 Today you will be hearing briefly about each event by event coordinators and they will be talking briefly because we have so many events to go through today. So we have two of our sponsors who will be sharing what they think about the Nobel Laureate Festival and why they are participating and assisting us and we thank you both very much. But first I would like to invite the Nobel Laureate Festival Committee Chair, her Excellency Dame Pellet-Louise, to give her opening remarks. Ladies and gentlemen, eight days ago. We entered the fifth decade since a native son of ours was awarded a Nobel Prize, one of the world's most prestigious awards. Two decades later we earned a second Nobel Prize. Many the world over continue to marvel at this phenomenal achievement for so small a country as ours. As indeed it is and we are justifiably proud. So Arthur and Sir Derek have shown what is possible if we can set our sights right and focus on our goals and on the journey ahead. We have been celebrating their achievements for the past 27 years and have through our various and varied events endeavored to nurture, cultivate and encourage a deeper appreciation of the notion of excellence in all spheres of our personal collective and national lives. It is for this reason that we have kept as our recurring theme the celebration of excellence. Our sub-theme this year is, surprise, Vision 2020. As we recognize that clarity of purpose which energize their work. That vision which they both had for what was possible and what they wanted to achieve. That vision which no doubt they have or they had fine tuned along that journey of excellence led them to the zenith of their career and the achievements which we celebrate especially during our annual observances of Nobel Laureate Festival. Those of you who have been there long enough with us would know that we started as Nobel Laureate Day. It was just the one day, January 23rd. Then we graduated to Nobel Laureate Week and now here we are at the Nobel Laureate Festival. We might perhaps be like the United Nations and declare one of these days a Nobel Laureate year. Let us remember however that excellence is not just a destination but a journey. The notion of pursuing excellence requires that we constantly fine tune our craft whatever that craft may be until we near perfection. That journey and these achievements of our laureate should be our inspiration. Had they lived, Arthur would have been 105 years old and Cedric 90 years old this January 23rd. Let not their years relegates them to the back waters of history and our memory. Instead that it inspires us to believe that the longer we live the more opportunities we perhaps have of excelling. Cedric of course had always been known as a man of arts and letters but let us not forget that Arthur was not only an economist but a cultural activist as well. He had the foresight to warn that utilitarianism is not the be all and the end all of development as some may think. Or in his view a society without the creative arts is a cultural desert. Indeed many have been unapologetic in warning that those who ignore the nexus between culture and development do so at their peril. Let us therefore build the type of resilience in the cultural realm that will bolster our economic development in these changing times. It's time for a sea change and that's an opponent on all words. Climate change, sea change, cultural change, changing times, it is time for change. I am heartened indeed delighted at the growing interest of the arts sector in the Nobel Laureate Festival. The arts community seems to have found a home in that celebration judging by the increase in the number of requests for inclusion of their events in our program of activities. So we encourage and welcome their participation. We welcome to the contribution of the private sector to our festival. This year we welcome in particular the Bank of St. Lucia for its very generous sponsorship of the South Lewis Memorial Lecture and by extension our Nobel Laureate Festival and you could see their presence. It is a partnership which we would dearly love to nurture and sustain. I'm looking at the representative of the Bank of St. Lucia as I speak. First Citizens Investment Services St. Lucia branch, Mr. Bujsmith, well not Mr. Bujsmith but the St. Lucia branch has been with us for many years now with their contribution to the Walcott Schools Festival. This particular partnership is now well cemented and we express our gratitude to the country managers with whom we have had the pleasure to work. We look forward to our continued partnership. In closing allow me to express sincere thanks to all the coordinators of this year's events for the festival and our partners as well. And just well I don't want to say for publicity purposes but so that the public knows who is involved in our festivities. I would thank the government of St. Lucia for their financial subvention. The Bank of St. Lucia, the Cultural Development Foundation, the Ministry of Education, the South Louis Community College, First Citizens Investment Services, the St. Lucia National Trust, the National Archives Authority of St. Lucia, St. Mary's College, the Open Campus of the University of the West Indies, St. Lucia, the Estate of the late Professor Patricia Ismon, the Library Development Foundation, the Dennery Development Foundation, Choice TV, 758 Books, the Office of the Governor General and the National Television Network. I wish you all a successful festival this year. Let's apply 2020 vision to our celebrations this year and beyond. And in closing closing let me thank the media for responding as they have always done to our invitation to this launch. And let's hope that going, I had the expression going forward but that's just what came to mind. Let's hope that in the next two weeks we will be, you know, you will be keeping up the hype and the vibe and getting people excited about the festival. And it is for a reason that we call it a festival, you know. We want some hype and vibe and festivities and action. Thank you very much. Every year, First Citizens makes it a priority to participate. In this, what I call, extremely important event on the calendar of events of St. Lucia because Nobel Laureate Week or Nobel Laureate Festival, it used to be a week when I was growing up. It's just an indication of the tremendous work that the committee has done to really grow it