The Cultural Development Foundation held final auditions to select a contingent to represent Saint Lucia at the region’s premier Festival of Arts, CARIFESTA XIV.

CARIFESTA is a 10-day, multi-disciplinary arts and culture festival which occurs every two years, and aims to celebrate the spirit, culture, and heritage of Caribbean people through expressions of music, visual art, food, literature, folklore, theatre and dance.

Director of Training, Promotions and Development at the CDF, Celeste Burton, stated that CARIFESTA creates a space for artistes to gather and collaborate which will ensure advancement of the art forms.

“It’s an opportunity for us as a country to showcase our talent, to showcase Saint Lucia and what we have to offer in terms of arts and culture. CARIFESTA is also an opportunity for the best of Saint Lucia’s artistes to get an opportunity to learn. The festival actually is a mixture of showcasing and workshops and master classes where the artists are exposed to different techniques,” Mr. Burton said.

Twenty-five people will be selected out of the 69 shortlisted candidates who attended the final auditions at the National Cultural Centre on Thursday, May 16. Director of Events, Arts, and Production at the CDF, Drena Frederick, explained that the shortlisted candidates also received training and were rewarded a certificate upon completion.

“What we wanted was to provide some sort of training for them in terms of professionalism in the theatre, drama, dance, and vocals, and subsequently, we will select the cast that will be part of the contingent to go to CARIFESTA. It is an elimination process with benefits where we saw the need to provide training as well.”

CARIFESTA XIV will be hosted by the Government of Trinidad and Tobago from August 16 – 25.