Creative Excellence Shines During September Celebrations

Belize’s cultural identity lives through the people who preserve its traditions, tell its stories and create art that inspires future generations. Today, eight Belizeans received the Creative and Cultural Excellence Award for their contributions to literature, theatre, traditional knowledge, music and visual art. The ceremony, held as part of the September celebrations, honored artists and cultural practitioners whose work may not always command the spotlight, but continues to shape the nation. Shane Williams reports.

 

Shane Williams, Reporting

In a country as diverse as Belize, culture is more than what we celebrate once a year. It is the stories we tell, the music we make, and the traditions we pass on. Today, eight Belizeans are being celebrated for their role in doing so.

 

Francis Fonseca, Minister of Culture

“It’s one of the best things we do every year at the National Celebrations Commission and really as a country really celebrating creative excellence, cultural excellence – recognizing, acknowledging, paying respect to people who have really worked hard for many years in many cases without much recognition, much official recognition to really promote and preserve Belizean culture..”

 

Poet and author Margaret Reynolds receives the Zee Edgell Award for Literary Arts. Sistie Fairweather Harmes is recognized for dance. Poots “Titiman” Flores receives the Andy Palacio Award for Original Belizean Music. And Felicita Cantun is honored for protecting and developing Indigenous knowledge.

 

Francis Fonseca

“It’s very special. It’s a very special honor for me and a privilege for me to participate in this ceremony every year to recognize these individuals who have really given so much of themselves to Belize. As I said in my remarks culture, creativity is really the heartbeat of our nation, the heart and soul of our nation..”

 

Other honorees are stalwarts in visual art, cultural heritage, theatre and cultural leadership: Lola Delgado, Emmeth Young, Melissa Castellanos-Espat and Lita Hunter Krohn. Advisor to the National Institute of Culture and History, Yasser Musa, says culture does not survive simply because it existed yesterday but because someone decides to teach it, perform it or celebrate it.

 

Yasser Musa, Advisor, NICH

“In total since 2021, in total forty-five Belizeans over the past six years. There is no way in these short remarks, I can ever quantify what they have done and what they continue to do for Belize.”

 

Culture Minister Francis Fonseca says choosing the awardees from a strong field of deserving nominees is never easy, and he is relieved the decision is not his to make.

 

Francis Fonseca

“The selection process is an open one. We, every year we invite tr- publicly, we put out a notice inviting people to nominate individuals. And then those individuals that nomination process goes through a sub-committee of the National Celebrations Commission made up of different stakeholders who review them and then they arrive at some consensus and make a recommendation to the National Celebrations Commission.”

 

For the recipients, the recognition may come in the form of a plaque and an award. But the bigger prize is knowing that their work matters. Shane Williams for News Five.

 

Attention readers: This online newscast is a direct transcript of our evening television broadcast. When speakers use Kriol, we have carefully rendered their words using a standard spelling system.

 

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