The Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport on Thursday received a cheque valued $1.3M from Digicel, which will be used to sponsor the upcoming Second National Drama Festival while Republic Bank donated $1.8M for the Pan Minor Literacy camp, the Government Information Agency (GINA) reported.
The latter activity which is in its third year targets steel pan development for children in schools, and this year’s camp is catering for 165 students from Georgetown, East Coast Demerara and Linden.
Michelle Johnson, Marketing Manager of Republic Bank, presented the cheque to Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport, Dr. Frank Anthony in the presence of the ministry’s Permanent Secretary, Alfred King.
Digicel’s Head of Marketing, Jacqueline James meanwhile handed over the entity’s contribution towards the Drama Festival.
Minister Anthony said that the overall cost for the Drama Festival far exceeds that but with the combination of efforts of the Ministry and Digicel, the cost of the festival will be covered.
He stated also that the ministry is very pleased with the response to the festival.
“Last year we tested the idea, people liked it and we got great reviews and this year I think a lot of people who missed the opportunity last year are coming on board and that’s why we are seeing this great response,” he said.
Anthony also mentioned that apart from individuals bringing their plays, the Festival will also be stimulating persons to write a play which is very important.
“Later in the year one of the offshoots of this is that we are hoping to publish a book on Guyanese plays and some of these would have been plays that are well known but we want to put it in a book form because very often when people who are involved in drama and they are looking for plays they can’t be found because all is not in one place,” the Culture Minister said.
Meanwhile, the ministry is also working on setting up a drama school which is likely to be based at the National Cultural Centre, GINA added.
