According to the president of Kenya, William Ruto, Kenya has made its intention of hosting the Grammys known, to the tune of Ksh 500 million ($3.9 million).
The president made this known, during a town hall meeting at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre to mark the Hustler Fund’s second anniversary.
There he mentioned that this move is part of his administration’s plan to boost the country’s creative industry and establish Kenya as a global entertainment hub.
“Our Plan identifies the creative economy as well as culture and heritage to be highly promising drivers of transformation and employment creation,” he stated.
President Ruto also confirmed that the payment to host the Grammys had been made after Dennis Itumbi, the head of Presidential Special Projects and Creative Economy, revealed that he had approved their proposal to host.
“And we have actually instructed the state department to pay so that the Grammy awards will be hosted in Kenya,” he said.
“Finally, the president has already given instructions for us to begin bidding for the world Creative Economy conference in 2027, to become the first African country to bring the world sector here because that would unlock, the entire creative economy,” he mentioned.
However, the president came on stage to clarify that stating; “Let me help you there Dennis, actually the money for the Grammys, we already paid… we already paid 500 million Shillings towards that, and I’m sure the gentleman from the Grammy can confirm that that is the direction we are going.”
Ruto declared in December of last year that the Grammy Awards will start filming several films in Kenya in January of this year, as reported by Kenyans.co.
The president, also earlier this year, visited Hollywood and was hosted in Tyler Perry’s studio, amongst other meetings with major stakeholders in the American film industry.
The Grammys
The Grammy Awards, sometimes known as the Grammys, is one of the most prominent music awards events in the world. The Recording Academy’s annual awards acknowledge remarkable achievements in the music business, across the globe.
The first Grammy Awards ceremony was held on May 4, 1959. and was intended to honor excellence in the recording arts and sciences, covering various musical genres and technical fields.
However, the award show has been chastised for perceived lack of diversity, openness in voting procedures, and underrepresentation of particular genres, like hip-hop and R&B.
