Past JCDC Winners to Perform

Winners of past Jamaica Cultural Development Commission (JCDC) National Festival of the Performing Arts competitions will have the opportunity to showcase their talent at upcoming local and national events.

Director of Arts Development, Training and Acting at the JCDC, Andrew Brodber, told JIS News that artistes will be drawn from an “ongoing recording system” managed by the JCDC.

He said the names of schools, groups and individuals that have earned the highest level of achievement in JCDC competitions covering dance, drama, music, speech and traditional folk forms have been entered into the database.

Mr. Brodber noted that the Commission has been exposing persons with various talents discovered at the competitions.

He called on partners of the JCDC to showcase the talented Jamaicans by ensuring that they are “seen on television, they are heard on radio and that excerpts or clips of the arts are featured in the newspapers”.

Apart from participating in shows hosted by the JCDC, Mr. Brodber said the Commission receives numerous requests for “our performers to partake in different shows, as well as civic ceremonies and commercial type events, from the private sector.”

Mr. Brodber pointed out that the artistes will also be performing at events for the 2016 Emancipation and Independence celebrations.

The JCDC, an agency of the Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport will be hosting a number of activities to celebrate Jamaica’s 54^th Anniversary of Independence.

“When we talk about our independence celebrations, there is going to be a definite showcasing of the crème de la crème of entertaining talent at our various shows at the Ranny Williams Entertainment Centre,” he said.

Meanwhile, Mr. Brodber informed that the Commission is rolling out the songs of the top-10 finalists in the Jamaica Festival Song Competition at road shows across the island.

He noted that the finalists will be performing their winning songs at the national final, scheduled to take place on Saturday, July 9 at the Ranny Williams Entertainment Centre in Kingston, beginning at 8:00 p.m.

“We want to bring our festival song finalists to everyone. We want everybody to hear the songs and to be a part of what is happening,” Mr. Brodber added.