Tyrone Harris.
Six steel bands have given their commitment to the Cultural Development Foundation (CDF) to compete at the eighth annual Junior Panorama on Sunday March 30, 2014.
The official launch took place today (Mar. 25) at the CDF building in Castries, where participants for the competition were present.
Senior Events and Production Officer of the CDF Tyrone Harris said, “We have six of them representing a cross section of the St. Lucian community… and the event is coming along very smoothly,” he said.
Bands from Gros Islet, Anse La Raye, Micoud, Castries and Babonneau, are among those participating.
The event, to be staged at the National Cultural Centre, will start at 3 p.m..
“This morning we had an exercise where we brought all the bands together, and we went through an introduction and dipping exercise,” he explained.
All the bands were also required to sign a document containing the rules and regulations of the competition.
Junior Panorama was first introduced by the CDF in 2004 with five bands participating. Over the years, CDF has provided opportunities for training young people in the art form from various communities including Laborie, Vieux Fort, Micoud, Babonneau & Castries respectfully.
Following a one-year sponsored project with UNESCO, hundreds of young people between the ages of seven to 20 years benefited from the introduction of pan playing. CDF has provided many hours of training for a number of young arrangers, including music lovers.
CDF is of the opinion that programmes of this nature is an alternative for delinquency and has a positive impact of individual behaviours.
The competition is also part of the wider arts festival which is commonly known at “ART REACH”. It represents this national art festival and gives a true account of the young people talents in the art form.
Tickets for Sunday’s event will be available at the gates. Tickets costs $10 for children 17 and below and adults $20.