Support a Kenyan Student’s Dream at CalArts

My name is Polo Onguru. I am a last-born son, a younger brother, a storyteller, and most importantly, an artist. I am a Kenyan, born in the capital city of Nairobi. Since birth, music has punctuated my every memory, cushioned every downfall, and polished every peak. Growing up, our home was always filled with music, from Dido to Tracy Chapman, Paul Simon to Bob Marley.

When I was 13, I got my first phone. I cannot pinpoint the exact moment music changed my life, but I know that at 13, when I discovered music on my own, my understanding of the world shifted. This period of discovery taught me that music isn’t just sound—it is an emotional language. 13 was also the year I downloaded my first Digital Audio Workstation: Logic Pro X. When I was little, I understood music as something to be perceived, to be listened to. When I was 13, I understood that music could be made. That what I once thought was intangible could become tactile, something I could craft, something I could do with my own two hands.

Lie/Idle, 2023

After graduating high school from the Interlochen Arts Academy, I took a gap year back in Nairobi to explore what it meant to reconnect with the music scene in my hometown. This experience reinforced my belief in music as a continued pathway for the rest of my life, as a career; so as the fall approached, I was more than excited to be moving to California to pursue this dream.

Getting the opportunity to study music at the California Institute of the Arts is one I did not take lightly. I was finally in Los Angeles, making music with extremely talented people in ways I could've only imagined. However, CalArts quickly became a financial burden on me and my family. Despite my best efforts at pulling strings and favors wherever possible, it became very apparent that fundraising for my tuition was no longer an effort I could do alone.

I am therefore reaching out and asking for your support to help me pay off my spring semester to finish off the school year, thus giving me and my family adequate time over the summer to reflect on what my next steps will be. I am forever grateful for your aid; it means the world to me and goes a very long way.

You can listen to the rest of my music here.