The Legacy of Richard Stoute Continues with the Assistance of The National Cultural Foundation

The National Cultural Foundation is ensuring that the legacy of Barbadian culture and entertainment icon, the late Richard Stoute, will live on, via strengthening their long-standing support of the annual Richard Stoute Contest, now in its 48^th year.

The Competition’s long-standing committee, led by Richard’s son Kevin Stoute and including Randy Eastmond…. is again on board, with production and management oversight provided by the NCF, led by Music Officer Aisha Butcher, Event Planning assistant Shannon Sealy and Technical Officer Jamal Cobham.

This year has seen increased registration in both the Teen Talent and Over 21 categories and participants have been attending weekly workshops to aid in their growth and development as performing artistes. “The main objective of these workshops is to provide access to coaches and resource persons across several disciplines and experiences”, shared Cultural Officer – Music Organisation Aisha Butcher, “Beginner to intermediate vocalists are assisted with consistent and guided practice while gaining exposure to vocal training and performance coaching.”

The Foundation’s enhanced relationship with the Richard Stoute Committee has yielded several benefits for participants and these workshops are no different, with over forty individuals benefiting from this training. “First-timers and returning contestants have both built noteworthy confidence with some going from a whisper to commanding the stage in a short space of time” Butcher shared proudly, adding that technical improvements were also observed – “Others who found it hard to pitch notes are now staying in key”, she stated.

This training and the first two preliminaries have resulted in fifteen excited teen talent semi-finalists who will take the stage after the over 21 contestants have had their chance to shine in preliminary three today Sunday October 6th and the fourth preliminary on Sunday October 13th. The fifteen contestants to compete for a spot in the Richard Stoute Teen Talent Contest on Sunday October 20th (In Photo Above) are Chelisa Depeiza, Chelsea Ellis, Damario Foster, Jaliah Thompson, Jasmine Walkes, Joshua Osbourne, Kadarius Allen, Kayla Alleyne, Kenaz Walker, Kymani Devonish, Kyrique Alleyne, Roneisha Alleyne, Sabrina Phagoo, Tyrell Ifill and Zz Cumberbatch.

NCF CEO, Carol A. M. Roberts is pleased with the talent emerging from the competition thus far and has committed the NCF to ensuring the best experience possible for contestants of all ages, parents, patrons and other stakeholders. “We at the Foundation will continue to play our part in preserving Richard’s legacy and creating yet another avenue for talented Bajans to thrive and thus we are supporting in every way possible as we have done for several years, albeit in a much more public way”.

To stay up to date on The Richard Stoute Contest follow @therichardstoutecontest and @thencfbarbados on social media.