Creative arts showcase returns

The National Independence Festival of Creative Arts (NIFCA) is back after a two-year pandemic break featuring a wide variety of cultural events and exhibitions that will showcase the skills and talents of Barbadians.

At Wednesday’s launch of NIFCA 2022 at Queen’s Park House, National Cultural Foundation’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Carol Roberts-Reifer said this year’s festival has been designed to respond to lessons learned by the challenges of operating in a pandemic environment.

She said NIFCA 2022 will be delivered in a hybrid format that combines both digital and face-to-face events and experiences, generating content that will be available for distribution online in the future.

“Each of the seven disciplines usually featured at NIFCA will be showcased… Prior to this evening’s launch, we would have engaged with the NIFCA community over a period of weeks and a lot of the comments and recommendations out of that series of interactions actually informs the NIFCA programme this year,” Roberts-Reifer said.

The Chief Executive Officer indicated that NIFCA will continue to play its role as an incubator for the nation’s creative expression, and to give Barbadians of all generations a platform and an opportunity to create and to be seen, heard and appreciated.

Roberts-Reifer outlined that the highly-popular NIFCA Dance Desk scheduled to be held on Sunday November 27 will see a special focus placed on the art of choreography this year with a forum designed for persons with a specific interest in that aspect of dance production. She said a live dance showcase featuring some of Barbados’ top NIFCA awarded dance groups and works, including individuals, will take place at Frank Collymore Hall on Saturday November 26 under the theme Rebirth of a Nation.

“NIFCA Music will take the form of a series of concerts held over four Fridays in November entitled NIFCA in the Square and it starts this Friday November 4. For this showcase in music, a select number of schools and community groups will be featured on stage in Golden Square,” she said.

The NIFCA Weekend of Theatre will showcase selected performances beginning from Thursday November 17 to Sunday November 20, at the Daphne Joseph Hackett Theatre.

Themed Resurgence, NIFCA literary arts will feature three categories of competition this year, including the adult Short Story and Poetry, Junior Prose and Poetry, and the Unpublished Manuscript.

“We will also be publishing a collection of editorial opinion essays. These essays have been commissioned from ten Barbadian writers and they explore Barbados’ resurgence from the crises of the pandemic in the context of its impact on various aspects of Barbadian life.

“The NIFCA visual arts will be celebrated with a series of exciting activities. There is an in-person workshop on mural design and painting. That workshop has actually just been completed and it attracted over 45 artists. Out of this workshop we will then mount four zone murals on the broad theme, The People Who Came,” Roberts-Reifer said.

“We then have a NIFCA Visual Arts Masters Exhibition, and this exhibition will feature the works of previous NIFCA top award-winning participants. There will be a virtual exhibition for adults submitting art, craft and photography and this will be hosted primarily on the NCF website,” she added.

The NIFCA culinary arts celebration of All Things Bajan will showcase a Bajan to De Bone Culinary Expo designed to position this aspect of the festival as a potential business opportunity. The event is scheduled to be held in the eastern car park of Ilaro Court on Saturday November 26 and will include the return of the Celebrity Showcase, featuring local celebrities who are also keen amateur chefs.

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office with responsibility for Culture, Senator Dr Shantal Munro-Knight who made the announcement of the official opening of the festival said NIFCA 2022 gives participants the timely opportunity to flex their creative muscle and to inspire and captivate audiences.

“NIFCA grants us the opportunity to immerse ourselves in the arts and culture and celebrate and appreciate the works of fellow Barbadians,” Munro-Knight said. (AH)