News Releases

Arts-in-Action celebrates 21 years with ‘Artists Can Cook Too!’

For Release Upon Receipt - May 1, 2015

St. Augustine


ST. AUGUSTINE, Trinidad and Tobago – Arts-in-Action (AiA), the Theatre in Education outreach programme of The UWI St. Augustine’s Department of Creative and Festival Arts (DCFA), turns twenty-one this year. To commemorate this milestone, AiA has embarked on an inaugural creative community-building event entitled, “Artists Can Cook Too!” carded for Sunday May 3, 2015, from noon to 4pm at Fatima RC Parish grounds, Bushe Street, Curepe with a special guest appearance by Comedian Errol Fabien.

“21 Ingredients; 21 Flavours,” is the event’s tag-line and the creative culinary challenge issued to invited Applied Creative Arts companies who will be participating. In keeping with the theme, event tickets are priced at $21, which gains patrons access to entertainment and meals prepared by the various participants, each also priced at $21. Speaking on the event concept, one of AiA's Artistic Directors, Marvin George stated "There are few who can deny that Trinidad and Tobago has a festival culture. The festival – whether sacred or secular – is at the centre of community survival and continuity. Central to the feast or festival in our context is food. For the 21st birthday celebration of AiA, we propose a feast event privileging the community and the artists who work with communities. Participating artist groups will therefore be cooking and sharing their dishes with those who have influenced and are at the centre of their artistic work."  

Registered companies will choose 5-8 of their best members to be their culinary team and make 21 flavours come alive from the 21 ingredients. Judging the culinary competition will be a Celebrity Artist Chef. Some of the prestigious artist companies enlisted include:

Drama Making a Difference (DMAD.Company Ltd), a non-profit organisation that helps those who are less fortunate through the medium of theatre arts and drama. This Playback Theatre Company puts on productions to help raise funds for charity.

Ah'Peelin Feelings Playback Theatre Company, which focuses on the power in stories and theatre through its own yearly productions as well as acting collaborations in the annual DCFA theatrical productions. Its most recent showcase was the theatrical adaptation of the famed Earl Lovelace novel “Salt.”

Wenz & Frenz, an arts company launched in 2011 which provides a vibrant opportunity and accessible platform for young persons to interact and indulge the uniqueness of traditional Carnival Mas and cultural forms.

In keeping with the usual outreach element of all AiA events and activities, local children’s homes will also be a part of the inaugural event, made possible through the sponsorship of tickets to attend the event courtesy Republic Bank UWI.

For further information, please contact Ms. Patrice Briggs or any Arts-in-Action member at 289-4242 or 387-2654, follow the unit on Facebook: Arts-in-Action or on Twitter: @artsinactiontt.

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About Arts-in-Action

Since 1994, Arts-in-Action has been the Theatre in Education outreach programme of The UWI St. Augustine’s Department of Creative and Festival Arts (DCFA) founded by Dr. Dani Lyndersay under the headship of Rawle Gibbons (founding Head of the DCFA, and Senior Lecturer at The UWI St. Augustine). For the past twenty-one years, Arts-in-Action continues to adhere to the philosophy that “the arts have an indispensable role to play in formal and non-formal education and inspiring positive attitudinal and social change.” AiA was awarded The UWI Vice Chancellor’s Award for Excellence for Public Education in 2001 and is the the Caribbean's Premiere Applied Creative Arts Unit.

 

About The UWI

Since its inception in 1948, The University of the West Indies (UWI) has evolved from a fledgling college in Jamaica with 33 students to a full-fledged, regional University with well over 40,000 students. Today, UWI is the largest, most longstanding higher education provider in the Commonwealth Caribbean, with four campuses in Barbados, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, and the Open Campus. The UWI has faculty and students from more than 40 countries and collaborative links with 160 universities globally; it offers undergraduate and postgraduate degree options in Food & Agriculture, Engineering, Humanities & Education, Law, Medical Sciences, Science and Technology and Social Sciences. UWI’s seven priority focal areas are linked closely to the priorities identified by CARICOM and take into account such over-arching areas of concern to the region as environmental issues, health and wellness, gender equity and the critical importance of innovation. Website: www.uwi.edu

 

(Please note that the proper name of the university is The University of the West Indies, inclusive of the “The”, hence The UWI.)

 

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