NCF took NIFCA Pun De Road

It was a hive of activity on the road last Saturday, September 29 as the celebrations began for the National Independence Festival of Creative Arts (NIFCA) 2018 to mark 45 years of excellence in the arts.

The promotional road show tagged ‘NIFCA Pun De Road’ was not only designed to keep its publics in the know and to generate awareness about the start of the upcoming Festival, but also to step out into the community taking the arts into popular/high traffic spaces.

For a few hours on Saturday the National Cultural Foundation (NCF) turned the decibels all the way up with interviews and performances live on the road and to their extended audiences on Facebook.  It was the passion for the arts from that of the performers and the interviewees chosen that kept this road show moving.

The road show saw the NCF moving a 40 ft trailer full of talent from their headquarters at West Terrace, St. James, making 4 exciting stops in Bridgetown and then heading to the Massy Stores Supercentre car park in Warrens for the final 45-minute presentation.

Some of the performances in Bridgetown were on the truck, but most of them were on the roadway, to create a small spectacle around the Festival. The performances included a cross-section of long time participants who are considered as some of the stakeholders in the Festival, alongside a few of the young, up and coming awardees. They are all an embodiment of what the NCF was trying to showcase – the sheer talent within these shores and the many participants who owe their careers to the recognition received on the NIFCA stage.

This 40 ft trailer full of talent left the NCF, made its way down the University Hill, onto Black Rock Main Road, though Eagle Hall, across President Kennedy Drive and onto Fontabelle for the journey into Bridgetown.  The first of four 15 minute stops dubbed ‘Market Yuh Culture’ was on Cheapside, followed by ‘Deposit Yuh Talent’ on Broad Street at Scotiabank, then ‘Window Shopping de Arts’ at Cave Shepherd and ‘Creating Icons of Culture’ a little further on from its planned stop to Roebuck Street, before leaving the city.

From Bridgetown, this caravan of culture moved through a few other districts including Bank Hall, Tudor Bridge, Spooner’s Hill and Green Hill, all on its way to the Massy Stores Supercentre Car Park for that final presentation.

The performances on the route along with the interview aspects of the added mobile Talk Show with host/emcee Belle Holder were streamed live and recorded on the NCF’s Facebook page and is still trending days after the road show.

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