Festival of Arts opens at Bliss
The festival of arts is a countrywide affair, with school children from all over the nation participating. But today, the largest venue, with the largest amount of students got its festival off to a lively start. And after being away from the Bliss for several years, the general consensus was that it was great to have the festival of arts back where it belongs.
Patrick Jones, Reporting
Hundreds of boys and girls from primary and secondary schools across the Belize District will showcase their talents on stage at the Bliss Centre for the Performing Arts over the next four weeks.
The fourteenth Belize District schools Festival of Arts will feature music, poetry, dance and drama. Festival coordinator Leroy Green says this year more activities than ever are included.
Leroy Green, Community Arts Coordinator
“This year we have a record number of schools because some schools came out that I never heard about, I had to check to see where they are from. Because as I was remarking earlier, up until last year we had like twenty-four items per night. We did a rough estimate yesterday and we came out with between thirty-two to thirty-four items per night alone, so there has been an increase in entries, even in the visual arts section that you’re going to see upstairs in a short while.”
The first week of the Festival is dedicated to the visual arts, featuring hundreds of arts and craft pieces. Two of the exhibitors are Dayhanna Ortega and Beverly Gillett.
Dayhanna Ortega, Student, Belize Elementary
“Our teacher gave us ideas and we tried to make as how she tells us to make it. And we thought of it, like this as a sun and we made a face and made sticks of different colours and it looks like a plant, I think it’s a plant… We took two or three weeks because we have one day for arts per week, so we took like three weeks to do it.”
Patrick Jones
“How long did it take you to prepare this?”
Beverly Gillett, Student, Calvary Temple
“One day…I get a paper and cut out some flowers and then put it in a plate. And with other equipment, close up the plate and glue it up and just design it with different stuff.”
While the talents of the nation’s youngest citizens will remain in sharp focus, at least for the next month, president of the National Institute of Culture and History Yasser Musa sums it up best when he addressed the opening of the festival, suggesting that arts is a powerful tool, integral to the nation?s development, uniting teachers, parents and students.
Yasser Musa, President, NICH
“There is nothing more important to a human being?s growth than his or her ability to find expression. Freedom of expression is a human right, whether you are making a drawing, reciting a poem, or engaging in dance, these are all activities that are precious to your humanity. These activities bring out ideas and feelings from inside and it becomes a perfect act of sharing and giving.”
Leroy Green
“It is one of the only chances for our children to showcase their talents in the visual arts and the different spheres of the performing arts. And it?s something that both children and teachers and even we find parents look forward to each year.”
Patrick Jones
“Is this a competition?”
Leroy Green
“Basically it?s not, because every child who participates, no matter whether he gets a bronze or a silver or gold gets a certificate of participation. The competitive part is just to show the different standards where the particular children have reached and encourage them to strive for better.”
And for the teachers, the long hours of preparation and exhausting rehearsals are small sacrifices to make in order to prepare their students for the stage.
Lavern Ferguson, Teacher, St. Luke Methodist
“Actually we haven’t started yet, but we plan to do rehearsals everyday. You know, preparing the children for stage and kind of like preparing them mentally and physically for their performance.”
Patrick Jones
“What can the audience look forward to from St. Luke Methodist this year??
Lavern Ferguson
“Well, since there is a new building, I plan on really bringing out some nice pieces, two pieces actually from the choir. I know that people will enjoy these performances and I encourage the public to come out and see them.”
Annie Palacio, Teacher, Belize Elementary
“Well our school has the curriculum whereby we have our own little Festival of Arts. And those who win from there go on to the real Festival of Arts. But over all we start from September really because our curriculum also integrate arts, drama and music because I think it’s something that helps the students because they become holistic. And that’s the kind of students we want out there, holistic children; academic is not everything.”
Beverly Gillett
“I am proud of participating in this years Festival of Arts. I am proud of myself that I have done something. I was enjoying myself while I was dong this.”
Patrick Jones, for News 5.
The performing section of the festival starts on Monday night, and continues for the next two weeks, followed by an encore presentation of the gold medal winning entries. The theme for this year’s festival of arts is ?Children: the singers, the dancers, the actors, the artists of tomorrow.? This is the last year high schools will join younger students on stage as next year NICH will be holding a separate Secondary School Festival just for them.
