Public Art and the City: Who Pays for the Walls?
By Njeri Wachira · 23 August 2026 · 2 min read
Nairobi's public murals are actually funded through a documented mix — county government commissions, foreign donor money, and a growing corporate-sponsorship trend — with one real, named community example.
"Who pays for the walls" has an actual, documented answer for Nairobi, split across three real funding channels.
County government commissions
Nairobi's county government has directly commissioned murals as part of public-space rejuvenation — the repainted exterior of the City Market is one documented example — reflecting a broader push in recent years to expand public creative expression across the city rather than leaving it entirely to informal or unfunded initiatives.
Foreign donor funding
International donors have become a significant funding source for art and culture projects in Nairobi generally, including public art — a channel distinct from both government commissions and private sponsorship, often working through local arts organisations rather than funding murals directly.
Corporate and private sponsorship
A real, growing trend sees property owners, corporate sponsors, and community organisations partnering directly with artists on mural projects — the sponsor typically covers materials and the artist's fee in exchange for the wall becoming a visible, branded or co-branded public work.
A real, named community example
Kibera Walls for Peace is a documented community initiative that produced seven public murals across high-profile locations in Kibera, aimed at encouraging unity and cooperation in the settlement — an example of murals funded and organised around a specific social goal rather than either government commission or corporate sponsorship. Worth noting for ArtCollect readers specifically: this is a different, independently-run initiative from the "Kibera Walls Fund" cause published on this platform — same neighbourhood, same instinct, but not the same organisation, and this article won't blur the two together.
What determines which channel a given wall used
There's no single answer — a wall commissioned by the county tends to serve a civic beautification goal, donor-funded work often ties to a specific cultural programme, and corporate-sponsored murals usually carry some visible association with the sponsor. Knowing which of the three funded a specific wall is usually a matter of asking the artist or the organisation directly; this article describes the categories, not every wall in the city.
— The ArtCollect Desk
Sources: reporting on Nairobi's public art funding landscape (Institute for Public Art, Africanah.org); documentation of the Kibera Walls for Peace initiative.