‘All Schools Fun Day and Fair’ in Montego Bay
March 2, 2005The Full Story
The St. James Cultural Development Committee will be staging an ‘All Schools Fun Day and Career Fair’ on Wednesday, March 23 at the Catherine Hall Entertainment Complex in Montego Bay.
At a press conference held at the Wexford Court Hotel in Montego Bay today (March 2) to launch the event, JCDC Regional Manager, Marjorie Vernon, explained that staging of the fair was to raise money to establish an endowment fund, so that the committee could be more self sufficient in the development and promotion of cultural activities in the parish. She informed that fund would be used to assist schools and community groups with transportation, costuming, rehearsal facilities and meeting training needs towards their cultural development.
She explained that the fun day and fair, would highlight various career fields and resource persons would be on hand to answer questions and provide relevant information. She noted also, that the event would serve to encourage positive interaction among young people, parents, teachers and others, to minimize aggression and foster understanding and goodwill.
Chairman of the St. James Cultural Development Committee, Paul Slowly, underscored the importance of cultural development towards nation building.
“The arts represent the highest form of personal expression, and if we can get our children excelling through the arts, then they will take that with them for the rest of their lives. We have found that those kids, who excel at the parish level, at the regional level, at the national level in the performing arts in all our festival of arts competitions, are the same children who do very well academically”, he observed.
He said that the ultimate aim of the committee was to establish a performing arts centre in Montego Bay and the establishment of the endowment fund is expected to assist this effort.
Mr. Slowly expressed gratitude, on behalf of the St. James Cultural Development Committee, to the many local companies that have come on board to assist in sponsoring the fun day and career fair.
The St. James Cultural Development Committee is an agency of the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission (JCDC).