into a festival. It really represents who we are and who we should aspire to be. And as an indigenous institution, headquartered in Trinidad and Tobago of course, but operating out of St. Lucia now for about 16 years, it is our mandate to be a part of ensuring that our culture continues to grow. And there's no better expression of our culture, no better appreciation of our culture where we are, where we've come from as a people and where we're going than the Nobel Laureate Festival. As a young man, when I went to St. Arthur, I studied Walcott for the first time when I did literature. And at first I was a little confused by his poetry. But it really required that you look inward and you find deeper meaning. And I think right now, a lot of the problems that we have in today's society require a lot of us take a step back and look within and see where we are going wrong and see where we can make contributions. And I think that's the lesson that Walcott taught us. That's why I think Nobel Laureates Week, I keep calling it Week Sorry, the festival is not only important from the standpoint of a celebration of the accomplishments of these two esteemed gentlemen, but it's really a time for us to step back and take a look and see where we want to go as a society. And I think that's the lesson that Arthur Lewis taught us, coming from a small island to the point to a place where his economic theory is still gospel in many places. And so Derek Walcott, whose literature has allowed us or has given us the opportunity to really look within, see what we are as solutions, descendants of Africans and see how we can move forward. So once again, we are pleased and we are privileged to be a part of the festival. And I want to commend the planning committee under the patronage of Excellency Dame Paulette-Louise, along with all the other members of our team. Good job, folks. And I wish you all the best. And we hope to be a part of the festival going forward. Bankers St. Lucia has been a supporting partner of the Nobel Laureate Festival for many years. In fact, it's well over a decade. This year, we are pleased to lend support to the festival activities to the tune of $10,000. And in particular, it will go towards the Sir Arthur Lewis Memorial Lecture. We are humbled to be afforded this opportunity to once again partner on an initiative which honors the legacy of two of the most distinguished sons of the soil, our Nobel Laureates William Arthur Lewis and Sir Derek Alton Walcott. As an indigenous financial institution, our origins are deeply rooted in this very soil. And this is why it is important to us to continue supporting observances such as this one. For us, the decision to partner with the Nobel Laureate Festival Committee is always an easy one because the essence of this festival is a celebration of our people, of who we are, and most importantly, a recognition of the tremendous potential that lie within us. The achievements of our Nobel Laureates are a clear testament to our potential and showcasing their work as we are doing through the commendable initiatives of the Nobel Laureate Festival Committee goes a long way in building the confidence of our nation, particularly the confidence of the primarily young population that they too can aspire to the highest levels of their respective fields of endeavor. May these observance continue to inspire and ignite the academic, creative and artistic pursuits of our young people. We look forward to the activities of this year and remain committed to supporting in the years to come. This year Derek would have been celebrating his 90th birthday as Dame Prolet already mentioned. If he were here, still here today, I am sure he would once again declare his love and hopes for St. Lucia, especially in encouraging the talented artists that we have. I just wanted to mention that Jalim Yudovic is working on designing a memorial for Derek's grave site on Mourn Fortum. Also in progress is a Derek Walcott reading room that will house his collection of books on poetry, Caribbean literature and art for all to use and enjoy. I thank you all who have worked and coordinated tirelessly on the many Nobel events. Do you know why our Nobel laureate achievements are important worldwide? A lot of people assume they know the answer to this. And so the committee decided we were going to take five simple questions, basic questions that people make assumptions about and then get what we call authorities to answer them. So we have our committee members, Cantilia-Louis, Margo-Thomas, we had somebody else, and Jania Frederick and poet Vladimir Lucia. And they came to choice and answered one question in five minutes. So that program is going to be airing from this Friday and next week and then repeated at 8.55 shortly before the prime news, right, prime time news, so 7.55, 7.55, so just before choice news now. We invite everyone to take a look at that and also it's going to be available on the Facebook page, St Lucia Nobel laureate festival. So please if you have not liked the page, go there now and that will give you the program of events and show you these programs. Thank you. So in chronological date order, I invite the members of the festival committee to approach and briefly tell everyone about your event. I have created a dance brand called Sure and it is with this brand that I want to come connect all of the dance groups in St Lucia. I'm so tired of these barriers that we create not only because I'm in one group means I cannot dance for another group or I cannot learn from someone else. Like St Lucia is too small to do this. So with the Sure experience which is going down this Saturday, January 11th from 9am to 4.30pm, I will be, sorry, I will be bringing down international choreographers from the state and from Barbados to work with dancers in St Lucia and it is a cultural exchange. So we also have two local choreographers working with us as well. So the program goes like this. We have Gideon Ambrose from Silver Shadow, also known as G9. He will be doing a hip hop fundamentals class. Then we have Jamie Ford from Helen Folk. He will be teaching a traditional folk, like our St Lucia culture and not only to the participants but to the international choreographers as well. So that's where the culture exchange comes in. After that we have a performance by XO NADS and then by Ezra Defend Machine so that the international choreographers