Guild Week hosts cultural event to eliminate rift between local and non-national students at UWI, Cave Hill

SAT, SEPTEMBER 24, 2011 - 12:00 AM. Barbados Nation Newspaper

THE TALENT was as diverse as the nationalities of the students when the inaugural Carimagination Day took place at the Cave Hill Campus of the University of the West Indies recently.

The event, one of the activities of Guild Week, took place in an intimate setting where the stage was set for a number of local artistes to express their creativity through the arts.

Humanities and Education representative Donnya Piggott said the aim of the event was to eliminate the rift between local and non-national students, one of the mandates of the university’s guild.

Piggott, who organised the event, added: “We don’t promote Barbadian talent here and through this event we also wanted to do that.

“The university has been lacking culture and so we decided to cut down on the fetes and increase cultural activities.”

As a result, numerous spoken-word pieces were performed by both local and non-national guest artistes, including Christina Katrina; Daveny Ellis; Sonia, who is a student from Toronto; Sam Pollard, Simply L and social commentator Adrian Greene, who highlighted a variety of issues stemming from political, economic and social concerns.

The delivery of the performances grabbed and kept the attention of the audience, which consisted mainly of regional students.

British Virgin Islands student Jevaughn Rhymer praised organizers for a good show but suggested “it should be more open to performances and not a set programme”.

Anthony Turton, 28, said the event was the first he had ever attended with “this kind of local talent and it was good”.

“The show was well organized and it exposed Barbadian talent and that is good for the young artistes. I believe more of these shows should be held to heighten the awareness of the public to these artistes,” Turton said.

Other guest performances were delivered by Kid Site, who revisited a number of his classics, Cave Hill Music Society, Toni Dyall, Marcus Miles, Matthew Allman, AzMan and Sunrokk, all of whom brought the curtain down on a commendable note. (TD)