The Marionettes Chorale Donate Nearly $200,000 to six Charities

The Marionettes concluded a historic year – including their celebrated stagings of Carmen and A Prayer for Peace II, but also the country’s state of emergency and curfew – with a renewed commitment to being the change they wanted to see in Trinidad & Tobago. Over the last five years, the Marionettes – with support from their sponsors of 40 years, bpTT – has raised over TT$1 million for a wide range of causes, including hurricane relief efforts, cancer treatment and prevention, mentoring programmes for at-risk youth, support for the victims of domestic violence, and care for the terminally ill. Though the Marionettes have their own urgent expenses, first and foremost their campaign to construct their own home, they strove to raise as large a sum as possible for other outstanding charities at their last Christmas series. The series raised nearly TT$200,000, which was equally distributed among six important charities:

 

• The LoveUntil Foundation’s countless social outreach programmes that provide care for abandoned children, battered women, HIV positive patients, drug addicts, and many other people in need

• The La Madeleine Orphanage in Haiti’s rebuilding fund the fund for the restoration of a national monument, the Roman Catholic Cathedral for the Immaculate Conception the All Saints Church renovation fund the Greyfriars/St. Ann's Church of Scotland rebuilding fund and the Marionettes’ own Property Fund

 

The cheques were distributed at a special gathering earlier this month, where the choir serenaded their specially invited non-profit partners with music from their upcoming series, A Gift for the Nation II, and then broke for a sharing of food and drink. Addressing the gathering, Artistic Director and Conductor Gretta Taylor explained how important the evening was to the group: “The organisations you represent have played a valuable part in the Marionettes’ journey. We are a musical family, now almost 50 years old, which has earned acceptance in the wider community for what we aspire to: spiritual enrichment through performing fine music as well as we possibly can.” She also paid tribute to it’s sponsor of 40 years, bpTT, whose support is instrumental to the choir’s musical and community work. “Without bpTT, whose subvention covers a generous proportion of our expenses, we would be permanently in the red, and probably in jail,” joked Taylor, to laughs from the audience. “So we are extremely grateful to bpTT for their unstinting support over the past 40 years. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you.”