 His Excellency, Peter Chen, Ambassador, Republic of China, Taiwan. Ms. Elsie Tai, Food Secretary, Embassy Republic of China, Taiwan. Mrs. Ramona Henry Rim, Executive Director, Cultural Development Foundation. Ms. Drenia Fadrick, Director of Events and Production at the Cultural Development Foundation. Mr. Imran Emmanuel, Mr. Bernard Fannes, Ms. Barbara Jacob Smalls, Ms. Rahisa Joseph, Executive Director, Focusset Center, Ms. Lauren Sidoni, Chief Executive Officer, Events Company of St. Lucia, Ms. Lisa Evans, Chief Executive Assistant, Secretary to the National Export Council for Export Sanition. Participants, staff of the Cultural Development Foundation, ladies and gentlemen, viewers, welcome to the official launching of the train, the trainer's lantern design and construction virtual workshop under the theme, Learn to Impact, bringing forth light through intercultural exchange in the traditions of lantern making. This workshop is a four-week program supported through the Embassy of the Republic of China, Taiwan, in St. Lucia under the Spotlight on Taiwan Fund, the Lantern Association of Taipei, in collaboration with the Cultural Development Foundation and the Ministry of Tourism, Investment, Creative Industries, Culture, and Information. To tell us a bit more about the program, some remarks from Mrs. Ramona Henry-Winn, Executive Director of the Cultural Development Foundation. Good morning everyone, protocol already established, Sean, permit me to adopt. This program learned to impact through intercultural exchanges. We started this journey with the Embassy a few years ago, where we assisted them in their national day activities by preparing a concept for a lantern competition that went down very well. Ambassador was very pleased. Yet too, we did the same and we went on further to help them with the celebrations of their national day because COVID was rampant. Ambassador, they almost called it off, but CDF jumped in and through our director of events and production were able to come up with a virtual concept. And of course, that went very well. It was viewed in St. Lucia, the diaspora, as well as in the Republic of China, Taiwan. This year, last year we applied through the Spotlight on Taiwan Fund to do a craft enhancement project down in Swazel. That project was very successful. So we again applied late last year to do this training workshop, train the trainers. We felt it would have been more beneficial to train trainers rather to train everybody. We felt that the impact would have been better because you train persons who can go on to train others. I think the reach, it is far-reaching rather than just training individuals. And the project, the session started last week, Tuesday. And we are very pleased to say that we are able to deliver in the South as well as in the North. And the feedback from the participants, sorry, it is very phenomenal. I think persons made lanterns, we use a lot of cardboard. But we felt that the Republic of China, Taiwan, they are the masters of lantern making. So why not share what they knew and why not see the applying to share in that knowledge? Knowledge is power. Knowledge shared is power multiplied. And that is a quote that Robert Noyce uses a co-founder of Intel. Why not? And you know that the knowledge that is gained throughout the four weeks will not just stay with the participants, but we do the annual lantern festival. And we will utilize the skills of those individuals to go out into the communities and to impact others, impact persons in the communities, in the schools. They have done it in the past. But this year we are equipping them with new skills, best practices, and the know how. We are not saying that our people can't make lanterns. We are not saying that they are not good at it. But we are saying if there is knowledge out there that can help us to enhance our craft and to develop our people and to broaden their knowledge, why not? And I would like to say to Ambassador, you know, we really do appreciate the effort. We really do appreciate the partnership that CDF has been able to develop with the Embassy as well as your Ministry of Culture in the Republic of China, Taiwan. And I say to the participants, don't see this as just preparing for the lantern competition that we do in December. See it as an avenue for employment. Just sitting there on day one, my imagination started running wild, just looking at, you know, the skills that were being imparted. And I'm like, there is so much we can do with what we're learning. And one of the participants said to me, you know what, Mrs. Nguyen? I made pinatas for both the parties and I see where I can use that skill already. You know, so here you are, somebody already seen an employment avenue. So this is what CDF is about, developing people, developing their craft so that they can go out there and become impactful. They can go out there and have employable skills or the skills that will assist them are not just depending on the government for handouts, but holding their owner and being able to earn a living through the skills that CDF is assisting them with. So I would like to say again, especially to those in the South, there is still a few spaces left for those persons in the South. So we call on you to join in. It's not