Per­for­mances by the Point Fortin Home­work Cen­tre Choir have be­come a fix­ture at mu­si­cal events in south Trinidad, es­pe­cial­ly since its close en­counter with vic­to­ry at the 2010 Na­tion­al Mu­sic Fes­ti­val. Af­ter miss­ing out on a shot at na­tion­al ho­n­ours by one point, the 25-mem­ber group has its eyes set on a stage in Barcelona dur­ing Oc­to­ber's Can­ta al mar Mu­sic Fes­ti­val, from Oc­to­ber 17-21. The am­bi­tious project is be­ing led by Home­work Cen­tre co-or­di­na­tor, Veron­i­ca Nolan, a com­mu­ni­ty ac­tivist who has co-or­di­nat­ed the work of the cen­tre since its es­tab­lish­ment in May 2009. True, the choir bare­ly missed out on a place in the fi­nals of the Na­tion­al Mu­sic Fes­ti­val, but Nolan says the group is hop­ing not to lose the op­por­tu­ni­ty to reach the sea­side re­sort of Calel­la in Barcelona, where choirs from all over the world will com­pete against each oth­er and par­tic­i­pate in "com­mu­nal per­for­mances" through­out the coastal town.

Nolan be­lieves the Barcelona in­vi­ta­tion was the work of 2010 Na­tion­al Mu­sic Fes­ti­val ad­ju­di­ca­tor, Dr John Paul John­son of Wi­chi­ta State Uni­ver­si­ty, who had not­ed the odd lack of a sin­gle choir uni­form and the group's spir­it­ed ren­di­tion when they per­formed two years ago. "He said that he was im­pressed that the singers had on the uni­forms of so many dif­fer­ent schools," Nolan said. The Home­work Cen­tre, lo­cat­ed at the Oil­fields Work­ers Trade Union Hall in Point Fortin, ser­vices stu­dents from sev­er­al schools in the south east of the is­land. The cen­tre is hop­ing to send a con­tin­gent of 40 singers, mu­si­cal ac­com­pa­nists and adult chap­er­ones to the Barcelona Fes­ti­val-an ef­fort that will cost more than $.5 mil­lion. "We have sent out the let­ters (to spon­sors)," Nolan said, "but we don't have any re­spons­es yet." At the Man­go Fes­ti­val last Sun­day, the choir was pre­sent­ed with tick­ets to To­ba­go by the Net­work of Rur­al Women Pro­duc­ers for the group's in­spir­ing work with young peo­ple. For the mo­ment, Nolan is fo­cus­ing on get­ting her charges to the Mediter­ranean town where scores of choirs from all over the world as­sem­ble to share mu­si­cal tal­ent and ex­pe­ri­ences. She can be reached at 490-1650 for more in­for­ma­tion.