Best of Festival continues

Members of the public are invited to come out and enjoy the Best of Festival concert series, being held at the National Indoor Sports Centre in Kingston, as part of the national events to celebrate Jamaica's 50th anniversary of Independence.

There are daytime sessions from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and evening shows from 6 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. All events are free.

Best of Festival, which is the national finals of the performing arts 2012, features live performances of the most outstanding gold medal award winners in the respective disciplines of dance, drama, music, speech and the traditional folk forms from the parish finals, competing for national honours and awards.

The events, organised by the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission (JCDC), began on Monday, July 9, and will continue until Saturday at the same venue. The last event, titled Drum Fest, will be held at Hope Gardens in Kingston on July 28. Starting at 4 p.m., Drum Fest will feature the most outstanding gold medallists in drumming, drawn from the parish finals.

Subject specialist for speech, drama and literary arts, JCDC's Andrew Brodber, said persons would not be turned away if they were without tickets, adding that the venue would be closed when it reaches full capacity.

"Even if persons do not have a ticket, they are still invited and we will still welcome them," he said. However, persons are encouraged to acquire tickets before going to the events.

Brodber said the sessions which began on Monday and end on Friday will focus on speech and drama. The speech specialist said that although the performers are all gold-medal winners selected at the parish level, the adjudicators at the concert will be looking for "the best of the best".

"Out of this, we will find those who will take home the trophy and who will be named the best in the island for 2012, in whatever class and category," he added.