Manning Child Care Facility Stages Music Festival Aug. 30

The Manning Child Care Facility in Southfield, St. Elizabeth, will be staging its second music festival on Thursday, August 30, 2018 under the theme: ‘Unleashing Talents’.

The event will see youngsters from the home unleashing their varied talents through song, dance, and the playing of musical instruments in different genres.

Manager of the facility, Delroy Brown, told JIS News that the event seeks to further enhance the self-confidence of the boys by encouraging them to display the talents they have garnered over the years.

“The festival is to expose the talents of the young men at the facility who have been engaged in music over the past two years. We have a marching band and a concert band. We also have a recording studio, so the guys do their own composition,” said Mr. Brown.

There are 50 boys enrolled at the facility aged between 8 and 19 years, and not all of them play musical instruments.

Mr. Brown explained that most of them attend external educational institutions. “Their involvement in music is medicine to their soul. It helps to reduce some of the behavioural problems that we come across, because music itself is a therapy, so it reduces the level of aggression and the constant bickering by the boys,” he said.

He informed that on Thursdays and Fridays the boys are allowed to use the facility’s state-of-the-art recording studio to voice their work. Their first recording was a song about their experiences at the facility. They have also been honing their talent by playing at various external functions, including funerals.

This year’s festival will begin at 1:00 p.m. and is open to the public. Among those providing support will be Chief Executive Officer of the Child Protection and Family Services Agency (CPFSA),

Mrs. Rosalee Gage-Grey, and members of her team; other children in State care and community members.

There will also be performances by Johnny Williams of the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts, and other special guests.