Get Ready, Get Set… Exciting Season Ahead for JCDC’s 2023 Competitions

The Jamaica Cultural Development Commission (JCDC), an agency of the Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, is encouraging Jamaicans of all ages, at home and abroad, to get ready for the staging of its 2023 Competitions. Entries will open soon for varied classes and categories of Speech, Drama, Music, Traditional Folk Forms, Dance, Culinary, Visual and Literary Arts. Entries for other staple programmes such as the Jamaica Festival Song, the Miss Jamaica Festival Queen, and the Jamaica Gospel Star Competitions are also set to open soon.

Marjorie Leyden-Kirton. Acting Executive Director at the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission (JCDC)

Acting Executive Director of the JCDC, Mrs. Marjorie Leyden-Kirton, expressed her excitement for the upcoming Competitions. She said, “JCDC’s 2023 competitions will be nothing short of spectacular. Most of our competitions will return to full face-to-face engagement including the Traditional Folk Forms Competition, that was not staged in 2020 or 2021 and adopted the blended approach in 2022. Another major highlight is that the JCDC will be celebrating its 60th Anniversary, so the competitions will take on an extra flair, highlighting the Commission’s many achievements over the years.”

Marsha Lawrence-Davids, Ardenne High School’s co-curricular coordinator (second left front row), shows off the prestigious Marcus Garvey Award for Excellence in the Performing Arts that was presented to the school on August 17, during the 2022 National Performing Arts Excellence Awards Ceremony at the Jamaica Pegasus. She is flanked by other members of Ardenne High School, which includes Deidre Wadsworth, the 2022 Miss St Thomas Festival Queen (first left, back row).
The Marcus Garvey Award for Excellence in the Performing Arts is the highest and most prestigious award given annually in the Jamaica Festival of the Arts Programme. Ardenne High School has won this award eleven times.

In a similar vein, Ms. Nadine Molloy, Principal at Ardenne High School in Kingston, has shared that her team of dedicated students and staff are gearing up to snatch the JCDC’s prestigious Marcus Garvey Award for Excellence in the Performing Arts for the twelfth year.

Students from the St. Theresa Preparatory School in Kingston perform the maypole dance during the 2022 staging of the Traditional Folk Forms National Finals that was held at the Little Theatre.

“Ardenne High School has been very strong in the performing arts ever since its inception…. we are not very surprised that we have won the [JCDC’s] Marcus Garvey Award for Excellence in the Performing Arts so many times, because we really put in a lot of effort to do what we do well…We are looking forward to 2023 when we are going to enjoy the competition, when we are going to do our very best to have our students self-actualize this way and if we win the Marcus Garvey trophy by doing that then we are even happier.”  she shared.

Person are encouraged to stay tuned to JCDC’s social media pages and website www.jcdc.gov.jm/ for further updates.

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