Tribute to Bev Smith-Lopez on Sunday

If you are free this Sunday we can recommend no better activity than the one taking place at the Bliss. Jacqueline Woods has more.

Jacqueline Woods, Reporting

Beverly Smith-Lopez–sometimes affectionately known as Du Du Daaling–entertained us with her comedy and theatrical performances. Director of the Belize Arts Council until the time of her death on October ninth, Miss Bev touched the lives of many, particularly those in the artistic community. And to show their appreciation, many of those performers will be part of a one day tribute to her on Sunday.

Gregory Vernon, Acting Director, Belize Arts Council

“As you know we were planning on holding the tribute two weeks after Mrs. Lopez died. What happened was that we had another death in the family at the office which was Mr. Amede Rene, so we had to look at postponing it until December first, which is this Sunday at the Bliss Institute.”

Gregory Vernon, Acting Director at the Belize Arts Council, says because the event will be celebrating the life of Smith-Lopez, the event will take the form of a fair. Vernon says quite a number of artists have committed to perform.

Gregory Vernon

“We will not be doing a captured audience, it will be more like a fair, a festival type. We will be using the Bliss Institute completely, so it will be upstairs in the balcony, we will be in theatre in the round, we’ll have the main stage which of course will be in the auditorium, we’ll be outside of the Bliss Institute with the big bands for the crowd who would like to listen to the punta rock artists and the different steel orchestra. So we have decided, because we are working with forty something artists that will be coming out. So instead of having them sit and be captured in the auditorium for some three hours, we decided that we will be doing it from 10:30 to 3:30 to accommodate and not turn back any artist that would like to perform.”

If you are an artist and would like to pay tribute to Beverly Smith Lopez, you can show up at the Bliss on Sunday and the organizers will do their best to fit you in the programme. Jacqueline Woods for News 5.

All of Sunday’s events around the Bliss Institute are free of charge.