Following are the remarks by NCF Executive Director Raymona Henry-Wynne at the 2018 Launch of December Festivals on November 8:
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Permit me to open with a quote from Steve Maraboli”s Unapologetically You: Reflections on Life and the Human Experience: “Take action! An inch of movement will bring you closer to your goals than a mile of intention.”
We have recognized at the CDF that all good things take time and it is in this vein we keep introspecting and taking stock of what we do in order to find innovative avenues and or strategies to guide our processes.
In this economic challenging times that we live and operate, we have come to the realization that whilst the challenges present themselves and are real that we ought to continue to create the movement that will allow us as a CDF to get closer to our goals as opposed to lots of intentions that may not be feasible in economic sense.
The goal of the CDF is to impact as many lives as possible and the harsh reality is that we cannot achieve it all on our own and so we seek to collaborate with other agencies and like-minded organizations and individuals to champion this movement in the arts and culture.
We strive to innovate our offerings by finding new ways of preserving what is authentically Saint Lucian whilst embracing the new, that way we can remain current, relevant and attractive especially to our youth who have been in recent times the movers and shakers in the industry.
The CDF has taken a critical look at the lantern Training and competition and in the coming months will develop a new Strategy to incorporate a revised approach to Lantern making Training that will create a greater spectacle of the Competition and Lantern parade at Festival of Light.
We have also recognized a need to conduct training of Trainers which will go a long way in augmenting the pool of Lantern Making facilitators, that way we can broaden our offerings in more communities.
Lastly, a revamped judging criteria that would allow for increased innovation and creativity amongst participants.
The CDF see’s this new approach as an avenue that will cause lanterns to be used at different times of the year wherever applicable and can be themed for the occasion, events such as the ARC Race, Independence celebrations, and Stage productions. Businesses and organizations will also be encouraged to use them as decorative pieces based on themes or celebrations throughout the year.
We encourage individuals out there to put their creative juices to work in creating masterpieces that will wow the judges and register to participate in the Lantern competition.
Together let’s make it bigger and better in 2018.
This year, the public can expect to see added features in the December Festivals.
Last year, we wowed the public with a pyrotechnic display of Lights on the Historic Central Library and new features to the parade of Lanterns; and rest assured that our team is working assiduously to step up our offerings for another spectacular and intriguing December Festivals.