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#415337 09/02/11 08:29 AM
Joined: Oct 1999
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Marty Offline OP
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WAMI: Writers, Artists, Musicians and Intellectuals September Conference

Adele Trapp

The month in which we celebrate our independence is not only about the festivities. Some persons in entertainment and education are congregating on a number of issues. Writers, Artists, Musicians and Intellectuals are invited to the WAMI Conference on Friday at the Holy Redeemer Parish Hall. According to Adele Trapp, WAMI's Coordinator, the event is billed as an annual meeting of artistic minds.

Adele Trapp, Coordinator, WAMI

"What we're hoping is that writers, artists, musicians and intellectuals will come out to the parish hall. We've invited individuals to form four panels-there are twelve people and so they will be talking about whatever is dear to their hearts. Everything is being done under the theme "Land of the Free, Real or Surreal." And so people will be coming with their ideas, their information, their questions. We know for a fact that some of the presenters have already decided what they want to speak about. For example; Myrna Manzanarez, she is releasing a new book, "From the Bowels of my Soul"-it includes poetry and it really addresses some of the serious social concerns that we have. So she will be sharing from that book and talking about social issues. Dr. Jaime Awe, who we know knows a lot about Belizean anthropology and history-he will be sharing about St. George's Caye. I know he previewed a little bit on Sunday about the burial Eve Broaster on St. George's Caye and then linked to the Hyde's Family. According to information that's been made available fver the years, there are several people who have links to people who have been buried on St. George's Caye. There is a list of about twenty-seven people and a couple days ago, I received a request from somebody who said I think I have connections to St. George's Caye and so it will be very interesting to see what comes out of this discourse. It is the first and we hope that writers, artists, musicians and intellectuals can continue to be engaged. One of the things that we as a society tend to overlook is that all these people actually are the people who document our past and our present. Sometimes when people want to find out information from our nation's past, they want to go to a history book when sometimes the history is enshrined in song, in poetry, in so many different ways and in ways that can reach people, in ways that are lively, in ways that can touch them so that they themselves can connect to our past and to see how we have evolved from where we were let's say back in 1798 to where we are today."

The conference begins at eight thirty a.m. and wraps up at five p.m. For more information, call 661-8050 or e-mail [email protected].

Channel 5


Marty #415766 09/09/11 07:39 AM
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The 1st Annual Writers, Artists, Musicians and Intellectuals
(WAMI) Conference
________________________________
Friday, September 9, 2011
Holy Redeemer Parish Hall
Belize City, Belize

Twelve writers, artists, musicians and intellectuals (WAMI) converge on Friday, September 9, 2011, at the Holy Redeemer Parish Hall in Belize City, for the 1st Annual Writers, Artists, Musicians and Intellectuals (WAMI) Conference.

Audrey Matura-Shepherd, Ismail Shabazz, Myrna Manzanares, Dr. Corinth Morter-Lewis, Amado Chan, Elroy Perdomo aka Gentle Giant, Pen Cayetano, Ivan Duran, Tony Wright, Clinton Uh Luna, Sharon Pitts-Robateau and Dr. Jaime Awe will make presentations under the theme: "Land of the Free: Real or Surreal?"

The Keynote Speaker for the event is 7 News Director, Jules Vasquez. Moderators will be Sugar City's Dylan Jones and KREM's YaYa Marin-Coleman.

The September 9th conference is billed to begin at 8:30 a.m. and runs until 5:00 p.m.

The general public is invited to attend the free event, intended to provide a forum for WAMI participants to discuss everything from the nation's past to current issues of the day from their unique perspectives.

Entertainers for the conference include Pen Cayetano, Ivory Kelly, Jose Sanchez, Gentle Giant and Justin Castillo.

KREM Radio, Universal Radio and Rainbow FM will broadcast portions of the conference.

Cultural foods such as hudut, tamales and rice and beans will be sale.

For interviews please call 661-8050 or e-mail [email protected]. You can look out for conference updates on WAMI Belize's Twitter and Facebook pages in the weeks ahead.



