A3K PAST OFFICE BEARERS
The Founding Office of the Association
2007-2013
The first office of The Association of Animation Artistes Kenya was constituted in the year 2007 as the founding office when the association was registered with the registrar of Societies. During the tenure of this office Hon. Micheal Onyango served as the chair of the Association, Jimmy Gitonga as the Vice-Chair, Kwame Nyong’o as the Secretary, and Tirus Njuguna as the Treasurer of the Association. During their tenure in office, this first office managed to get some funding from the British Council and was able to have the first-ever animation exhibition and workshop in the country that was named the Genesis. After the Genesis considering there were very few people practicing the art of animation by then, the association was not able to grow its root to stand for long and overtime events, meetings, and networking toward growing the community went down and in turn, the association went into a state of dormancy until 2013 when a new crop of leaders came up with the mission to revive the association.
The Second Office of the Association
2013-2014
In the year 2013 there was a change of guard in the association leadership and for the first time in the history of the association, Mwara Kung’u was elected to lead the association and the chair lady. For the term that Mwara and her team Alfred Muchilwa– Vice-Chair and Ng’endo Mukii -Secretary lead the association, they managed to secure a partnership with AITEC Broadcast Film and Music Conference Africa (BFMA) – themed Africawood Rising . Out of this partnership, animation practitioners were able to exhibit at BFMA and also the First Animation Competition code-named Busted was held in kenya [Photo].
The Third Office of the Association
2014
In 2014, Kelvin Shani took over as the new Chairman of the Association . Together with his team then, Michael Muthiga -Vice Chair, Tom Manda -Secretary, Sen Kanyare – Treasurer, Alex Kirui – Assistant Treasurer and Robert Odhiambo – Assistant Secretary managed to organize the workshop Pencil to Pixel which was held at PAWA 254 where the Late pro animator Allan Mwaniki took time to teach and explain different aspects of the art of animation and the how to get in-depth into it. Within the same year, Kelvin Shani resigned from his position as chair and was replaced by the then vice-chair Michael Muthiga.
The Forth Office of the Association
2014 - 2015
After the exit of Kelvin Shani from office and Micheal Muthiga became the new chair, the team members who served with Shani remained and served under the then chair Michael Muthiga. During this time the Association office managed to organize an animation workshop held at Pawa 254 and facilitated by Michael Muthiga , creator of the famous Faiba Advert. Following the slow growth and unresponsiveness of the members of the animation community, the association became slightly dormant during this season.
The Fifth Office of the Association
2016-2018
In the year 2016, a group of animation artists out of numerous conversations from a whatsapp group ‘Designers Blog’ came together with the aim of forming an association that would act as a representational body for them and any other animation artist who would like to join the association community.
After a series of meetings, it came to the group’s realization that there was a registered association that was dormant .After lengthy discussions and considerations, this group of artists decided to join the already existing association and try to revive it. The following animation artists were part of the process that lead to the restoration of the association we have today, Association of Animation Artistes Kenya: Job Nzioki Munywoki, Ernest Livasia, Peter Ngugi Mugo, Jimmy Kinyanjui, Dennis Mbuthia, Naftally Muriuki, Sylvia Munyao, and Nicholas Mutuma.
In December of 2016, the above artists joined the association in a meeting held at Multimedia University of Kenya, hosted by Mwara Kung’u a former Chair of the Association of Animation Artistes Kenya. On this day Jimmy Kinyanjui was elected to be the Chairman, Naftally Muriuki – Vice Chairman, Sylvia Munyao – Secretary, Dennis Mbuthia – Treasurer and Peter Ngugi – Assistant Secretary, all dedicated to serving as an interim office to help restore the association and make it functional again with the purpose of building a strong animation community in the country.
For the next one year, this office purposed to re-establish long-lost links with other practitioners in the Kenyan animation industry, build the community a step at a time and help educate practicing artists on the value of being in an association. During the tenure of this office lead by Jimmy Kinyanjui, the association was able to re-establish the links with other film stakeholders and the Kenya Film Commission leading to the association having its place in the Kenya creative economy. Under the leadership of this office, the association had an exhibition at the Kalasha International TV & Film Market 2018, the Cosplay event held in 2017 at the TRM Mall and Partnered with African Animation Network, Laugh Industry, and Naiccon on an animation pitching competition. This office can be termed as the office that gave new life to the current association after very many hurdles and resilience. In the year 2019 during an Annual General Meeting held at ADMI (Africa Digital Media Institute), Jimmy Kinyanjui resigned and was replaced by Harto Muhato.
The Sixth of the Association
2019-2023
Building an association is a continuous process but for the association to grow, leaders must remain focused on the vision of the association. The first and most challenging task that the new office under the leadership of Harto Muhato undertook was to successfully file for a change of office as is required at the registrar of society’s office. The A3K office faced immense challenges from transitional gaps found at the registrar of society’s office that paralyzed the operations of the office. What started as a simple process culminated in a 2-year long process, but with the help and cooperation of previous leadership, the process was eventually concluded in January 2022. Suffice it to say, the administration still continued to execute its mandate and maintain the association throughout this period.
Under the leadership of Harto, the association office has managed to assist in building the animation community through various activities and achievements. The association has had representation and participation in the film industry stakeholders forums and events including Kalasha International Film & TV Market as well as Kalasha Film Festivals from 2018 through to 2022, FEPACI – The Film Industry We want, The Creative Presidential Round Table Discussion, European Film Festival Kenya partnership, Lake International Film Festival, Karakana Africa Digital Art Forum, the Oscar Selection committee, Pangaa Sanaa among others. The association has also through its leadership provided opportunities for its members to participate in events such as Annecy International Animation Film Festival (MIFA) 2021 and THU Main Event 2022 in Portugal. In order to bridge the gap between academia and industry, the association through its members has engaged in TVET Animation Curriculum development.