can also get a taste of what it is to be St Lucia. After that we have Royal G from Barbados. She will be teaching a soca segment. Then we have Chris Gale from Barbados, not the Jamaican cricketer. She will be teaching a contemporary pop class. So it's contemporary dance mixed with hip hop and she has taught with Disney, she has taught with America's Got Talent. So many artists, it's unbelievable and she's only 21. To end the show we have TSU Terry from the States. He was there for the first shea experience and he's coming back. He will be teaching a Baltimore hip hop class where the movement is focused on the footwork. At the end all the money from the ticket sales goes directly into the dance community where I'll be purchasing dance gear and dance necessities for dancers in St Lucia as I feel like not much or not enough is being done for dancers in St Lucia. So I encourage you to speak to your kids, your family members about this event as it is for good cause. So it will be on January 11th from 9am to 4.30pm and this will not be possible without my sponsors. Which was very difficult to get by the way. I believe in St Lucia it's so difficult to get sponsorship for theatre or dance activities. And especially as a young person starting off something totally different. People ask me like a dance workshop, what is this? So to come up with a new idea for the youth and for dancers in St Lucia was difficult. So I want to thank these sponsors deeply from my heart. Digital, Domino's Pizza, JQ Rodney Bay Mall, St James Club, Media Zone, Radio Caribbean International, FJB events and rentals, Surgical Life Insurance, Party Freak Entertainment, Massey Stores, J-Bagas, St Lucia's Teacher's Credit Union, Drivetime Car Rental, Coco Palm, Ministry of Education, Mind of Xavier and Junan Photography. And a new sponsor who just came on board, Belju Hotel. So I encourage you to come out even if you are not interested in dance. It's $80. If you want to be an audience member, that's fine. It's still $80. If you want to participate, it's $80. It will be at the Sportivo studio in Rodney Heights from 9am to 4.30pm. So come out. My name is Jermaine Joseph. I am the Program Officer for Built Heritage for the St Lucia National Trust. And I'm here to present the events that the trust will be hosting for the next two weeks. Our first, we begin the observance of the Nobel Laureate Festival on Monday 13th January at 10am with an open invite to schools island wide to visit the house and experience a wall cut house with our cultural sketches, an audiovisual presentation of Sir Derek's work and also Sir Roderick Walcott's work. On the evening of May, sorry, of Monday 13th, 2020 at 7pm, we will also be hosting an event called Kindling in Underwall Cut Lights, which will be showcasing our guest poets, Mr. Adrian Oji, and six poets from St Lucia Young Up and Coming Artists who will be presenting their works. They're all up on screen at the moment. We've got Mr. Glenn Shallery, Mr. Ghana Raymond, Mr. Rohan Bennett, Ms. Naomi Patrick Smith, Mr. Anthony Trissie Avril, and Ms. Katherine Atkinson. As I said, they will all be presenting their recent works. We will also be screening past lectures by guest presenters discussing Sir Derek Walcott's works and how it influenced their lives. So this will also be during the week of the 27th to the 31st of January. And yeah, that's it. We invite everybody to come down and support. And obviously, it moves yourself in the experience. Sir Derek and also Sir Arthur Lewis contributed a great deal to our cultural heritage and our economic development. So please come out and support. As usual, we are grateful for the kind support of the Nobel Laureate Committee for this event. We have a number of events. First of all, on the 13th of January, we have the Schools Music Festival. And this year for the Music Festival, we have 14 schools participating. We have the La Bay SDA Combined Choir, the Miku Primary School, the Impolet Louisa Primary Choir, the La Quamengo Combined Choir, PI Combined, and Rozo Combined Choirs, Miku Secondary, the Patricia James Secondary, St. Mary's College Instrumental and Vocal Assab, the Cannon Laurie Anglican School Choir, Avimaria Primary Choir, St. Joseph's Convent Choir, View Fort Comprehensive Choir and the Cassie Comprehensive Secondary Schools Choir. You see this year, we have a lot of choirs out, yes. And they will be presenting an array of different songs, some local, local in terms of traditional, as well as contemporary and of course international songs. And as always, this is always a very interesting event. So we encourage you to come out at 10 o'clock and it is free of charge to the general public. On Tuesday the 14th, we have the Ministry of Education's National Awards of Excellence and that activity is the ministries way of recognizing excellence for the recently concluded academic year. So that would be, have been the 2018-2019 academic year. And students are awarded and schools are awarded prizes in terms of common entrance, CXC, so for lowest tertiary level, and of course the island schools are also at that time named. So that activity, again, will be at 10 a.m. at the National Cultural Center. This activity is by invitation only. This year, again, we have our work at schools festival, which will be on the 17th at 1 p.m. at the National Cultural Center and the production for this year, it is going to be a collaboration between USPAC and the Cassie Comprehensive Secondary Schools Dancers and the performance is called a work at collage seascapes. Now, those of you who have read the works of work, you know that the sea is a major theme, a major motif for him. So what this does is that we have excerpts and adaptations of various works of his, both from his plays and from his poetry, including the sea is history, the heroes, the star apple kingdom, the sea at Dofe, drums and colors, Joker of Seville and the acacia trees, and looking at the different personifications of the sea that he brings out in his work and the different uses of the sea. And this will be done through music, dance and drama and we welcome everyone to be part of that on the 17th at 1 p.m. is a contribution of five dollars. Of course, at the end of it, as we usually do, there's always a discussion because part of this is not just about performance, however, it's also about having an exchange and a learning process. So there's always a