Belizean children shine in Festival of Arts
On Saturday, this year’s Festival of Arts comes to a close. The show started on May eight and included an Arts and Craft section and two weeks of performances. The school children who participated in the festival were awarded for their outstanding presentations. Director of Belize Arts Council, Beverly Smith Lopez says they have been impressed with the items and believes the festival has moved to a new level. Unfortunately, the support from more than a few of the parents are at an all time low. Here are a few highlights of the stars in action.
Beverly Smith Lopez, Director, Belize Arts Council
“Well we can say that they have made lots of improvement in their presentations, especially in the dance formation. We are extremely happy and we can say we have seen some choirs who have really come far up and we are pretty pleased overall. We can say it has been a success, there are two more nights to go and we think it was all worth it. We also must say in the arts and craft we were pretty much impressed with it, the arts and craft section which started the festival.”
“You know Jackie, we have been struggling with this and I am sure it is not only the Festival of Arts and it’s sad to say that quite a lot of children still turned up at the festival, each night, without any member to support them, any family member to support them. Teachers have been bringing bus loads of children to the festival, and they are totally in charge of seeing that the children return home, members of staff have been able to help to ensure that the children are returned home and we have given parents special prices to come to the festival. We encouraged them in all manner possible and I must say that some schools have 100% percent behind them at the festival of arts, the children have all parental support. Some other schools, it is really sad to say do not have it and this is one of the areas that we want to work on and we want to plead to parents. Some children have been able to get gold awards and not a member of the family to give them a hug or a kiss and I am sure that it hurts because other people in the audience stand up and bring flowers, clap, cheers, you know parents support. I think our children have been missing out on this, quite a lot of children.”
If you would like to attend the final day of the festival of Arts, the show gets underway at 10:00 Saturday morning at the Holy Redeemer Parish Hall. As an added bonus attractive prizes will also be raffled.
