Belize District Festival of Arts opens at the Bliss
While thousands of standard six boys and girls make little dots on examination papers with a pencil to be seen by only a few people, other students are being given the opportunity to show their creativity to the world. Over the next thirty days, the Bliss Institute in Belize City will be transformed into one giant stage where the nation’s youngest citizens get to shine, teachers put their best foot forward and moms and dads burst at the seams with pride. News Five’s Patrick Jones reports.
The Belize District Festival of Arts will for the next four weeks showcase the impressive talents of school children both at the primary and secondary levels.
Beverly Smith-Lopez, Director, Belize Arts Council
“Well, truthfully we start off with arts and crafts section and then on the sixteenth is when the performing arts festival takes place. What happen Patrick, as you know, the arts and crafts is very important. A lot of us are talented with our hands and we’re able to do quite a lot of things – sewing and make flowers, draw, paint. These are the set of children that we’re giving the highlight to for the first two weeks of the Festival.”
The Bliss Auditorium was packed to capacity for this afternoon’s opening of the Festival, and while the first two weeks are dedicated to arts and craft, organizers say the second half, the performing arts section, which opens on the sixteenth of the month should be even more awesome.
Beverly Smith-Lopez
“This is where festival really goes into a jam session. We’re expecting lots and lots of performances. We’re going to do almost two hours of programming per day and so for sixteen nights, two hours a day and we do have a lot of work to do. We’ll have then the singing, the music, both instrumental and music, voice and drama and the dance section. Of course on the sixteenth we’ll launch the creative writing book. For two years we have had entries, ’96 and ’97, that have come into the creative writing section of the festival and we launched the second volume of poems and stories by Belizean children. So that will get launched the sixteenth also.”
This is the sixth anniversary of the revival of the Belize district Festival of Arts and Smith-Lopez says this year’s presentations are special for more reasons than one.
Beverly Smith Lopez
“This year is special because, number one, we’re going to have a challenge and we got to face it. It’s one of the years that for example the Grace Primary School will not be in the Festival of Arts. It’s going to give the other children the opportunity to shine. Another thing special about this year’s Festival is it is dedicated in the loving memory of the late Vernon Leslie. And that is especially special for me because truthfully I am one of the children who grew up under Vernon Leslie and I was extremely pleased when we decided to dedicate the Festival of ’98 to him.”
The Festival this year is being held under the theme: “The object is not to gain a prize, or defeat a rival, but to pace one another on the road to excellence.” Patrick Jones, for News Five.
According to Lopez, entries to the Festival of Arts from Caye Caulker were so many this year that one whole Saturday will be set aside especially for them to display their work. The golden nights of the Belize District Festival of Arts are scheduled for June third to the sixth.