The association also formed a strategic partnership with ArtLaw Kenya to help in addressing issues arising from Law and Ethics in the animation business.
The main goal of this office is to build structures that will ensure continuity and foster growth within the animation community. The creation and publishing of this website is one such structure aimed to invoke conversations, maintain visibility and provide direction and networking opportunities for the animation community. The office, therefore, invites its members to participate by providing their profiles and other helpful information within this network that will aid in fostering engagement both locally and globally. “Great things happen when we come together”. The association has forged relationships with different industry stakeholders to enhance its performance, and to assist in the execution of various tasks according to its mandate has benefited from and truly appreciates volunteer committees who are members of the association that share in the vision of steering it forward.
The current team comprises of Harto Muhato as the Chair, Naftally Muriuki as the Vice Chair, Emily Nyabere as the Secretary, Joy Alunga as the Assistant Secretary, and Dennis Mbuthia as the Treasurer.
The Seventh Office of the Association
2023-2024
Building an association is a continuous process but for the association to grow, leaders must remain focused on the vision of the association. The first and most challenging task that the new office under the leadership of Harto Muhato undertook was to successfully file for a change of office as is required at the registrar of society’s office. The A3K office faced immense challenges from transitional gaps found at the registrar of society’s office that paralyzed the operations of the office. What started as a simple process culminated in a 2-year long process, but with the help and cooperation of previous leadership, the process was eventually concluded in January 2022. Suffice it to say, the administration still continued to execute its mandate and maintain the association throughout this period.
Under the leadership of Harto, the association office has managed to assist in building the animation community through various activities and achievements. The association has had representation and participation in the film industry stakeholders forums and events including Kalasha International Film & TV Market as well as Kalasha Film Festivals from 2018 through to 2022, FEPACI – The Film Industry We want, The Creative Presidential Round Table Discussion, European Film Festival Kenya partnership, Lake International Film Festival, Karakana Africa Digital Art Forum, the Oscar Selection committee, Pangaa Sanaa among others. The association has also through its leadership provided opportunities for its members to participate in events such as Annecy International Animation Film Festival (MIFA) 2021 and THU Main Event 2022 in Portugal. In order to bridge the gap between academia and industry, the association through its members has engaged in TVET Animation Curriculum development.
The association also formed a strategic partnership with ArtLaw Kenya to help in addressing issues arising from Law and Ethics in the animation business.
The main goal of this office is to build structures that will ensure continuity and foster growth within the animation community. The creation and publishing of this website is one such structure aimed to invoke conversations, maintain visibility and provide direction and networking opportunities for the animation community. The office, therefore, invites its members to participate by providing their profiles and other helpful information within this network that will aid in fostering engagement both locally and globally. “Great things happen when we come together”. The association has forged relationships with different industry stakeholders to enhance its performance, and to assist in the execution of various tasks according to its mandate has benefited from and truly appreciates volunteer committees who are members of the association that share in the vision of steering it forward.
The current team comprises of Harto Muhato as the Chair, Naftally Muriuki as the Vice Chair, Emily Nyabere as the Secretary, Joy Alunga as the Assistant Secretary, and Dennis Mbuthia as the Treasurer.
Immaculate Juma
Legal Team Lead
Immaculate Juma is an Advocate (of the High Court of Kenya) and a creative whose inclination towards the arts has largely influenced her practice in areas of law including Intellectual Property Rights and Management, Music and Entertainment Law, Art Law, Privacy and Image Rights,
Software licensing and Employment Law.
To All who have served
To all who served, to all to were served and to all who are reflecting on being served... Thank You 🙂
They say leadership is a calling, but wait until when you are called to build a community it becomes a double calling, remember the story of Noah building the ark in the Bible as an example? Well it took him 400 years not because there were no materials to build the ark in a week, but because it is always hard to manage people. Well seems the association has just been in existence for slightly over a decade and the challenges of building the community have been real.
Despite the difficulties of time all the above leaders called themselves to try and bring the needed change into the industry and help build a community of artist. For all this offices, they never did it for the money or fame. Actually the money wasn’t there and its still not there as all this offices have diligently served as volunteers but because of the self drive. It is the question of if I cant call myself to act what makes me different from the crowd that make agonizing noise of lack of representation and lack of structures in the industry?
In building this community and for the time we have all served in the various offices that we have served under, we have all come across the question what will the association do for me? 🤷♀️🤷♂️Well, the association can do alot for us all as artist besides representational and being a professional body that we are attached to but before this happens we all need to sit back and ask our self the question of What can I do for the Association as a member to make it an Association as the name depicts?🤷♀️🤷♂️
The fuel of an association is its members and the leaders are just there as a team to stare the association in the right direction. For all the above leaders of our association, thank you for your service and contribution toward the association being what it is today, For all the Members who believed in the leaders above, thank you for giving them the spirit to continue serving and believing in even with the limited resources. For any artist who would like to join the association you are invited to be a plus one in continuing to build this community.
If we can all call ourselves to serve in our different capacity in the association and the community be it we are just a member or a leader, we can all achieve great heights that we all want to achieve as a community and as we close on this right now… We are still a growing community as we continue to build our ‘nation of animators and creative artist’.