The annual National Schools Arts Festival kicked off today at the Old Mill Cultural Centre.
Forty-five primary and secondary schools and first-time-participant Dominica State College will be engaged in the event from March 11 to 15.
The various segments of the competition will be in Choral Music, Choral Speech, Vocal Solos, Traditional Dance, Creative Dance, Drama, Arts and Crafts, and the latest addition to the festival, Traditional Toys, and Games.
This year the awards of Best Actor and Actress in tribute to Dr. Alwin Bully and Best Director Award in honor of Mr. Stevenson Hyacinth have been introduced to the festival.
For today’s competition, there were three segments – Choral Speech, Vocal Solo, and Choral Music.
In Choral Speech gold medals went to Pierre Charles Secondary, Wesley High School, Dominica Grammar School, and Convent High School. Silver was won by St Mary’s Academy, Isaiah Thomas Secondary School, and North East Comprehensive School, and bronze medals went to Goodwill Secondary School, and Dominica Community High School.
For Vocal Solo, bronze went to Castle Bruce secondary. Silver went to the Dominica Grammar School, and North East Comprehensive. Gold medals went to Wesley High School, St Mary’s Academy, St Martin Secondary, Pierre Charles Secondary, Portsmouth Secondary School, Convent High School, and Arthur Waldron Seventh-Day Adventist Academy.
In Choral Music bronze medals went to Pierre Charles Secondary, Castle Bruce Secondary, Dominica Community High School, and North East Comprehensive. Silver was won by Wesley High School and Dominica State College. Gold was given to Arthur Waldron, Pierre Charles Secondary, Dominica Grammar School, Convent High School, and Portsmouth Secondary School.
Acting Chief Cultural Officer, Earlson Matthew said this festival delivers a platform that fosters students to learn a skill.
“We always say start them young and get culture and arts into the schools and we are proud to deliver a platform that fosters just that, giving them a certain skill set that even if they choose not to pursue careers in The Arts, it is still engraved,” he said at the event.
Matthew expressed that the beauty of this festival is that the schools are not competing against each other but instead are being judged against the criteria and as a result, there will be multiple gold medals per discipline and not first, second, and third places.
He noted that last year’s festival was a “revelation” stating that talent and imagination are “boundless” and attendees should be prepared to be wowed once more.
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