JCDC Visual Arts Competition Awards Ceremony And Exhibition Set For October 2

The Jamaica Cultural Development Commission (JCDC) will host its 2025 Visual Arts Competition Awards Ceremony and the opening of the Gold Medal Winners Exhibition on Thursday, October 2.

The awards ceremony will commence at 10:00 a.m. at the Confucius Institute, University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona.

Immediately following the ceremony, the exhibition will open at 1:15 p.m. at the Olympia Art Centre, located at 202 Old Hope Road, Kingston.

JCDC Visual Arts Development Specialist, Dr. Winston Campbell, told JIS News that the open nature of the competition is intended to unearth and showcase the creative talents of Jamaican artists.

“What this means is that our entrants, from ages six upwards, are all able to showcase their creative talents. We don’t limit or inspire them to go in a particular direction. We say, ‘whatever you have been so inspired to create over the past two years, do share it with the rest of us across the island so that we can, not just view, but also help to celebrate you’,” he said.

Dr. Campbell added that: “It’s a celebration of our varying creative interests and our varying creative expressions; and we then have teams of adjudicators who review the artworks over four rounds and then we get that outcome that we will now be celebrating.”

The exhibition, which forms part of the development framework established by the JCDC for entrants in the visual arts competition, showcases the finest submissions received this year.

“We had 1,300 entries this year. The gold medal exhibition will feature roughly around 60 to 63 of those entries that we would have received. It’s the most outstanding, top of the top, crème de la crème. But this exhibition is not just paintings or drawings… we also will have ceramic works [and] sculpture submissions. We [also] have fashion designs, textile designs… you name it, we will have examples… in the competition. All the creative disciplines are represented,” Dr. Campbell noted.

The exhibition will be open to the public daily, except Sundays, from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., beginning Friday, October 3, and continuing through Wednesday, October 15.

“So, for two weeks, the exhibition will be on view, and one can go and view the works for free. There is no cover charge [and] artworks will also be on sale during the exhibition,” Dr. Campbell said.

He is also extending an invitation to visual arts educators and aspiring entrants of the visual arts competition to visit the exhibition.

“This exhibition is an important one for the JCDC. It’s not only showcasing work by our youth artists who are between six years old and 17 years old, but we also have work by our adult artists, aged between 18, up to mid-70s. So there is something there for everyone to come and see, but moreso our educators and our aspiring entrants; you should all come by and have a look and see where the standard is,” Dr. Campbell said

“Of course, art collectors, art enthusiasts, managers of office spaces, hoteliers, everyone should come by and have a look and enjoy the best of Jamaican visual culture, which will be on display during this exhibition,” he added.

The 2025 JCDC Visual Arts Competition Awards Ceremony and Gold Medal Winners Exhibition are supported by the Musson Foundation, and the Culture, Health, Arts, Sports and Education (CHASE) Fund.

Parking for the awards ceremony will be available at the UWI main car park. Attendees of the exhibition may access designated parking at the Olympia Art Centre.