discussion afterwards with the cast and the crew as well as the audience. So we invite you to be a part of that. The Queen's Commonwealth Essay Competition is the world's oldest international writing competition for schools established in 1883 with thousands of young people taking part every year. It is an important way to recognize achievement, elevate youth, voices and develop key skills through creative writing. My name is Michelle N. Samuel and I am the founder and president of Sled Terror. I am also a 2018 and 2019 competition judge and the promoter of the Queen's Commonwealth Essay Competition in St. Lucia. In January 2019, my organization Sled Terror hosted the first ceremony which was held to identify the young writers who participated in the competition and to publicly recognize those who attained Gold, Silver and Bronze awards. Only the top senior, junior, gold and winners run up however get to go to Buckingham Palace. In 2018, ten young St. Lucian writers participated in the competition and six attained Gold, Silver and Bronze. Unfortunately, all ten writers could not be identified and only six could have been recognized. So we had of last year Khadija Howell, Khadija Halliday Sorry who got Gold Senior. We also had Arya Albert, Gold Senior. We had Zoya Howell, Junior Gold and Kishel Ogist, Junior Silver. Coming on board for the recognition ceremony for last year was Easy Click Books, San U St. Lucia, St. Lucia Writers Forum, Trophy Center, the Entrepreneurship Readiness Program and a Ministry of Education representative was present to help distribute the prizes to the winners. The Education Minister was also present to deliver a congratulatory address to the students who were present. This year, my organization's lead terror has once again embarked on the journey to identify and recognize the 2019 participants and the awardees. There were three participants in 2019, two of which attained Gold. The event will be held on January 15th at the Central Library from 5 p.m. to 6.30 p.m. The agenda will be the introduction of the 2019 competition awardees, the reading of the submission, the winning entries, presentation of the prizes and then finally the announcement of the 2020 Queen's Commonwealth Competition Theme and Topics. My admission is $10 and I would like as many of you to attend this ceremony as we recognize our young writers. I am Dwight George, Brand Ambassador for 758 Books, Cathie Literary. The Book Fair hosted as part of activities to mark the achievement of St. Lucia's two Nobel Laureates was introduced in 2015, making this year our fifth anniversary. This literary fair was established to create an awareness of local writers rekindling interest in reading in the St. Lucia public and assist in the boosting of sales for local writers. Since its inauguration, the exhibition of local writers has continued annually with added features to engage the public. One such feature is an exhibition of child authors with the main focus of introducing young authors to the public while celebrating the excellence of these young authors. Furthermore, the exhibition engages the writers in activities which allows them to demonstrate in appreciation for reading and writing, explore their creativity through the word and give consideration to careers in genres of the arts. The 2020 installation of the Nobel Laureate Festival will once again feature the Book Fair which has now become a staple event. It is hoped that the exhibition of child authors will teach young children the significance of reading. The exhibition this year will be held under the theme Vision 2020 Celebrating Excellence and will be held at 758 Books Café Literary in Sunny Acres, Gablewoods Mall. This will be held between January 19th and 31st. This year, the program will include the exhibition of St. Lucia authors including books by child authors and expand with a seminar for the young authors. The exhibition of books by St. Lucia authors, exhibition. The exhibition of books by child authors during youth month festivities, open sessions with authors, creative presentations to young authors and prospective young writers by noted professionals on the rudiments of public speaking. The exhibition will display a variety of publications by St. Lucia writers and books which will also be available for sale. We'll also be hosting the mid-the offers on between the January 19th and 31st exhibition. The intention of the seminar is to equip young writers with skills which will assist them in public speaking. The art of speaking will be encouraged as a significant step towards improving communication and critical thinking skills, boosting confidence, career advancement, as well as expanding one's professional network. Young writers will meet an interactive noted public speakers in St. Lucia. The professionals will provide tips on improving the art of speaking with young writers through a variety of presentations on speaking in public. 758 Books is pleased to partner with a number of key resource persons including Hippolyte Vitalis, Jerry George, Claudius Francis and Jason Joseph who would assist with those seminars. 758 Books Café Litere Vision 2020 highlights International Women's Day, Youth Month, Caribbean Book Fair in July, the launching of two books Laughing in the Face of Cancer and Word Planting by Kendall Hippolyte in Souffre. All this made possible with our partners Valmore, Substation, Success Gateway, Gable Woods Mall and Friends of 758. We will also be hosting the Night of the Arts which I will now invite my colleague. On February 2nd at 758 Books we're going to have a talent art showcase called Rhapsody. The concept basically is to give particularly young people an avenue to express their talents. This is crucially important because we do believe that art not only forms character, it also saves lives. I'm a personal testimony of that. I probably wouldn't be here if not for the arts. It did save me so I know what it can do for young people. I know the transformative power of the arts and how it can change the nation in itself. And we really don't have any avenues per se where we can have this kind of cross-pollination of arts where older people can pass on their skills to the younger. We try and have that platform so that younger people can come and be inspired. And we do believe also that the older God, they are not appreciated as they should be in St. Lucia. And before