too late. Our castries class is filled already, but we still have a few spaces left in the South. So anywhere from the South, from me could going forward, feel free to join in. And we welcome you with open arms. I'd like to say we're never too old to learn. We're not too good to learn. So here's an opportunity that has been given to us and we embrace it with love. I thank you. Thank you, Mrs. Nguyen. We now move on to a video presentation of the best of the best Lantern competition highlights. See firstly, I wanted to understand that the only reason I made it thus far was because I was the clear champion. So you see because of this, daily I'm motivated by my pride. You could say I'm a lion as I pray on all my weaknesses in this wildlife because I understood that up here. Yeah, I'm in control. See, I'm the king of my own jungle, but don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that I have it all together. No, I mean many great men fall even seven times over, but only a greater man can get back up and start over. Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Tourism, Investment, Creative Industry, Culture and Information, Parliamentary Secretary Gilman Ferdinand, and Ms. Ramona Henry-Wen, Executive Director of Cultural Development Foundation, all the participants, ladies and gentlemen, good morning. It's really my pleasure to join Honorable Deputy Prime Minister, Dr. Hillier and Honorable Parliament Secretary Ferdinand to attend the launching ceremony of spotlight Taiwan project, learn to impact bringing forth light through intercultural exchange in the traditions of lantern making today. Since 2020, Taiwan Embassy have partnered with Cultural Development Foundation for two years to hold the lantern competition, just as Ms. Ramona Henry-Wen mentioned, and we also implement the spotlight Taiwan project since last year, and we have seen so many creative and amazing lantern hours. I think all of us will see from the video clip, there's a lot of beautiful hours, which were displayed to showcase the cultural relationship between Taiwan and Senucia on our National Day celebration, and we even send one lantern to attend 2022 Taipei Lantern Festival in January. As you may know, both Taiwan and Senucia have traditional and historical lantern festival. In the spirit of intercultural exchange and further expand our creative collaboration on lantern making this year, we invite Taiwanese lantern experts to bring in hands-on experience and expertise of the lantern making process to Senucia. And thanks to Cultural Development Foundation, we began our four-weeks workshop last week, participants coming from all around the island spend their leisure time to come to castries and viewful center to take virtual lecture from Taiwanese facilitators every Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday evening. Their spirit of learning and preserving cultural heritage is encouraging. Could we give them a big round of applause? And during this four-weeks workshop, Taiwanese facilitator will demonstrate how to create effective lightening and illumination to develop the use of non-traditional and eco-friendly materials and to guide participants on how to interpret the themes and process of lantern design. At the end of the workshop, all the participants will produce their own lanterns which involve expertise, craftsmanship, creativity and diversity from both countries and showcase in the lantern competition as well as our national day. I can't wait to see all those beautiful, complete hours. Our ultimate goal is that we hope all the participants can pass on knowledge and traditions to more solutions and revitalize the lantern making traditions idon't why and just from the inspiring speech from Ms. Wayne, I think this is not only a cultural exchange, this is also an opportunity to increase revenue, increase income of solution. Lastly, this is the second year that we implemented spotlight Taiwan project in solution. I would like to take this occasion to express my sincere appreciation to all the working staff and colleagues in cultural development foundation that realize this cultural exchange. Also, it will not be so successful without the stewardship laid by Honorable Deputy Prime Minister Dr. Hillier. Thank you, Honorable Deputy Prime Minister, for your continued support and all the effort you put to enhance the cultural exchange between our two countries. Artistic creativity is an area both Taiwan and solution have potential to work with and collaborate on. I wish this spotlight Taiwan project every success and all the participants an inspiring and fruitful exchange. Thank you. Thank you. We move on to video presentation of highlights of lanterns in Taiwan. 