Mama Grace Onyango Social Hall: Hub of Kisumu's art and culture

When exploring the history and heritage of Kisumu and its people, only one place comes to mind: Mama Grace Onyango Arts, Culture, Research, Sports and Educational Centre.

One of the oldest social halls in Kisumu, the community centre boasts of a long history since it first opened its doors in the pre-colonial period.

The hall was launched in 1960 by Colonial Governor Sir Patrick Renison, who had great passion for the growth of arts, sports and public intellectual discourse. 

Obat Masira, Manager and Chief Executive Officer of the centre says the hall was launched by Sir Renison amid splendour, with the aim of spurring a cultural and intellectual renaissance among younger Kenyans in the lakeside city.

“Its main objective was to cater for the entertainment and leisure needs of the town’s indigenous population,” Mr Obat said in an interview with The Standard on Sunday.

As time went by, however, the composition of Kisumu town’s residents transformed and soon become a diverse mix of multi-ethnic and multi-racial communities, with Asians and Africans alike laying claim to the hall.

The building has been renamed four times. It was first named the African Social Hall, then changed to Victoria Social Hall and later to Kisumu Social Centre. It is now known as the Grace Onyango Social Hall.

According to Mr Masira, the three most important activities at the centre in the 1960s were performing arts, sports and symposiums.

In addition to that, political leaders would troop to the centre, where they would sell their ideas to the public, and voters would have the opportunity to hold them to account.

“Kisumu was associated with creativity because of the Annual Luo League festival that hosted symposiums of intellectuals from around East African countries and the centre would be packed to capacity,” says the artist.

He says great authors like Nigeria’s Chinua Achebe and Malawi’s David Rubadiri conducted weekly public lectures at the centre.

“The likes of Bosco Jin Mwenda and Edwardo Masenga, among other legendary musicians, graced the centre with their various ensembles.”

“There were great moments when musicians like Okach Biggy used the centre to hone their skills due to the facility’s proximity to the bus stage and beer belt,” says Mr Masira.

Rew Owino, a Professor of Linguistics the Jaramogi Oginga Odinga University of Science and Technology recalls low moments in the 1990s after the departure of Okot p’Bitek.

Mr Owino says they witnessed the centre turn into a murky place with no running water and mobbed by teeming homeless families.

“The hall was later turned into a place of worship by religious organisations after the musicians left to seek for greener pastures,” says Mr Owino.

He notes that the centre lost its vision and mission entirely due to mismanagement in the 1990s.

“The hall lost its shine and fame when it became a place for Ohangla performances,” says Mr Owino, noting that a pub and a restaurant opened up on one section of the social hall, overshadowing its original purpose of nurturing culture.

The intellectual and arts centre that defined literary discourse in Kisumu, a place of social-economic debates where figures such as Stanley Everet, the then chair of the Kisumu Municipal Board, would meet other leaders for dialogue, turned into a cave of vice.

Fast forward to today, the centre has been refurbished, relaunched and renamed. Ohangla nights with drunken revellers are long gone, having now been replaced by intellectual debates.

Paintings of historical political heroes and other pioneer leaders in the social and cultural fields hang on the walls. Many iconic theatre artistes, writers and musicians have grown their art here.

In October 2020, Kisumu governor Anyang’ Nyong’o relaunched the centre to honour one of Kisumu’s greatest pioneer female political leaders, Mama Grace Onyango.

Grace Monica Akech Onyango was the first Kenyan woman Mayor elected in Kisumu in 1965.  She was also the first woman to be elected MP for Kisumu Town in 1969 and served until 1983.

She was the first woman Secretary-General of Luo Union (East Africa) and the first woman councilor of Kaloleni ward in Kisumu.

The teacher-turned-politician, was the first woman Assistant Commissioner of the Girl Guide Association and the Chair of Child Welfare Society, Kisumu District.

Today, the centre’s emphasis is on cultural and artistic activities, with a view to transform Kisumu city into a regional hub, in addition to being an innovative and modern centre for culture, research, education, artistic and intellectual literary discourse.

The centre facilitates activities that promote and nurture talent in art, culture, theatre, film, creative writing and sports for transformative change especially among the younger generation.

Mr Obat says already, plans to start a school of languages like French, are underway.

Currently, the centre has a fully established functional Art Gallery, Art school, school of performing and visual Arts as well as music.

According to Francis Owino a Professor of Linguistics, there has not been a centre that attracts specialists even though there are intitutions with potential training avenues for performing arts locally.