they do leave us, we really want them to be able to pass on their genius onto the next generation. Also, there's a very talented group from Trinidad. I don't know if Mr. Bujmit would know them to send movements. They would be coming down for the festival. Yes, they would hear about us. But I don't think that they are scheduling anywhere. So I was contacted by them. I don't know what made them think I have clouds. But they want to be accommodated, but I can't accommodate them on the platform that we have. They come in between the 26th and the 31st. So if anybody wants to host a dynamic group from Trinidad, that is Nuno on the Caribbean, you can feel free to contact me and we can publish it up. I am here to briefly tell you about our church service and breakfast. And for those who usually come to the press lunch, they will know that these two activities are staples on the Nobel Laureate calendar of events. The church service will be held at the Abbey of the Assumption of the Lady, and it will be held on Sunday, the 19th of January. So please make an effort to attend. Now the breakfast will be held at the villa, which is part of the Abbey. For short, we can say the Abbey. The breakfast will be held at the villa, which is part of the Abbey, and it is only $35. And I'm making a special plea to everyone present here to make an effort to support the committee. And at the service, at the church service, you will also hear our Nobel Laureate song. And if possible, you will be entertained by a special attraction. I'm not going to say what this attraction is going to be. If you do want to see and enjoy, please be present. Now for those who are coming to the Abbey for the first time, you may find it a little difficulty to get there. So I am giving you two main routes. Those using the Montfortuone. When you get to the Cicero Road opposite the Cicero bus stop, you will also see a sign, my capital management. You go down this road, you will see two roads. Ignore them. And you enter on the third road. What them? Well, I'm just saying. You enter on the third, you enter on the third road. Keep on driving. Okay, okay. Not most people, I didn't know. Okay, those using the highway is very easy. When you get to the first long tunnel, you continue, there's a second small one. And when you get to the roundabout by the third tunnel, you make a left. You will also see a government billboard. You make a left and in driving, you will come to a black iron gate. You enter and you are at the Abbey. You'll see cars and you'll also see churchgoers. Now concerning the breakfast, as I said, it is only $35. I'll be passing around, getting a commitment from each one of you. And if you do not attend, you will have to honor this commitment because the nuns cater by the numbers that I give to them. So please make an effort to attend. The church service is $7.45 on the 19th at the Abbey. The Cultural Development Foundation in collaboration with the Nobel Laureate Festival Committee for 2020 presents the Cedric Walcott Memorial Lecture, which will be delivered by Mr. McDonald Dixon. Diverse through his Barbadian, Trinidadian, Irish, and Zinushan roots, we feverishly embrace him as yet another distinguished son of the soil. A prolific and multi-talented figure in the Caribbean artistic world, Mr. Dixon is a profound writer and poet himself, whose work blossoms on seemingly everything that touches him, particularly the human condition. From his perspective, nature and man are one. Mr. Dixon was no stranger to the late Cedric Walcott and his family. This year, for this year, sorry, the lecture promises to be enthralling and thought-provoking through its poetic justice. We invite the general public to be a part of this lecture on Tuesday, the 21st of January, at 7.30 p.m. The lecture will be held at the conference room of the Financial Administrative Center, located at Point Seraphine Castries. The lecture is absolutely free and open to the general public. Last year we had a phenomenal turnout. We're hoping to see many more persons participate this year. We invite you all and the wider public to be a part of it. Thank you. And, sorry, most importantly, the lecture this year is entitled After Derek Walcott, the St. Lucia Poetic Tradition. The Stilpan Evolution Revolution Acceptance. This is the title of our exhibition for this year, Margo Thomas, representing the National Archives. The Sports and Entertainment Archives was established in 2016 and since then, the National Archives has continued to augment these holdings, which comprise a very vibrant and colourful collection. As its contribution to Nobel Laureate Festival under the theme, Vision 2020 Celebrating Excellence, the National Archives will be mounting an exhibition at its building at VG and it will be launched on January the 22nd, 2020. And it will continue until the 31st of March and this exhibition is also part of our National Archives Month. The Stilpan, listen very carefully, please, is the only musical instrument that was invented during the 20th century and it originated from the Caribbean. This is reason enough for us to celebrate. Coming out of the slums of Trinidad and Tobago has been recycled oil drums before recycling became the norm worldwide. The musical and magical journey of the humble instrument has achieved worldwide acclaim. Using photographs, newspaper clippings, posters, three-dimensional objects, we shall provide relevant information and give insight into the origins of the Stilpan. The turmoil I'm surrounding, the introduction of the Stilpan into St. Lucia, pioneers of Stilpan music, women in Pan, major Stilpan orchestras and acceptance of the Stilpan internationally and more importantly, within the ecclesiastical space. Thank you. We shall have a great time and I want all of you to come to the exhibition because it will be a learning experience for you. My name is Nathalie Jolie-Fanis. I am from South Alois Community College and I'm pleased on behalf of the college to present our activities for Nobel Laureate Festival 2020 as the institution which bears the name of one of our laureates. We take very seriously our role in celebrating both laureates. As you will see, the varied activities that we are presenting that will celebrate both of the arts which Saratha held very dear and pay tribute to Saratha himself. So two of our national events, our signature events that's a staple on the calendar