現上視訊教學活動 花燈在台灣不僅是個傳統的記憶更是承載著幾代人共同的記憶 在農曆年過後我們每年都會有無數精彩的作品呈現在大宗面前 花燈不但能夠在白天觀賞在夜晚能量的那一刻 那更能顯現出花燈的可貴 光代表著光明希望光不只能照亮黑暗也能溫暖人心 一件好的花燈作品不但是光彩絢麗更重要的是能夠感動人心 未來的四周我們將一同努力製作出令人驚豔的花燈作品 期許在本次的教學能讓我們彼此能夠教學鄉長透過本次的文化交流 讓各位收穫滿滿 同時也希望各位在節夜時都能完成一件令人滿意的作品謝謝大家 I said you know what I welcome the challenge let me broaden my scope let me see what I could actually pass on my knowledge just see what I could pick up from the lantern completion because I've always watched it from the outside especially during the December the usual festival seasons but you know I always wondered how did they do it how did they not do it you know what was the mindset behind it was a thinking behind it so when I heard that there was a theme behind it where the Taiwanese were actually coming on board to say you know what we're going to have this theme to actually showcase our local talent on an international scale I said you know what let me jump to this challenge and lo and behold my first year actually won the competition and then following year there was a different theme and with that I actually built a team so I said you know what let's see if now we're going to showcase our local talent internationally where the winning lantern would be now showcased in Taiwan I needed to go all out so I actually brought other persons involved in the team again it's not just the lantern makers but I found persons with diverse backgrounds there was a engineer someone who had um cut designing someone was a painter actually brought persons on board I said you know what this is this is not something just for Saint Lucia but this is international let us see what we have to offer here and again the team that I put together we won so the lantern was showcased in Taiwan and that was again what the thought process behind it was merging the two cultures and I think the week before that the minister was actually promoting the culture of Saint Lucia where they had this robot showcase in the linkage between Taiwan and Saint Lucia so actually jumped on board that and said no let us bring that into the lantern and that's what we felt that we should bring into this whole thing this year actually loved the idea that we actually had a trainer my hope was that the trainer been on island to actually learn virtually it's one thing we can learn so much but actually having a hands-on would have been a much better approach but nonetheless I think some of the persons inside of the room we have a diverse background and skill set so we were able to pick up on some of that and even within the classroom setting we were able to share some of that knowledge like I said I have 19 years background in the carnival and making industry so even some of the materials that they were using I was able to actually pass on some of that knowledge because there was one example where the wire the gauge of the wire we had no idea the thickness of it but then with my background and Mr. Marshall's background in carnival we were able to actually look at what was shown on television on the screen and actually break it down and actually source it locally and that was one of the issues source signatures locally you know what they have in Taiwan and what we have locally is different so we now have to improvise in that regard so it was it's been challenging the first week because we now have to change our mindset from what we know for the past 20 years and now learn a different skill set a different way of doing things some of the things are similar but it's again changing your mindset to that and it's really it's a really enjoyable session so far I mean they worked with us in some of the designs that we have again the way we traditionally make things out of cardboard we now have to put that on the back burner now we have to learn a new skill set welding and use different wires and framing or what have you and like Miss Wayne said from day one when he showed the first examples my mind went they bought four of us in the classroom our minds went we picked up our phones and we started researching you know looking at the equipment what do we have here vis-a-vis what they're using over there you know what can we do outside of the lantern competition what can be done so we started thinking of um Junaquie all different skill sets we're looking at um Christmas we're looking at new years we saw so many different avenues for this because usually again for the hotels when they would request things it out of cardboard or out of wood what have you so we say no no let us move away from that let us now create stuff using the same mindset same ideology from the taiwanese same skill set and actually apply this locally so I think maybe not this year but in the years to come maybe hopefully next year you could now see a new diverse set of products coming from the locals like Miss Wayne said the young lady who was doing pinatas right away she tapped me and said hey I could use this for my thing and then she went and spoke to Miss Wayne about that because it's a whole new thinking of it the materials are different you know you learn new skills airbrushing welding fabrication is just a completely different mindset so we're really hoping at the end of this workshop that the skills that we learned we can pass it on to new generation of persons or persons who are unable to attend and really take the central lantern competition to a whole new height so this is my hope out of this and I really from again speaking to the other participants that is a mindset that this is not just for the next four weeks and it's not just for December but beyond that the whole set of skillsets whole new industries that we can develop from this so this is my take from this and I'm really thankful this is Wayne for this opportunity and the cdf team um out phase two might be participants can actually go to taiwan I'm hoping for that um