by Kafui Offori
Hey there!!!
Wondering why the excitement? Well, ICYMI: Adventures Live! X The Spread 2023 is duly launched! Our annual festival on sex and sexualities, community and solidarity-building — and of course, lots and lots of pleasure — brings together people from all across the African continent, and this year we are upping the scale some more. You don’t need to be anywhere else in the world on the 25th and 26th of November – hope you’ve marked your calendars! Kenya is the location, and tickets are on sale right now, right here. In fact, early bird tickets are all sold out, so make sure you get your advance tickets now. Don’t say we didn’t try and save you some money.
This year’s edition is co-directed by Kaz and Nana Darkoa Sekyiamah, founders of Kaz Entertainment and the Adventures from the Bedrooms of African Women blog respectively. This will mark the second time both outfits are collaborating on the festival, following a very successful run last year. I managed to steal them for a bit to ask a few things about this year’s activities. Enjoy!
Kaf: Hello everyone! Exciting times, isn’t it?!
Nana: Yes, it is! Gearing up for our festival is always a lot of work, but it’s also so exciting! For the second time, we are collaborating with Kaz Entertainment to create Adventures Live! X The Spread in Kenya. The dream is to continue to build this and have it cross-continental, so it is very exciting that we get to do this again.
Kaf: Kaz, your history with Nana and the Adventures Live! festival goes way back. Can you let us in a bit on that, and how the collaboration both for last year and this year has come about?
Kaz: Of course! I attended the very first Adventures Live! festival in Accra and thoroughly enjoyed myself. This was in 2019. While there, I also recorded a podcast episode [for my podcast ‘The Spread Pod’] with the team and subsequently opened discussions on the possibility of hosting a collaborative event. A few editions later and…here we are!
Kaf: A collaboration made so much sense, didn’t it? It was quite the no-brainer it seems.
Kaz: Indeed! Kaz Entertainment and Adventures Live! complement each other very well. Separately, as well as together, we have created amazing sex positive content and events over a number of years now. For this year’s festival, the intention is to see even more young people represented. The partnership with the Adventures crew has been nurturing, and has allowed both teams to learn and grow.
Kaf: The theme, over the years, has always been something that is both exciting and very layered. 2022 saw the creation of what was truly a Sexual Utopia. What theme has been decided on for this year?
Nana: Our theme is still around Sexual Utopia, following on from last year, and this year we want the focus to be on freedom. So, our full theme is ‘Sexual Utopia: Compelling Freedom and Liberation.’ We want the festival to continue to be a safe space where we can have the open, honest conversations needed around sex, sexualities and pleasure.
Kaf: That sounds wonderful! Can you delve a bit more into what people can expect at this year’s event?
Nana: Everything! We are going to be talking about how we can experience freedom and liberation in the here and now, in spite of the increasingly repressive context that queer people, women and young people find themselves in. We will be talking about how we can parent in a way that brings up healthy children who are sex positive, who are confident about their bodies, their identities, their expressions. We are also going to be creating lots of spaces for various healing activities; a number of healers will be present and will make themselves available to people who may need support. We will have a lot of fun and art — there will be pole-dancing, music, even an open mic night! It’s just going to be an amazing event. People can get their tickets now, and we also have some special events for this year [outside of the main festival days] which will be advertised soon, including a play party by none other than THEE Jet Setting Jasmine. Anyone interested can start getting in touch with us even before we start promoting those special events.
Kaz: Just to add to that, another reason this year’s festival is going to be so special is because we will be going out of town! Out of Nairobi. That is super exciting! And like Nana mentioned, the amazing Jet Setting Jasmine will be joining us. There’s just so much to look forward to.
Kaf: Who is welcome to this event?
Nana: The festival is a space where every person is welcome, no matter your gender identity or sexual orientation and expression.
Kaf: Any final words? Perhaps, what you’d like people who participate in the festival to take home with them?
Kaz: This year’s discussions will be around compelling freedom and liberation, as we continue to unpack the Sexual Utopia theme. The event focuses its efforts on highlighting the ongoing work and progress made towards establishing a sex-positive culture on the African continent. My hope is that people feel this, are impacted by it and are able to take back with them a slice of the freedom and liberation the environment we are creating will provide. A time is going to be had!
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Don’t miss out on Adventures Live! X The Spread ‘23, on the 25th and 26th of November, somewhere outside Nairobi. Buy your tickets TODAY!
We can’t wait to have you!
