I.D.B. uses money to promote culture
The Inter-American Development Bank, which usually lends money for multi-million dollar investments, also has an interest in far smaller projects. This afternoon it awarded twenty thousand dollars to two local groups that participated in it’s Cultural Promotion in the Field Programme. The popular steel band, Pantempters, received eight thousand dollars to purchase instruments and encourage youths to learn that type of music, while the Cayo based Society for the Promotion of Eco Cultural Tourism and the Environment was awarded twelve thousand dollars to purchase instruments and teach Mestizo and Maya music. And according to the managing director of the Pantempters, John Bodden, there are a lot of people who want to learn.
John Bodden, Assistant Managing Dir., Pantempters
“The Pantempters as it is, is a group of people that volunteer their time to play music. What we have been doing is promoting Belizean music in particular and regional music. We have been doing this through presentations locally and internationally. The grant that we receive now will be used for the training of youths, so that we could have a pool of players that we could recruit from. In the past years we have been having a lot of bands coming about, but because of the lack of players, they just seem to die off. So what we’re trying to do is to develop a pool of players that we could recruit and have sustainability for the bands.”
Leo Obando, Director, SPECTE
“We are happy today to be informed that we were successful in really getting this grant. This is our second project proposal and this money will be used to replenish our depleted musical instruments. We have a music school and we have a lot of young people that have really graduated from our school over the years. Today, our instruments are not in good condition, so this money will be used to refurbish those depleted instruments. We hope that more young people from the Cayo District will get involved in taking guitar lessons, violin, accordion, marimba, piano and probably bass or a trap set.”
The programme caters to I.D.B. borrowing countries and this is the fourth time that Belize has benefited. Past recipients include The Belize Museum Project, The Ambergris Caye Museum and Cultural Centre, and the Toledo Mayan Cultural Council.
