Persons Must Have Tickets to Attend Gala

Patrons will be required to have tickets to see the Independence Grand Gala at the National Stadium, on August 6. The event, which begins at 5:30 p.m., will be free to the public.

Speaking at a recent Jamaica Information Service (JIS) ‘Think Tank’, Principal Director of Culture in the Ministry of Youth and Culture, Dahlia Harris, said that distribution of tickets will be done on a “first come, first serve basis”, and noted the challenges in ensuring a fair distribution of the tickets.

“When you open to the public there are a lot of variables and so the best that we can do is to put them out on a first come, first serve basis,” she said, adding that the 25,000 capacity National Stadium cannot accommodate everyone, including special guests.

However, she said a larger number of Gala tickets has been allocated to the general public, to ensure that as many people as possible are able to see the show.

Miss Harris said the Grand Gala will be a very entertaining show and will celebrate Jamaica’s global impact, through the cultural and creative industries. She said all the performers on the show are part of a larger script, and the songs to be performed “will be a part of the story that we want to tell.”

“The songs for the most part have already been pre-selected and a lot of the performances that they (participants) will do, will be accompanied by dance and movement,” she noted.

Miss Harris said the Grand Gala will feature the top three winners of The Big Stage, the Jamaica Festival Song and the Gospel Song Competitions.

Jamaicans attending the gala will also see performances by the Jamaican dance group, Dancing Dynamites and Miss Portland, a contestant from the Miss Jamaica Festival Queen Competition, who had been recognized as the most talented person on the show.

“We thought it was an opportunity as well that if they won the national competitions, then they should get a chance to showcase themselves,” she added.