because I'm seeing that there's a whole factory is all industry out of this and just doing it virtually is not good enough for us we see that we want more so um we will open that Mr. Ambassador that next phase that actually get a crop of us to actually travel to taiwan actually gets hands-on training with Mr. Lang because it's one thing like I said to do it virtually it'll be different to actually see it and actually have him over you shadow you to actually create it so thank you very much and enjoy the rest of the ceremony thank you Mr. Avril now that you've heard his testimony we should go into the video production of the ongoing lantern program we have pending the special presentation from the ambassador of the Republic of China taiwan to the cultural development foundation it's a trophy from taipei city government to show their appreciation to cultural development foundation and also for the government of senucia for sending a lantern to attend the 2022 lantern festival in taipei I seen the artwork from senucia really make the lantern festival more colorful and meaningful beautiful beautiful thank you very much we now have remarks from the honorable doctor Ernest Hiller minister of tourism investment creative industries culture and information thank you very much mistress of ceremony my colleague parliamentary secretary in the ministry of tourism investment creative industries culture information even I forget it sometimes all of them ambassador Chang ambassador of the Republic of China taiwan deputy permanent secretary in the ministry of culture other distinguished invitees director of cdf mrs. Sidone from events company of senucia participants good morning now where do I start I listened to Avril I saw the video and I'm almost tempted to try my hand at making a lantern but I know it might certainly not make the grid until certainly never reach taiwan so thing but I want to first of all say to ambassador to convey the sincere thanks of the government and people of senucia for the continued support and assistance that we do get from the government and people of taiwan in so many aspects of our national development taiwan has certainly always been there to to provide assistance and taiwan is a very valuable partner to senucia and this is not just in terms of giving us support for the big obvious infrastructural projects but also the very deep intrinsic meaningful programs like this one they're not grandiose in the sense of financing for the hospital and for other projects but these projects and those initiatives are so valuable and when when you see in taiwan what a lantern festival is like it really excites you and sometimes people ask me about why we spend so much money on carnival on junequie all on emancipation and you know you want to engage in a debate with them on those those issues but in a very simplistic way if you unlock the creativity of a people which is what those initiatives are doing we become a richer society we solve our problems better we achieve more and and i have to say this morning because this is a whole new dimension will be opening up in senucia when i was asked about why you insist on having carnival and i said we cannot continue to suffocate the creativity of our people we need to unlock it we need to move beyond um covid and and for us to assert our personality wants more as a nation and those initiatives and why i'm thankful to you for ambassador to your government and people for helping us will help us as a country as a people to become richer a people that can invent that can create a people that can excite itself to achieve higher levels of performance and to achieve things that are beyond the ordinary imagination is a rich society and and being able to produce lanterns like this that people that can just excite people when they see them it's something about raising the value of our society and it is important and and we really appreciate the support that you're giving and i heard afril again saying maybe not this year but next year we will certainly be a lot grander than we've ever been and i support him on that and i know drina and i have had a conversation about you know certain little things that i i i want to place emphasis on and in that conversation she raised with me about the lantern competition and i was saying to her yeah i you really need to rethink how we do it in senucia let's make it bigger let's make it grander let's involve all the communities you know let let us really make the lantern festival something which is really grand and with this training we expect it to be bigger not just in terms of conception but in terms of how many of participation as well so what do we do do we have an inter-district competition do we have um you know let's think about it let's cdf sit down and think about how best we can make the lantern um you know festival something which is embedded in us and the point was made about how we can be used in other areas in carnival for example the making of our king and queen costumes um even individuals wanted to have themed birthday parties now the children want all kind of batman party and um what transformers party you know the young people nowadays before we should have a birthday party it'd be a little rock cake and and squash but now