AGENDA

Your moderators will be Sugar City's Dylan Jones and KREM's YaYa Marin-Coleman

8:30 a.m. - 10:00 a.m.���� OPENING CEREMONY
Welcome: YaYa Marin-Coleman
Pen Cayetano's Belizean Anthem
Moment of Silence
Keynote Address: Jules Vasquez, Director, 7 News
Entertainment:
Ivory Kelly: Farewell to Bangs
Jose Sanchez: Land of the Thieves
Overview of Conference and Introduction of WAMI Panelists: Adele Trapp

PANEL DISCUSSIONS
10:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.:���� First Panel - Writers-:
Audrey Matura-Shepherd, Ismail Shabazz and Myrna Manzanares

11:00 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.:���� Gentle Giant: Gifted Words
Wake Up Belize

11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.:����� Second Panel - Artists/Poets:
Dr. Corinth Morter-Lewis, Amado Chan and Elroy Perdomo aka Gentle Giant

12:30 p.m. - 1:30 p.m.:������� LUNCH

1:30 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.:���������� Third Panel - Musicians:
Pen Cayetano, Ivan Duran and Tony Wright

2:30 p.m. - 2:45 p.m.:����� Justin Castillo of Edward P. Yorke: Music

2:45 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.:���������� BREAK

3:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.:���������� Fourth Panel - Intellectuals:
Clinton Uh Luna, Sharon Pitts-Robateau and Dr. Jaime Awe

4:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.:���������� Wrap Up

Marty #415767 09/09/11 07:40 AM
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Posts: 84,397
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Why WAMI?

And while beauty was on display in the city today - tomorrow brains and creative genius will be brought into harness at the first WAMI conference. In case you missed the memo, WAMI stands for writers, artists musicians and intellectuals and the first gathering of these luminaries is being organized by Amandala.

Yaya Marin Coleman has been on a countrywide tour promoting the event and she made her second stop here where she said that on the Ninth September, it's fitting that we take stock of where Belize is at 30 years:..

Yaya Marin Coleman
"And it's 30 years, 30 years of what? What does the anthem mean? What does the Flag mean? What are the things that we celebrate every day? Have you notice that we don't have that level of patriotism and loyalty because we don't have any space to nurture that. We talk about land of the free, what does freedom mean? What does it really mean? So we have to start and question this thing and say in that the next 30 is that the quality of life that we have? In the past 30 years, how many Belizeans can say in the past 30 years, my family, my family member, their quality of life has improve over 30 years. What are we celebrating? What 30 years of Independence are we? How has this country developed? At what rate, what do we have to look forward to? It is not disrespectful to ask these questions, and what roll do each one of us have to play in that? Because we cannot blame people for so long, and what are we going to do about it? So definitely tomorrow from 8:30 to 5:00pm, Holy Redeemer Parish Hall the first writers, artists, musicians and intellectuals - WAMI conference. Every year we intend to do it, but the people have to come out. Come out and really listen and honor our musician, our writers, our artist, our intellectuals because they are the heartbeat of this country."

The event starts tomorrow at 8:30 at the Holy Redeemer Parish Hall and it is free.

Channel 7


Last edited by Marty; 09/09/11 07:41 AM.
Marty #415772 09/09/11 08:13 AM
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The best and brightest to meet at first ever WAMI Conference, Friday at Holy Redeemer

The 1st Annual Writers, Artists, Musicians and Intellectuals Conference, set to begin at 8:30 a.m. Friday, September 9, at the Holy Redeemer Parish Hall in Belize City, has drawn a star-studded array of local figures in the arts, entertainment, media and social industry, who will for the first time sit down and discuss with each other, and the greater society, their views, opinions, thoughts – and in some cases, works – under the imaginative theme, “Land of the Free: Real or Surreal?”

This week, Amandala spoke to several of the 12 invited participants, grouped in four discussion panels. All expressed excitement and professed to be honored and humbled to be among the select few to present at this pioneer event.

Attorney and former journalist Audrey Matura-Shepherd, who has recently become a passionate advocate for environmental issues as vice-president and local representative of the environmental group Oceana, today told us that it is important for writers to be recognized, because “we are messengers; we use art to send a message.”

