Basseterre, St. Kitts, March 27, 2018 (SKNIS): Citizens and residents alike are encouraged to tap into their creative skills to create ideas that will help persons to better understand the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Against this backdrop, the Small Grants Programme St. Kitts-Nevis (SGPSKN) in collaboration with the Caribbean Sustainable Environmental Awareness Organization (CSEAO), a local environmental organization, launched a visual and performing arts competition, dubbed “SmART” to raise awareness of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and their importance to our lives and livelihoods.
“The competition is open to all ages, and we expect to get entries that reflect the skills and experiences of different age groups; from using computers and software to create by the younger artists to submissions revolving around stories and drama by the mature purveyors of the arts,” said Ilis Watts, National Coordinator of SGPSKN, adding that the visual and performing arts, in forms of storytelling, song, dance and drawings have been used from the beginning of time to send messages to varied audiences and to bring awareness to important causes.
Ms. Watts noted that SGP and CSEAO have invited artists to use these media to highlight the UN Sustainable Development Goals, which are very much in line with the goals and objectives of the Small Grants Programme.
“It is a way to get people involved in taking an important message to wide audiences,” noted the national coordinator.
Winners for the competition will be announced on World Environment Day (WED) slated for June 05. This year’s WED theme is “Beat Plastic Pollution”. Ms. Watts explained that presenting the winners of the SmART competition on June 05, was strategic, in that it presented an opportunity to focus persons attention to the importance of WED and the chosen theme for 2018.
“The winning entries will be on permanent display at the SGP office on West Independence Square Street and will be used in the development of knowledge products, with all credit given to the artist,” she said. “Groups interested in undertaking projects that support the SDGs and the WED 2018 theme are invited to submit concepts to the Small Grants Programme.”
Interested persons can access further information on the competition and its rules via CSEAO Facebook page, Facebook.com/CSEAO or www.CSEAO.com.
