Starting a creative fire: ROTAJAMS
It started as a thought. A random one. There were a couple creatives who were looking to perfect their craft as well as interact with the masses. There was a club, so very proud to be part of the Rotary International family, and inclined towards the creative industry. 100+ years of Rotary’s existence, each club reaching their milestones, contributing more and more to Rotary’s rich history and a one-year old Rotaract Club’s members asked, how does this club make an impact? How will people remember them? It started as a thought.
Rotajams is a partnership between Jamhuri Events, an events company keen on promotion of artistic content and the Rotaract club of Lang’ata, keen to bring a whole new way of viewing Rotary to the general public. The concept is to figure out the fusion of music, poetry and the creative arts in a way to attract people and having them contribute to your cause voluntarily. It is a flagship project for President Fatma Muhaji and her board. It was created to spread awareness of the creative world in and around Rotary circles and vice versa, work with aspiring and promising young entrepreneurs, act as an avenue to raise money for club projects as well as entertainment for the general public.
Rotajams is still in its pilot operational phase as we plan, execute and tweak little details here and there to figure out what works and what does not. It was initially designed to happen after every two months, but that frequency is likely to be altered in the coming days. Everyone involved, including the artists, play a vital role in the execution of the event. It is ideally a partnership. All the revenue collected from ticket sales and booth space is channelled to the club kitty where disbursement to various projects is done. We found a way to raise money but, in a fun, all-inclusive way. In addition, Rotajams conveniently manages to touch on various club committees at once, including fundraising, PR, club and community service.
So far, we have managed to run two independent events under the Rotajams umbrella, Rotajams: Halloween party (Oct 2019), which also happened to be our inaugural one, and Rotajams: Wine on a Wednesday (Dec 2019), which might as well be the best one yet. We have managed to feature several artists with zero knowledge of what Rotaract is and does. Highlights of course being Serro and Suzziah, with poets from the creative MMU art group – Upskul, and the growing studio – Snowball Industries. It is after the December edition that we started getting inquiries, majorly from the creative scene, about what Rotajams is and how to be a part of it. This is a different type of traction not experienced in Rotary circles. It is this energy that we intend to build upon. So many more editions of Rotajams are cooking.
We believe Rotajams can be a revolutionary idea, and we call out on all clubs to back us up on this one. We call for support in as far as attending and sharing of the information is concerned. Help us be part of the change we want to see in the society. Music, poetry, creativity has never gone wrong with humanity. Together we can spread our agenda and through Rotajams, amplify it to the max. Let’s do this!
Article by Kefa Odindo|PR Director – Rotaract Club of Lang’ata,
Awesome and Congratulations Rotaractors from RC Langata #Rotajam will be the next Big Thing in District 9212 I believe a time is coming where even the District e will be receiving a call from Rotary International to Benchmark and share the same with DRR #CretaiveArts #Poetry has a way of getting humanity into their bones. This will also create a mass membership opportunity drive for Lal our Rotaractors Clubs