{"id":3744,"date":"2010-11-01T20:24:59","date_gmt":"2010-11-02T00:24:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/?p=3744"},"modified":"2010-11-01T20:24:59","modified_gmt":"2010-11-02T00:24:59","slug":"remarks-at-the-e-clement-bethel-awards-ceremony","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/2010\/11\/remarks-at-the-e-clement-bethel-awards-ceremony","title":{"rendered":"Remarks At The E. Clement Bethel Awards Ceremony"},"content":{"rendered":"

Remarks by Sir William Allen Deputy to the Governor-General on the occasion of the E. Clement Bethel National Arts Festival Awards Ceremony at 11:00am on Monday 1st November, 2010, Ballroom at Government House on Mount Fitzwilliam, Nassau, Bahamas.<\/em><\/p>\n

Good Afternoon,<\/p>\n

It is now fifty one years since this festival began in The Bahamas. It first started as a Music Festival back in 1959 and has grown and developed to include the other art forms: dance, drama, and arts & crafts.\u00a0\u00a0 Today we have a National Festival that has truly become national in its scope, and includes all of the islands in our archipelago.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 In 2004, the festival was named after one of our great cultural icons, E. Clement Bethel who loved all forms of the Arts.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Today we are living in an age of change so rapid it is staggering, and we face such enormous social challenges that at times leave us despairing of the human condition.\u00a0 But this I suspect is not entirely a new phenomenon.\u00a0 When William Butler Yeates wrote \u201cSecond Coming\u201d nearly one hundred years ago and found that \u201c\u2026things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; mere anarchy is loosed upon the World\u2026\u201d and that \u201cthe best lack all conviction while the worst are full of passionate intensity\u2026\u201d\u00a0 I would say that we have much in common with his time.<\/p>\n

While I dare not claim that the Arts have the answers to our social problems, I am confident that they play a major role in shaping our moral and social development.\u00a0 The Arts are a critically important part of the education of the whole person.\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0At one level the Arts are character building tools that help to instil discipline; as anyone who is involved in the Arts can tell you, the determination and commitment required to truly succeed are somehow extraordinary.<\/p>\n

The benefits of cultivating the various forms of Art in ones life and in society are numerous. The Arts enhance the quality of life of the individual and entire communities, that is they can enrich and elevate the level of our existence; the Arts foster careers and industries; they attract business and improve economies.<\/p>\n

Too often, we in the developing world seem to underestimate the power, influence and relevance of the Arts.\u00a0 More developed societies are often inclined to cultivate and promote the Arts more aggressively.\u00a0 And here they sustain vibrant economic sectors.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Too often, we seem not to appreciate what we have in our own country, or to pursue it to its full potential.\u00a0 Yet we seem able to place great relevance on the art forms or artistic expression of persons in other countries.<\/p>\n

The E. Clement Bethel National Arts Festival is fully Bahamian and it is appropriate that more Bahamians appreciate the importance of the festival, and accordingly, participate to the fullest extent.\u00a0 We need to understand and appreciate that the festival can be an important aspect of our efforts to ensure that things do not fall apart and that the centre does hold.<\/p>\n

The E. Clement Bethel National Arts Festival aspires to the highest standards and its participants can hold their own with their counterparts anywhere in the world.\u00a0 It is a festival whose standards are high.<\/p>\n

I congratulate all of the winners here today, and all those that could not be here.\u00a0 Grand Bahama stands apart. For several years Grand Bahama has been the largest participant in music. Grand Bahamians should be proud of this achievement. Those of you who are winners residing in others islands should also be proud of yourselves for being national winners in the E. Clement Bethel National Arts Festival.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I would also like to congratulate the families, schools, and teachers and I know that they too are very proud of you.<\/p>\n

I commend the Ministry of Youth, Sports, and Culture, and specifically the Department of Culture and the organizers of the festival for their hard work and dedication.\u00a0 But most of all I commend you, the participants, for your dedication to your art form.\u00a0 You deserve the recognition and praise. I encourage you to stay true to your art forms and by so doing bless this nation with artists of the highest order.<\/p>\n

Once again, congratulations to all of you on your achievements.<\/p>\n

God bless. Good afternoon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Remarks by Sir William Allen Deputy to the Governor-General on the occasion of the E. Clement Bethel National Arts Festival Awards Ceremony.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_10223285771444175_51037792744":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[26],"class_list":["post-3744","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-arts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3744","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3744"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3744\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3744"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3744"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3744"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}