Facey Secondary Schools Drama Festival 2014

Facey Secondary Schools Drama Festival 2014 is now on and it runs from 11th to 25th November. The Festival was declared opened by Senator Luke Browne speaking for the Minister of Tourism, Sports and Culture.


Also offering remarks at the opening was Senior Education Officer, Mr. Asfo Stephens and Mr. Martin Quashie, Drama Development Officer and Co-ordinator of the Festival. The defending champions, Girls' High School, presented their play as the first of the season.

Click here to view the roster of performances for this year's festival.

Click here to view the official magazine from last year's drama festival.

The Department of Culture develops video to sensitise the public about the heritage of Vincentians and the Islands of St. Vincent and the Grenadines

The Department of Culture has developed a video to sensitise the public about the heritage of Vincentians and the islands of St. Vincent and the Grenadines.


This journey looks at our cultural heritage in St. Vincent & the Grenadines. Culture is the way of life of a people, so Vincentian culture is the way of life of Vincentians. It includes all elements of how we live, such as the way we talk, the foods we eat, our building construction style, our expressions of song and movement, our worship forms, how we dress, the traditions we keep and the stories and places that we hold as important. It is very extensive, our culture has been shaped and influenced by the various peoples who have lived on these islands and their patterns of life. Amerindans, Europeans, Africans, Asians have all contributed to our heritage which are those tangible and intangible cultural forms that have been inherited from our fore-parents.

 

Click here to see the video about the heritage of St. Vincent and the Grenadines

 Exile Story

 The Spanish, French and English fought amongst themselves to claim ownership of our islands in total disregard of the ownership rights of the people they found already living in the islands they called the Caribbean. In the case of St. Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) the Europeans delayed trying to settle here until the 1600s. The indigenous people, wise to the European's intentions resisted their settlement efforts. These battles are referred to as the Carib Wars.

In 1795 Paramount Chief, His Excellency, the Right Honourable Joseph Chatoyer, (First National Hero of SVG), was leader of the resistance to European colonisation of this island. He was killed on 14th March. His death brought an effective end to the resistance effort. Sir William Young records that to solve the “difficulty” in St. Vincent, “either remove the British planter or remove the Caribs”. The British Government of the time chose to punish the Garifuna people, (Black Caribs), by imposing exile on them. In July 1796 the British rounded up as many of the Garifuna as they could capture and shipped them, first to Balliceaux then to Roatan. They recorded the number captured as 5,080 men. Only 2026 survived and landed on Honduras. As the community grew in numbers they later spread to Belize and other areas.

In 2001 UNESCO proclaimed the Graifuna culture as a “Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity”. The exile robbed Vincentians of language, food, worship, forms of entertainment, and most significantly, a psychic attitude of colonial resistance and of self-reliance; attitudes of raised consciousness.

 

The Ministry of Tourism is located on the 2nd Floor, NIS Building, Upper Bay Street, Kingstown, St. Vincent & The Grenadines.

Telephone No: (784) 457-1502

Fax No: (784) 451-2425

Email: tourism@gov.vc

Office Hours

Mon- Fri
8:00 am - 4:15pm