for the Nobel Laureate Festival are the Nobel Laureate Memorial Lecture, the South Alois Memorial Lecture which this year is slated for Thursday 23rd January at 7.30 p.m. at the Finance Administrative Centre in Kashmir's Point-Surf in Kashmir. This year, the lecture will be presented by Mr. Timothy Antoine who is the Governor of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank and the title of the lecture is Socioeconomic Transformation by Invitation and Innovation. The lecture is absolutely free and we invite the public to come and hear what he has to offer, especially in a time when we are looking again at Saratha's industrialisation by invitation and have our own CIP programme which some claim to mirror what Saratha offered as a way to development. So I expect it to be a very interesting discourse. After the lecture, we usually have engagement between the audience and the lecturer so we look forward to that. The other staple on our calendar that is very, very important and that sort of closes off the week of Nobel Laureate is the Wreath Lane Ceremony which takes place on the campus of the South Alois Community College and that takes place on Friday the 24th of January from 10.00 a.m. and this is a ceremony that pays tribute to the works, lives and times of both South Alois and the Suderec Walkout. As you know now, the campus site is the burial ground for both of our laureates. So we lay wreaths at the gravesite and we pay tribute to the laureates. The college also engages both its students and staff in several activities and we begin our week of celebration on Wednesday the 22nd of January with a academic discourse that this year is a panel discussion entitled Artistic Revolution and that discourse will see a mixed heterogeneous groups group representing various art forms from architecture to theater to music and they will be discussing the progressive vision for the arts especially in 2020. The academic discourse is also free it will be held at the Sahih Room Room 1 at the campus and we are also going to be live streaming the event so as we get closer we will provide the site where people can join us because it's during the day, it's at 12.30pm where we engage our staff and our students so the group will comprise faculty members as well as artistic people from the community to be on that panel discussing where our arts are going in St. Lucia. On that same Wednesday we also host a student-led original theater production doing that for the last two years and we've had great success we are very proud of the students who are putting this together they write, direct, produce the play this last year, 2019 the first play that we put on actually made it to Cairo Festival for 2019 so we want to applaud our students for that we want to encourage that artistry so this year the students have been at it from summer they have written a play entitled God's Earth and it's a dramatic creation with unique Roman mythological elements married with the local St. Lucia elements so we look forward to having the general public with Standing Room Only at the National Cultural Center on Wednesday 22nd January at 7.30pm given the costs that are incurred to put on such a production we have a small admission fee of $10 so we want to encourage you to come in and support our students it is very important for that to continue through our generations and the students have been very, very engaged very, very committed they have just spent part of their Christmas break in rehearsals so we really want to give them that support and have a full house for the production of God's Earth following that activity that's on Wednesday we have those two activities the Memorial Lecture on Thursday and I want to say a special thank you to Bank of St. Lucia for coming on board and sponsoring that event because it does come at a cost we're happy to be able to engage professionals from around the world this year they're coming from the Caribbean but they have come from the UK from the US in the past and we're thankful to her Excellency for always being able to source someone who is able to add to the discourse so thank you very much for Excellency and for your assistance in putting this on our other activity that we normally have is a student discourse that we do in conjunction with NTN we partner with them and we engage our students and this year we will be looking at Vision 2020 and having the students present their ideas, opinions and on the vision for youth in St. Lucia and we have to announce the date when that will be televised but we will be recording on January 17th this year we have a new activity that is the brain child of our new principal, Dr. Keith Noose and it is coined S.A.L.C.C. Race to the Mourner so we want to challenge every individual in St. Lucia challenge your fitness we will be racing from the Derrick-Walkard Square from one Nobel Laureate to Sarthe Lewis Community College and we will be going via the Latok route so it's a challenge but we won't subject you to the morn so from one Nobel Laureate to the other, Derrick-Walkard Square via Latok we are encouraging you to be healthy you can start training from now the race is our final activity a little bit outside of our dates it's on Saturday the 1st of February and we start at 6am from the Derrick-Walkard Square so the challenge has been placed we are moving from the arts, a healthy society is important to maintain everything that we do so we are encouraging you to start to train for that we will have a small registration fee that we will announce as the plans go on that will help with the water distribution t-shirts etc so please look forward to that ladies and gentlemen, thank you so very much I want to encourage you to participate in all of the activities and please feel free to visit the college social media pages and of course our Nobel Laureate Festival page where more information will be provided my name is Dawn Howell Principal St. Mary's College the Nobel Laureate Festival will not be complete if it did not feature Literary Night a theatrical production organized by St. Mary's College as the organization that nurtured our two Nobel Laureates during a critical part of their lives we think it important that we participate in the celebration of their work and to make a contribution to this festival St. Mary's College continues to share the vision of the Nobel Laureate Committee Literary Night this