By LISA S. KING

Freeport News Reporter

lisa@nasguard.com

Director of Culture Dr. Nicholette Bethel said yesterday that Grand Bahama has performed and continues to perform extremely well in national arts festivals having produced the most national winners in the country.

At a press conference announcing the opening and adjudication schedules of the E. Clement Bethel National Arts Festival in Grand Bahama, Dr. Bethel revealed that the institution from which most of these winners come is the Bishop Michael Eldon School and based on the number of entrants from Grand Bahama, dance and instrumental music are the noted areas of strength.

"I have found that the young people in Grand Bahama are more culturally aware than young people in New Providence," Dr. Bethel said. "That tends to be the case with findings throughout the Family Islands. Grand Bahama has proven itself to be a well-rounded competitor. The instrumental training is excellent here. Grand Bahama is currently on the 2005 scores as leading The Bahamas in the E. Clement Bethel National Arts Festival."

Dr. Bethel attributes this difference in cultural awareness to Grand Bahama youth having more exposure to national activities and cultural events in the general community. She added that it also has to do with pride and knowledge of who we are as Bahamians, an element which she said is more prevalent in Freeport than in Nassau and one that provides a competitive edge in the competition.

Dr. Bethel said not only is Grand Bahama strong, but the entire northern region of The Bahamas has been dominating recent festivals. She said although Abaco is a strong competitor, it does not have all the resources which Grand Bahama has in terms of teaching, as some very good performing arts schools are here. She added that Abaco has considerable talent and placed very well in last year's festival. Bimini, she said, is similar to Abaco, with Abaco doing well in music and Bimini in drama.

"So the northern Bahamas is doing extremely well," she said.

The E. Clement Bethel National Arts Festival is being spearheaded by the Cultural Affairs Division and despite disruption within the island's schools from devastating hurricanes, there are now over 300 entrants who are ready to perform for the festival's adjudicators.

The adjudicators for this year's festival include:

* Barbara Requa, a founding member of the National Dance Theatre Company, who will be the adjudicator for the dance category of the festival. She is also dean of the Edna Manley School for the Performing Arts.

* JoAnn Deveaux-Callender, world renowned soprano and musician extraordinaire, who will be the adjudicator of the choral music category.

* Winston Saunders, internationally recognised playwright, former chairman of the Board of Directors of the Dundas Centre for the Performing Arts and chairman of the Cultural Commission. He will be the adjudicator of the drama category.

* Jill Austen of New York City, internationally recognised flautist and former lecturer at the College of The Bahamas and presently professor of music at New York City College. She will be the adjudicator of the instrumental music category.

* Erica James and Pamela Chandler, curator of the National Arts Gallery and education officer for arts and crafts, respectively, who will be adjudicators for the arts and crafts category.

Performances at the festival will take place as follows: Drama – March 6 - 10; music (including choral and instrumental music) – March 20 - 31; and dance March 31. All performances will take place at the Hilton Outten Convention Centre beginning at 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Family Island adjudications will begin in April through the first week in May 2006.

According to Dr. Bethel, the E. Clement Bethel National Arts Festival offers several awards for outstanding talent displayed by participants with the highest amount of scores.

The Pandora Gibson Gomez Award is given for drama; the E. Clement Bethel Award for music; the Hubert Farrington Award for dance; and the Horace Wright Award for visual arts.

Dr. Bethel noted that she would like to see the creation of regional festivals, where three festivals will be held in islands from the northern, central and southern areas of the country. She envisions that the winners from the regional festivals would then go on to compete in the nationals.

Dr. Bethel said as soon as certain administrative things are put in place and as soon as they can get commitment from communities to assist, then the regional festivals can be a reality in the next five years.

"It can't be something that is purely funded from the government," she said. "It needs to be a partnership between the community and the government. With a little more research, more contacts in the southern areas, it can come on stream within that time frame.

"So we would like to utilize the strengths of Grand Bahama to help us in bringing the people in the southern Bahamas in giving them the resources to compete on a level playing field."

With regard to indigenous performances, Dr. Bethel said they have not seen much of them entered throughout the festival.

"Perhaps that is because the focus for the festival tends to be the school and we are trying to develop beyond that," she said. "We tend to imagine that the festival is all about the school children, but it is for everybody, and in doing so tend to stick with things that suit the curriculum than the traditional arts.

"That is something that we would like to encourage throughout The Bahamas and Grand Bahama, and that is, we would love to see more indigenous and folk entries in the festival."

To help raise awareness of culture among the youth, Dr. Bethel said she will be looking at establishing cultural centres or cultural villages in every community so that young people will have access to cultural expression.

FESTIVAL OPENS — Director of Culture Dr. Nicholette Bethel speaks at a press conference yesterday announcing the opening and adjudication scheduling of the E. Clement Bethel National Arts Festival in Grand Bahama which is currently being held at the Hilton Outten Convention Centre. Pictured from left to right are: Dr. Bethel; Winston Saunders, adjudicator of the festival's drama category; and Keva Cartwright, festival secretary.

(BIS photo by VANDYKE HEPBURN)