39 years recording culture, class

For 39 years after Independence, Barbadians have been coming together to display and celebrate, through one month, their various cultural abilities that serve to remind the nation of its Bajanness, in the annual National Independence Festival of Creative Arts (NIFCA).
The 2012 edition of the festival was no different as Barbadians from every walk of life came out to entertain while illustrating things of the past and present through drawings, photography, literary arts, drama, dance and other craft; showing off the versatility of local food and beverage preparation – some yet to be explored widely; and reaching to farther boundaries through fine arts.
Prime Minister Freundel Stuart delivered a message at the end of this year’s festival on Sunday.
“In any culture it is the artists that play an integral role in the search for what constitutes the national essence. It is our nation’s stories, through whatever medium they are told, that will outlast the fashions of the day,” he said.
”And that is ultimately the artist’s role – to hold a mirror up to our society, to ask the hard questions, to allow us to laugh at ourselves, to grieve together, to conjure up images of the past, to challenge the present and imagine the future and in so doing forge the ties that bind us together in common purpose.”
And so it was that over 70 awardees were honoured for playing their part in helping the nation to reflect on itself. (GA)