year is special for us as St. Mary's College is also celebrating 140 years since it opened its doors to educating young men in St. Lucia this year we are going to feature the college boy the boy that you see in black and white we are going to present the life of the college boy in living color we are going to show you the experience of Sir Arthur and Sir Derek when they entered the gates of St. Mary's College the experience of a college boy today and the struggle the the nurturing that they undergo as they go through their developmental stages through their years at St. Mary's College hence Literary Night will be held another theme black and white in color ladies and gentlemen the event will be held on January 24th at the National Cultural Center please come out and support our young men come out and support the work that they do this is part of nurturing and building the holistic young men for our society and we need your support we need all stakeholders our old boys everyone to come out and make the Nobel Laureate Festival complete with St. Mary's College Literary Night my name is Puppetua James I represent our committee and organizing Nobel Laureates for a number of years now we saw it fitting to be part of this wonderful celebration because those the men that we feature are in our opinion very we are honored to be part of this celebration because they are part of us and we are proud to be part of what is happening in St. Lucia as far as our laureates are concerned this year like every other year we come together as a small committee to celebrate we continue to work with the schools we encourage the teachers to put on their programs our financial resources are limited so we cannot go all the way as much as we would have loved to but we encourage our teachers we work with the older schools in the Denry Basin they have been responding very well so much so that we have been seeing results some of our guest speakers have been adopted some of the schools and working with our young men and women of the schools so we are doing well in that regard we have on the 25th of January this year our program will be just in one night it's a packed night because we need to limit it to the resources that we have it's a small committee as I say we don't have too many people working with us so on the night we have as always our annual lecture we have identified our speaker we will be having presentations as well literary and otherwise we also will be featuring a local folk band all that will be on the night we can have enough time before midnight to do all of that we usually do we usually start early at 7 o'clock and our Denry people look forward to it they continue to ask what's happening this year and I'm very proud to know that we are contributing to the festival and that the people are benefiting we can see that they are being made aware they are being sensitized they know more about our laureates and so that is what we do that is what we will continue to do of course we will not end without our cocktail we always have a laureates cocktail on the evening and this is what we are having we invite you to come to share with us both in terms of our lecture come and learn from our speaker what we didn't share with you let us know what you can tell us and because we will be having a number of young people there from the schools from the community so we invite you to come, share with us at least we need a little encouragement we need a little bit of encouragement so that we can continue to do what we are doing so it's on the 25th of January this is Saturday afternoon Saturday evening at 7 o'clock and the venue itself went to the cocktail it's an outdoor it's a Chateau Eritage and I'm hoping that I can see a few faces on that evening how many people know the name Marilyn Baptiste yeah that might be part of the choice how many people know Lady Lin all of you so you know the name Lady Lin but you don't know the name Marilyn Baptiste well Marilyn Baptiste is actually Lady Lin and once we speak of Lady Lin in the Calypso Lady Lin this year celebrates 40 years in the Calypso arena and because of that Lady Lin has come out with a brilliant idea where she is going to exhibit all of her work music sheets the music her awards everything that encompasses Lady Lin when it comes to Calypso and with that we have had a planning committee which is which of course is working to ensure that that takes place so come Tuesday the 20th of January to Friday the 31st of January at the Castry City Council they call it what the Mayor's Office they call it everything now but we know it is referred to most people know it as a town hall so there we will be featuring all of Lady Lin's work whether it is the music sheets the writing everything now over 40 years she has actually some over 100 and something songs over 100 and something songs and she has worked with a number of producers writers and so on and as I said all of that will be featured during that work so we are looking forward to the support of everybody and we are very grateful to the Ministry of Education we wrote two and they have agreed to get most of the schools involved so we are hoping that a lot of the students would be coming to actually view that exhibition it's free and I just hope that we will see everybody Tuesday the 20th where Calypso is going to be featured National Archives has still been and of course if you talk about the arts and so on you cannot leave out Calypso so we look forward to everybody on Thursday 6th February 2020 the U.E. Open Campus St. Lucia will host its fourth annual Patricia Isman Literary Workshop this workshop is dedicated to literary icon and long-serving U.E. lecturer Dr. Patricia Isman in whose name a scholarship for St. Lucia students studying B.Ed. Secondary and B.Ed. Literacy Studies at the Open Campus St. Lucia site has been established to date three students have benefited from this scholarship which was generously provided by her sister Ms. Hester Ismond the Patricia Isman Literary Workshop will be facilitated by St. Lucia born Dr. Antonia MacDonald a former lecturer at Sir Arthur Lewis Community College Dr. MacDonald currently serves as a professor of literature associate dean at St. George's University in Grenada this year the Patricia Isman Literary Workshop is dedicated exclusively to teachers of CAPE literatures in English the intention is that the skills obtained will