 Meantime, the highly anticipated Cultural Icon series staged by the Cultural Development Foundation was launched Friday. The series showcases and honors St. Lucian's who have made an indelible mark on the national artistic landscape. The Cultural Development Foundation's CDF Cultural Icon series aims to make connections and provoke conversations about the development of art and culture in St. Lucian. The newest addition to the series, Vincent Joseph Udavik, has been described as a man of undoubtable and invaluable talent who displays his love for art and culture through his sculpture pieces. On Friday, October 25, the CDF unveiled the Vincent J. Udavik Sculpture Art Exhibition, which it hopes would create an environment for persons to find passion and freedom of expression. Minister responsible for culture and creative industries, Senator Honorable Fortuna Belrose says it is by finding purpose that one can contribute meaningfully to society. Our Icon series is about celebrating our people. These are persons like you, yes, like you, who have found their passion and used their passion as a conduit to contribute to the development of our society. You see, when you find the way to express what you want or who you are, you are in fact pursuing your own independence. And what do I mean by independence? I'm speaking of a state of mind and being in a place, being in a place where one is focused on being proactive, always beginning with the end in mind, putting first things first, setting priorities, you know, and valuing others' contribution in the space. In 2018, the Cultural Development Foundation introduced the Edutainment Component of the Icon series, which seeks to educate students about the icons through various platforms. This year, the focus was on the islands west coast from Babano to Bhutan. Director of events and production at the CDF, Junior Fredericks, elaborated on this year's undertaking. The program places emphasis on connecting our training programs with elements of production and showing young persons the value of the arts as a medium of change and what it's worth in economic returns. This year, we took a cross-section of young performers who came out of training programs from CDF and other programs in the arts done by other institutions and individuals. These young performers researched the life of Vincent Udavik, created a concept and performed around 12 schools on the island. While the icon himself was not in attendance at Friday's ceremony, his daughter Dawn Udavik represented the art studio. She expressed profound gratitude to the CDF for featuring her father's work and the work that was done to make the exhibition a success. Really and truly, they put some vitality into the Udavik's art studio, the Udavik family, the Udavik art family, and we really appreciate it. We really, really appreciate it from the bottom of our hearts. The art exhibition will run until Tuesday, October 29, 2019.