiating talks on an exchange programme between American and Kenyan creative stakeholders.
The singer, who has been missing from the music scene for months now, insists that President Ruto’s much-publicised visit to top American filmmaker Tyler Perry’s studios in Atlanta will be in vain for Kenya’s creative industry if an exchange programme plan doesn’t come out of it.
“Many Kenyan songs become hits and are played in big stadiums around the world. But the creator of the song is hardly noticed or credited. This story should stop. One of the things I would suggest to come out of this trip is an exchange programme between Kenyan creatives and Americans for exposure purposes. It could be that our creative industry suffers from a scarcity mentality or we just don’t know how things are done in other parts of the world, so I think an exchange programme would be an eye-opener for us,” Vivian told the head of state at a dinner at Tyler Perry Studios.
Vivian went on to tell the president that it is such strategic moves by Nigerians that have propelled their music to global levels.
“There’s nothing that makes a Nigerian musician better than a Kenyan artist, but it’s such efforts that have taken them to international levels,” she said at the luncheon.
Vivian, who has been in the States for a while now, last released a song a year ago.
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