Yvonne Webb

Hun­dreds of proud South­ern­ers filled the au­di­to­ri­um of the Na­tion­al Acad­e­my for the Per­form­ing Arts (NA­PA) South on Sep­tem­ber 28, as the long await­ed state-of-the-art fa­cil­i­ty was fi­nal­ly opened. Many ex­pressed sat­is­fac­tion at hav­ing not on­ly a mod­ern space for per­form­ing, but an acad­e­my where the var­i­ous artis­tic dis­ci­plines could be taught.

Min­is­ter of Arts and Mul­ti­cul­tur­al­ism Dr Lin­coln Dou­glas, who did the of­fi­cial open­ing, re­mind­ed the au­di­ence this pre­mier the­atre and con­cert au­di­to­ri­um, which was out­fit­ted with an on-site cam­pus for the per­form­ing arts, will go a long way in serv­ing the needs of the artis­tic com­mu­ni­ty in the coun­try and South in par­tic­u­lar. CEO of Southex Pro­mo­tions, George Singh, said he was see­ing great pos­si­bil­i­ties with this space and al­ready had plans to host his ex­po there next year.

In be­tween the for­mal speech­es, the coun­try's rich and di­verse cul­ture was show­cased. The rich voice of Mar­sha Charles, known by the so­bri­quet La­dy Adana, res­onat­ed through­out the hall, as she per­formed her win­ning Na­tion­al Song Com­pe­ti­tion en­try, Trin­ba­go Live On, com­posed by Shar­lan Bai­ley. So, too, did Neval Chate­lal and Er­phaan Alves, two of the ris­ing stars of this coun­try. South's finest, the South­er­naires Choir, led by Joy Ceasar, Prescon Mixed Choir, the Tri Mur­ti Dance Com­pa­ny, the Em­bac­cadere Folk Per­form­ers and the pièce-de-r&ea­cute;sis­tance Black Stal­in, all helped to make the open­ing a mem­o­rable oc­ca­sion.