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Posted By: Marty pARTy at Belize's First Street Art Festival - 02/25/11 03:39 PM
Street Art Festival

On Saturday, February 26, Belize City will see its first ever Street Art Festival, organized by the Bliss Centre for the Performing Arts.  Under the theme, "The Bliss 2011 - Come pARTy with us", the event will include a variety of performing and visual arts that will showcase the wide range of talents of Belizean artists and focus attention on the Bliss in promoting our culture.

The Festival runs from 2PM to 10PM in the area of Albert Street and Battlefield Park.  (Albert Street will be closed from Belize Bank to Scotia Bank from 11AM).  The streets will be filled with tents where visual artists and crafts people will display their work and demonstrate their creative process.   From 2 until 6, music, drama and dance will fill two stages in the park and in front of Scotia Bank.   From 7 until 10, the main stage in the park will feature some of Belize's  finest performing artists.   Featured performers include the Pan Tempters, the Ugundani Dancers, the Belize Dance Company, Youth Voices, the Brokdong Mystery Band, a Mexican hip hop dance group and Ozzy the clown.

The event is sure to entertain both adults and children, with a special children's zone and performances for children.

Albert Street will truly take on a festival atmosphere on Saturday with a wide range of performances and activities.  A food court will be offering a range of tasty treats, and drinks will be on sale.  The Bliss Street Art Festival is the place to be on Saturday - Come pARTy with us!

Also taking place in March:

Women in Arts

Ambergris Today

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The Friends of Bliss Committee through The Institute of Creative Arts (ICA) announced that the first Bliss Street Art Festival held on Saturday, February 26, 2011 was a resounding success. With the purpose of the Festival to promote the wide variety of creative and cultural products and services available in Belize, more than a dozen artists and craftspeople had displays and products on sale.

One of those artists was San Pedro's local artist Melody Sanchez Wolf who told Ambergris Today that she had a great time in Belize City where she got the display her art work and even complete a painting in three hours. She managed to do this with only her fingers and passersby were amazed at Melody's ability in finger painting. The end result was a great piece of art which she managed to sell during the Festival.

The Bliss Street Art Festival included on-the- spot creations of artwork while two stages with non-stop performances kept the crowd entertained well into the night. The line-up included the Pantempters Steel Orchestra, Brukdong Mystery Band, and the Center Stage Band and many other dance, drama and vocal performances.
And now that Melody has reopened her Belizean Melody Art Gallery on Pescador Drive, she is ready to tackle more art shows and increasing her portfolio. Up next, she is honored to have been invited for a second time at the Women in Art Exhibit Launch on Friday, March 4, 2011, at 7pm, in the Belisle Art Gallery at the Bliss Center for the Performing Arts, Belize City.

Twenty eight of Belize's finest female artists will be featured in mediums including painting, photography, pottery, sculpture, stained glass, graphic design, jewelry, and embroidery. Joining Melody this year is another talented island female artist, Sofie Forman Lisbey; both have already submitted their most recent works. Ambergris Today congratulates both ladies for proudly representing our Isla Bonita at the Women in Art Exhibit that will run until March 31, from 8a.m. to 6p.m daily.

(Pictures courtesy of Karen Vernon)

Click here for the rest of the story and more pictures

Art Fair Was a Success

On Saturday afternoon, downtown Belize City was transformed as the Institute of Creative arts took over three city blocks, draped it in chiffon, and let artists loose with their wares.

It was the First Art Fair, and there were crafts, paintings, music, and performance art. Karen Vernon, who was the lead organizer told us why it was a success:..

Karen Vernon, NICH
"Downtown Albert Street certainly was transformed Jules. We had from Belize Bank all the way up to the Bank of Nova Scotia block off and that happen from like 11am on Saturday morning and we had tents all the way down with people displaying arts, painting, bowls, basket making, jewelry and other type of arts in that section. We had two stages; one, almost in front of Nova Scotia and one in Central Park and we had entertainment happening all day on both these stages. I think one of the attractions of the fair is that we had a living statue - the grey lady, she was very popular with everyone and she stood there almost motionless for the entire time so that was very popular with everyone."

"I would say that it was a huge success and we definitely....actually initially when we plan it, we said that it was definitely going to be a once a year event. From the feedback that we have been receiving people want to see it more often. I don't know if we can pull it off as a theme but we will get back to the drawing board and we will see what we can do."

As Vernon says, they may make it a regular event�

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