Bishop’s High wins big in Chief Sec’s Art & Film competition

THA Chief Secretary Farley Augustine. - File photo

BISHOP’S HIGH School has claimed top spots in the Chief Secretary’s Secondary School’s Art and Film competition.

The theme for this year’s event was To-Be-Gonian.

Jayden Matson won the art segment of the competition with a painting titled Get Yuh Goat Ready while his schoolmate Rachel-liz Ottley got first place in the film category with her presentation, Wah Ole People Say.

Scarborough Secondary school student Abigail Thompson placed second in the art category with Threads of Memory while Brielle Roberts, of Signal hill Secondary School, came third with Reminiscing.

Matson, Thompson and Roberts’ paintings will be among 12 to be featured in the Chief Secretary’s 2026 calendar.

In the film competition, Osias Gardiner, of Scarborough Secondary school, got second place with To-Be-Gonian Is To Unite while Bishop High School students Matthew Guppy, Christian Aimable and Caden Reid placed third with Tobago Is.

Seven schools participated in this year’s event.

Addressing the prize-giving ceremony at the Shaw Park Cultural Complex, Tobago, on November 13, Chief Secretary Farley Augustine said the organisers deliberately added a film category to this year’s competition.

“That is because we want to broaden the horizons of our young people and to have our young people understand that there are worthwhile careers in the arts,” he said.

“Many of us went to school at a time when we thought that doing art was not something that’s profitable until we became adults and realised that people like Tomley Roberts (artist) will charge you $30,000 for a very small painting and you realise that that’s your entire month’s wage or more and you say, ‘wow,’ I am in the wrong profession.”

Augustine said art and film festival allows young people to see that there are opportunities for those who wish to pursue the visual arts as a career.

Reflecting on the theme, he said it was quite interesting to see the various interpretations.

“We wanted this year to invoke in our young people a sense of pride and patriotism. We wanted our young people to love being Tobagonian because sometimes growing up on the smaller of two islands, you may feel that the odds are stacked against you.

“I know what it is for our young people, those who are athletes, those who participate in national programmes, how difficult it is sometimes for you to even participate and even be recognised. Sometimes, it feels as though you have to work doubly hard to make the cut.

“Through this competition, we wanted you to appreciate that notwithstanding the challenges you face living in a twin-island Republic that being Tobagonian is actually something extremely special, that there is more to us than the stereotypes that we see every day.”

Regarding this year’s competition, Augustine said he noticed shifts in the number of schools that were among the crème de la crème.

He attributed this to the effectiveness of the arts in school curriculum.

“We want to encourage that programme in all of our schools, especially in our schools that offer visual arts at the sixth form level.”

Augustine said the Chief Secretary’s calendar is always in extremely high demand.

“That is because you have produced every year a collectable item for and behalf of the people of Tobago.”

Chief Administrator Denese Toby-Quashie, in her remarks, said she is always impressed by the works of the island’s young creatives in the competition.

“The truly possess a unique ability to turn abstract into tangible, emotion into story, all the while making us pause, marvel and introspect,” she said.

Toby-Quashie said she has great respect for Tobago’s creatives.

“You add tremendous depth and richness to our society and our existence. Creatives you are our storytellers. You are our historians, our critical thinkers and problem solvers, even our wound healers. And, of course, you are our visionaries.”

She said the merging of art and film provided a more enriching showcase for the point of views of the island’s up and coming artists and film makers.

Avian Parks, communications director, Information Division, delivered welcome remarks.