San Fernando Arts Council turns 50

THE San Fernando Arts Council is celebrating its golden jubilee this year. To mark the milestone, the council has planned a number of activities under the theme Enriching Lives– Building a Nation.

Upcoming events include an Icons Award Ceremony and a concert featuring the works of southern cultural icons Torrance Mohammed, Joyce Kirton, Eric Butler, Eugene Joseph and Walid Baksh in September/ November.

The council is also inviting members and member groups to submit reports, activities, pictures for inclusion in a special issue of its Gayap magazine.

Also, there is a playwriting contest which is open to all citizens. The play must be 75-90 minutes long and include at least two local dances and two local songs which must be related to its theme in order to enhance its development, the council said in a media release. It said two type-written (double-spaced) copies must be submitted to The Secretary, San Fernando Arts Council, 97C Circular Road, San Fernando, by September 30.

The winner will receive a trophy and will have free use of the Creative Arts Centre to stage the production for three nights. All proceeds, minus technical fees will go to the winner, who will also get one night technical rehearsal and one night dress rehearsal at the centre, the release said. Secondary school students and students of the theatre arts are especially invited to participate.

The council, the brainchild of James Lee Wah, boasts of being "the only cultural organisation with a home of its own" – the Creative Arts Centre, Circular Road, San Fernando.

Its accomplishments over the years include the successful staging to Junior Arts Festival, now NGC Sanfest, which it hosted for the past 49 years. It also discovered and promoted the talents of primary and secondary schoolchildren, many of whom have gone on to international stardom, it said. Among those successes it listed are soca stars Machel Montano, Kees Dieffenthaller, singer Vaughnette Bigford and Liam Teague.

For more info: 657- 7665 or Walid Baksh 769- 8979.