Matura-Shepherd added that her presentation will deal mainly with the issue of freedom from a historical and legal perspective. She said she is looking forward to the opportunity to air her own views and listen to those of others, because: “in an era where information is lacking, bullets are flying and personal attacks are made, the pen is [still] mightier than the sword.”

Attorney Sharon Pitts-Robateau, who famously confronted the negotiators of the Special Agreement with Guatemala right outside our Partridge Street compound nearly 3 years ago and has been active in promoting Belizean patriotism and nationalism, particularly with relation to the Battle of St. George’s Caye, took a long-range view of her topic, discussing the viability of independence for the Belizean nation-state 30 years on.

According to the attorney, she hopes the conference’s attendees leave reminded of their own commitment, both as individuals and collectively as citizens of the Jewel, to the development of the nation, and the identity and way of life of the people.

“…our citizens can dream, our youth can dream, we need them to dream for this country to progress, but to fulfill those dreams they must ever work to realize them. We have here a nation that still needs to forge statehood, to hone and temper it…” she told us.

Pitts-Robateau foresees, turning to the artistic aspect of the theme, what she calls a “renaissance” of art, philosophy and local thinking, but reminds Belizeans that Belize needs to be “resolute, whatever the odds. Nation-building is a task that is never finished. We have produced excellent individuals. We now need to build on those standards. Sometimes we take the accomplishments of these individuals for granted; that talent we have must be honed and directed. We are not a bankrupt country; we can have prosperity as a nation if we continually challenge ourselves, both locally and in the worldview.”

She asked, “What is our mandate, as individuals and as compatriots?”

Master painter/artist and founder of the Punta genre of Garifuna music, Delvin “Pen” Cayetano, who has settled down in his home country after trekking back and forth to Europe during an illustrious career, told us that his presentation will focus on tracing the history and development of local art and artists, music and musicians, and where they will go in the future. He also plans to present his own composition of “Land of the Free” – Belize’s National Anthem – and his painting Sons of Belizelda, as well as his take on the development of local politics in Belize.

Other scheduled presenters include Ismail Shabazz, Myrna Manzanares, Dr. Corinth Morter-Lewis, Amado Chan, Elroy “Gentle Giant” Perdomo, Ivan Duran, Tony Wright, Clinton Uh-Luna and Dr. Jaime Awe.

Channel 7 News director Jules Vasquez is the keynote speaker and preliminary formalities will be handled by the Kremandala team of Adele Trapp and YaYa Marin-Coleman.

Entrance is free and portions of the conference will be broadcast live on KREM Radio, as well as via Rainbow FM in Corozal and Universal Radio in Orange Walk. We will have a detailed review of the event in our next issue.

Amandala


Marty #415863 09/10/11 08:50 AM
Joined: Oct 1999
Posts: 84,397
Marty Offline OP
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A Righteous Anthem At WAMI

Today, the first summit for Belize's writers, artists, musicians and intellectuals was held at the Holy Redeemer Parish Hall.

And we'd have to say, it is a very elite few because for the morning session no more than 30 persons were in the vast hall.

But the spirit of iconoclasm was dead on - Pen Cayetano made sure of that:

Jules Vasquez Reporting

The WAMI conference started off on a suitably irreverent note when Pen Cayetano re-imagined the national athem in a bluesy guitar rendering.

Land of the Free indeed, apparently - and presenters were also free to choose

Adele Trapp - Organizer
"Now, in this conference, we didn't tell people what to present. We made suggestions of certain areas that people can explore, but at the end of the day, it's up to each and every panelist to decide what they will say, what they will talk about."

Ismail Shabazz wanted to talk about the coat of arms based on a document from 1829.


Ismail Shabazz - Presenter
"The Honduras Almanac displayed the coat of arms with two black men. I call upon all Belizeans to restore our flag to its origin. Remove all those yellow men, and paint them black."

The event was held under the theme, Land of the Free, Real Or Surreal.

Different panels were held for writers, artists, musicians and intellectuals...

Channel 7



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