Safaricom PLC has contracted The Art of Music to run the Safaricom Youth Orchestra. The Art of Music provides the administrative framework for the orchestra from running yearly auditions, arranging weekly rehearsals, hiring of teaching and support staff and instrument care.
The Art of Music was founded in 2009 with a mission to promote the performance and appreciation of art music in Kenya and use it’s transformative power to change lives, particularly of those living in underprivileged areas of the country.
The foundation itself focuses on two programmes. First is Ghetto Classics, a community programme that involves approximately 1500 children in Korogocho and hundreds more in satellite areas around Nairobi, Kiambu and Mombasa.
The second is a musical and leadership training programme, The National Youth Orchestra of Kenya (KNYO), a music ensemble that brings together talented young musicians from all walks of life in the country.
The three musical ensembles work very closely together.