Bz. District Festival of Arts kicks off at Bliss
While the art of rural Cayo was on display at the Image Factory, some of the old capital’s budding artists were doing their thing just across the river.
Jacqueline Godwin, Reporting
It was uncomfortable hot for the children, but the weather did not stop the boys and girls of the Belize District from celebrating the opening of their Festival of Arts.
This year there is an increase in the number of students, schools, and entries.
William Neal, President, ICA
“We have just been a lot more aggressive in recruiting schools and making sure that the word gets out that the Festival was definitely happening and that we were trying to make it bigger and better than last year.”
In 2006, there were two hundred and forty-six entries. In 2007, there are three hundred and five. Last year one thousand, nine hundred and four primary school students performed. This year, two thousand, three hundred and thirty-seven children will be on stage. School participation has also increased from forty-five to fifty-two. As explained by William Neal, President of the Institute of Creative Arts, the children will be performing under the banner of Art is Life.
William Neal
“Especially with all the violence and everything that we have happening in our wider society to encourage people to use the arts as a positive outlet to enhance their life and other people, because it really gives you the opportunity to see the world through somebody else’s eyes and for other people to see the world through your eyes. Whether it be drama, dance, poetry whatever, it is a good opportunity for you to express yourself.”
The first expression, running for two weeks, will be the visual arts. This will be followed by twenty-two nights of performances on that stage at the Bliss.
To accommodate all the children attending, the opening ceremony was held outside of the Bliss Centre for the Performing Arts where Yasser Musa, the President of the National Institute for Culture and History, addressed the young audience.
Yasser Musa, President, NICH
“Over the next few weeks this beautiful Bliss will turn into a magical place where your music, dance, and drama will come alive. Every year we host the festival, we recognise the precious gift of art to our community and our country. You are special to us. We cherish this time in our calendar because the future is today we must make it happen.”
This is the seventeenth year of the revived Belize District Children’s Festival of Arts.
According to William Neal, each of the other five districts is given a subvention of five thousand dollars to assist with their own festivals.
