Marcus Garvey Award for Excellence in Performing Arts to Be Announced Oct. 1

The winner of the Marcus Garvey Award for Excellence in the Performing Arts will be announced on Tuesday, October 1 at the Little Theatre, Arthur Wint Drive in Kingston.

Five top institutions have been nominated for this year’s Award, including the Godfrey Stewart Performing Arts Society, Green Island High School, Port Antonio Theatre Group, Ardenne High School and St. Jago High School.

The awards ceremony, which begins at 11:00 a.m., will be attended by officials of the Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport as well as principals and leaders of various schools and institutions.

Guest speaker is expected to be the Minister of Education and Youth, Hon. Fayval Williams.

This year, the Award, which was instituted by the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission (JCDC) in 1994, is celebrating its 30th anniversary.

Director of the Arts Development and Training Division of the JCDC, Andrew Brodber, told JIS News that the five nominees were chosen because they have amassed the highest score based on the quality of awards received during the Jamaica Festival of the Performing Arts Competition.

“The five nominees are those who would have been successful in at least three subject areas of the National Festival of the Arts Competition, and usually the institution that comes out on top is the one who would have entered five subject areas and they would have done well in the five areas,” he said.

Mr. Brodber commended Founder of Port Antonio Theatre Group, Dr. Maureen Campbell and Playwright and teacher at Green Island High School, Shauna Miller, for contributing to the development of the arts and culture.

He said that the trainers have been very instrumental “in the tutelage, the mentorship, the encouragement of young people who are in the various creative industries”.

“We are very happy that they are producers in the arts and really commend them, and we celebrate them in this the 30th year of the JCDC Marcus Garvey Award for Excellence in the Performing Arts,” he added.

The Performing Arts Competition includes pieces from speech, drama, music, traditional folk forms, dance and deaf dance.