Nac’s busy first quarter |12 May 2018
The National Arts Council has been quite busy during the first four months of the year.
In this report, the council gives a summary of the activities it organised.
Chairpersons’ forum
The meeting with chairpersons and vice-chairpersons of the various associations was held on Thursday April 26, 2018. At present there are 11 associations affiliated with the National Arts Council.
The meeting is held quarterly with the aim of not only reinforcing the synergy but furthermore with the prime purpose of creating a platform which allows for the sharing of ideas towards sustainable arts development.
Seylar AGM
Seylar is a federation comprising visual artists, fine art, sculptures, photography and contemporary art.
The federation held its annual general meeting on Saturday April 28 and a total of 30 artists attended the event.
The outgoing chairperson, Danny Sopha gave a presentation of all the activities done and went over the financial report as well.
The newly elected members are chairperson Danny Sopha, vice-chairperson Chantal Prea, treasurer James Agricole, secretary Marie-Reine Mahoune, public relations Nigel Henri, ordinary members Robert Alexis, Anandan Padayachy, Allen Barreau and Philip Volcère.
They will serve a mandate of two years.
Visit to two studios
The arts development section conducted site visits to two music studios on Mahe. The purpose was for the National Arts Council to be abreast with the development and daily functions of the management process of the studios and furthermore understand the difficulties they are encountering.
The first studio visited was that of Ricky Fred better known as Excellent, located at Petit Paris.He stated that it took three years to set up the studio.
The second visit was at George Belle’s studio better known as Dj Georgio Bello. The name of the studio, based at Providence, is TRIBEATZ Studio.
Visual arts workshops
As is customary, during the school holidays, the National Arts Council organised a visual arts workshop for children aged 4 to 11 years old. The workshop took place from Monday April 23 to Friday April 27, 2018 at the National Arts Council.
This year children from nine primary schools around Mahe took part in the workshop under the theme ‘Nou Lwazir’ and the workshop was led by several well-known artists like Colbert Nourrice, Frances Lesperance, winner of Innovative Award at the Byenal Sesel 2017, and James Auguste.
Mr Nourrice conducted a short presentation on the theme after which the participants were invited to visually present such, through their own interpretation.
Dance workshop
The National Arts Council recently organised a dance workshop for primary school students of the central region from Monday April 30 to Friday May 4. The prime purpose of such was to build confidence, identify and nurture existing talents.
The children were exposed to the Seychelles traditional dances, particularly moutya, sega and kanmtole.
The workshop was coordinated by Johnise Juliette, the assistant coordinator of arts development and was led by Rhonda Labrosse.
Senior official meeting /report in South Africa
The National Arts Council delegation which attended the DIRCO second senior officials meeting in Pretoria, South Africa, from March 8-9, 2018, comprised chief executive Jimmy Savy and Manuella Amesbury, director of liaison and communication.
The Seychelles delegation was headed by the Secretary of State, Ambassador Barry Faure.
The meeting was an opportunity for the National Arts Council to not only interact with officials of the South African government but furthermore it allowed for the former to better appreciate the association with the various other representatives of the Seychelles delegation. It is certain that one can state that this synergy will reap benefits for the various sectors.
The second senior officials meeting presented the Nac with a platform which allowed for a holistic approach which can not only ensure that opportunities are provided but also ensuring that such are done in a manner that is best appropriate and specific to Seychelles.
Contributed by the National Arts Council