children want themed parties they want you know even in our in our events our feds you know we need to take it to a level higher rather than just walking into a color mirad or euphoria with you can actually enhance the look and feel and make patrons feel that they in a different kind of experience but those things can help in terms of the the look and feel and the setting and creating that and opens new employment opportunities the youth economy comes into play how do we um say to young people who have an interest in this you can actually create a livelihood in san lusia selling your services making for weddings for christens you know there's so hundred birthday parties there's so many avenues if you if you have the quality of the product and you can market it and sell it um there are people that will want to spend some money to have you know they look look and feel and hands and pay a little extra um as a promoter if you can enhance the experience people will pay more you know people will pay if they believe they're going to get an experience an experience is not always about free food and drink it's just about the vibe the feeling and those um designers that are trained now can contribute a lot to this but more importantly i think it will unlock greater creativity in our people in terms of our intellectual capacity our you know even our emotional intelligence to be able to think beyond just ordinary and and i'm really happy just looking at some of the the lanterns just imagine you in taipei and watching this presentation how would you feel as a person you see in those manifestations of creativity among the taiwanese people let us see how we can translate it to st lusia so you the trainers um i hope you do get the opportunity and i hope cdf does create the opportunity for you to train more individuals i hope you know cdf can convince the ambassador um to take some of the best people to taiwan to actually get the practical hands on and the experience of a lantern festival to to really be inspired by it to be able to come back and to train more individuals in st lusia for us at cdf and the ministry to be able to organize the event in st lusia at a higher level with greater impact and for us we will be able to say to our people we're opening new doors for you and once the youth economy gets started there will be support in there for young people who want to be able to um you know take that as a potential career and the creation of a livelihood for themselves so this is exciting stuff and i certainly look forward maybe not this year but as avril prem is next year for us to see a marked difference in how we approach the the event and the quality of lanterns that we have and i think it is thanks to the assistance of the government and people of taiwan through the local embassy we all know st lusia the patron saint of st lusia is one with the patron saint is patron saint of sight um associated with light because if you cannot see um light is the beacon of hope i'm coming out of darkness and there's an association between the st st lusia the patron saint and the whole notion of light and water lantern um you know portraits and the beacon of hope that it is um to to our people so thank you very much thank you very much cdf to all the trainers i certainly look forward to the product of your work and to see um that the skills that you've acquired really manifested in different dimensions and different endeavors in our society so all the best and i'm looking forward as i said in the coming months to see how you put in those skills into action thank you very much thank you honorable dr oner silly ladies and gentlemen let us once again acknowledge our participants for the dedication and creativity a round of applause for them please thank you very much for the vote of thanks i call on mrs dana doleau japa a blessed morning to all protocol being established i would like on behalf of the cultural development foundation to express appreciation to all who made the virtual launch and the train the trainers lantern program possible our parent ministry the ministry of tourism investment creative industries culture and information for the continued support in our programs ministry of culture in taiwan for the financial support through the embassy of the republic of china taiwan under the spotlight of taiwan fun your support in this venture has been a great help in providing the much needed training to our participants to the embassy of the republic of china taiwan we say thank you for considering the proposal and assisting us throughout the process to lc tai third secretary to the embassy of the republic of china taiwan thank you for your assistance before and during the program to the lantern association of taipei and teacher lan yongchi and his team we say thank you for your time and expertise towards bringing forth the knowledge and skills in the lantern design and construction we would also like to acknowledge the management and the management and senior staff of their hard work in making this program and launch possible to and to the participants for taking part in the program we say thank you thank you to our guests and viewers for being a part of this virtual launch have a wonderful day and have a wonderful and blessed day thank you