be transferable to a variety of instructional modalities while we will focus specifically on literatures in English the aim is that the teachers will be able to apply the knowledge gained to other CAPE subjects these teachers will in turn serve as a resource for the CXC CSEC English teachers in St. Lucia that way the benefits from this workshop can be maximized the U.E. Open Campus St. Lucia will be working with the View Fort Comprehensive Secondary School and the Sir Arthur Lewis Community College to make this workshop a success on Thursday 6th February 2020 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the U.E. Open Campus St. Lucia site located at Monfortune My name is Cecilia Lacovigny I'm the secretary of the Nobel Laureate Festival Committee and has been and I have been that for a few years now I'm here to present on behalf of Labouy Development who are unable to be here to present for themselves now Labouy they have been a staple of the Nobel Laureate Festival activities and this year they are presenting two activities for the Nobel Laureate Festival the first is a continuation of an activity they held last year called Paint the Village and it's a camp and master class with Jonathan Gladden I think a lot of you may know from the work with the signature JAG he paints scenes from Labouy the children the cultural around the Labouy area now Labouy the art community have always felt that St. Lucia artists are at a bit of a disadvantage compared with artists in countries where there are countless workshops and conferences and competitions for them to learn from more experienced professionals for them to network and gain exposure in recent years artists participating in Paint the Village in Labouy have noted that they have benefitted from the exchange with and guidance from Jonathan Gladden Labouy therefore will be holding an overnight camp and master class at Mon Le Blanc a site managed by the Labouy environment and heritage conservation of Labouy which would allow for painting when the light is best and for the artists community that is early morning and late afternoon known as the golden hours now this activity will be held from Friday the 24th of January 2020 from 5pm until mid day Saturday the 25th of January 2020 and that will be at the Mon Le Blanc natural heritage site in Labouy now all that will be on the Facebook pages and you'll see the contact numbers for an email for the the coordinators of the events if you want to take part to let them know the second activity is a workshop to design a community history project now it's important for any community to be aware of its history and to learn from it but the history of Labouy and other communities in St Lucia will never be written if we wait for a professional historian to do it Labouy therefore proposes to embark on a participatory research and writing project that would document the social, economic, political and environmental history of the community now it's an ambitious project that will require specific expertise and funding as part of the festival a one day workshop will be convened with community leaders and resource people especially historians and individuals with experience in the collection and documentation of oral history of the project the output of the workshop would be a concept and a budget which would then be submitted to potential sponsors and partners so sponsors, potential sponsors I hope you're all listening to this this could also serve as a pilot project that other communities could emulate in the future technical assistance for this is going to be sought from the national trust and I believe they may have been contacted already and are on board the date for this activity is Saturday the 25th of January 2020 and it will be held at the Vell and John administrative centre in Labouy from 2pm to 7pm so we hope all interested people would take part besides the members of the Labouy community now time you say everybody knows where it is in St Lucia you have to come to St Lucia to find Derek you know what I'm saying so as a chef it was quite nice I came to Ladera I said well obviously he's accomplished his Nobel laureate what can I create for him you know in his name the idea is our national dish is salt fish and green banana so I said well I want to create a dirt crocodile fish cake so the dirt crocodile fish cake isn't just flour and water it's our green bananas so it's green banana mashed combined with salted fish topped with a salt fish salsa I gave to Derek when he came to Ladera all the years ago and he's very impressed by it he actually mentioned in a couple of news articles around the world I think I saw something in the observer in London about this fish cake so now wherever I travel I travel from London, Martinique wherever I cook there's always a Derek walkout fish cake on my menu so it was quite fitting with this idea also my restaurant in Souffre for the last 5 years now we've been doing Nobel laureate week we do poetry and cuisine at the restaurant so the idea you can come down to Souffre and now I'm in Wadden Bay taking pressure I'm now in Wadden Bay we intend to start in the next couple of weeks where persons with poetry information love the cuisine idea can come and sit down and share their poetry with the audience I mean this is really a fitting opportunity to showcase what this gentleman has done for Saint Lucia especially this year this year as well it was 90th anniversary it would have been 90th this year I think it's fitting to recognise him as a world renowned leader as well as a literature person and as a chef I feel very proud to be involved in this whole process going forward I hope you will start by the restaurant it will taste the food there and of course we keep celebrating Derek I think he has to be celebrated every year sometimes we recognise people in their passing when they are right here in front of you we don't remember who they are but now he's passed I think we need to even sell it even more so with that said I really appreciate this opportunity to share with you and again thank you for your time and try the fish cake it's made with his love thank you for sharing the love you may even say share the love but it means Saint Lucia STL share the love I'd like to invite first of all Mr Bert Smith who is the country manager who is limited to present the cheque to our chair Herksovency Dane Pellef the music I love him