Drama Adjudicator James Catalyn (left) speaks during a recent press conference announcing the launch of the 2008 E. Clement Bethel National Arts Festival as Arts and Crafts Adjudicator Heino Schmid looks on. (Photo/Kristaan Ingraham)
NASSAU, Bahamas – The Department of Culture in the Ministry of Education, Youth, Sports and Culture recently identified the adjudicators for the 2008 E. Clement Bethel National Arts Festival, slated to begin on February 11.
Dance Adjudicator Barbara Requa is formerly the Director of the Edna Manley School of Dance in Kingston Jamaica. She was also a member, performer and teacher of the world renowned National Dance Theatre Company of Jamaica; the premier Dance Company in the English-Speaking Caribbean.
Lee Callender, composer, voice coach, musician and performing instrumentalist is this year’s Music Adjudicator. Mr. Callender is a sought after accompanist in the contemporary and classical fields and has been accompanist on several locally released recordings. He performed in the Caribbean and the United States of America and has travelled to Europe as piano soloist, accompanist and vocal coach for the Bahamian group “B4” and his wife JoAnn Callender. Mr. Callender is featured as a piano soloist on the special Fifth Anniversary release of the Bahamas National Youth Choir, playing 3 Preludes and Variations on a theme by E. Clement Bethel, both original compositions by Cleophas Adderley (the former Director of Culture.)
Drama Adjudicator James Catalyn studied drama at De’ Paul University in Chicago, Illinois. Bahamian culture has been brought to the forefront by the prolific writing of Mr. Catalyn, whose works have been performed on stage, radio and throughout the islands of The Bahamas. He and his troupe represented The Bahamas in New Zealand, Trinidad, Bermuda and at the United Nations in New York City. His insistence that Bahamians speak “Bahamianese” has made many more aware of the beauty and uniqueness of Bahamian dialect. In his writings and performances, he accentuates the beauty of our language while encouraging us to be proud of this aspect of our culture.
Arts and Crafts Adjudicator Heino Schmid is a Bahamian, born to a Bahamian mother and a German father. He earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Photography at the Savannah College of Art Design and his Masters in Fine Arts from the Utrecht Graduate School of Visual Art & Design in Utrecht, The Netherlands. He has participated in numerous group shows in The Bahamas, the United States of America, the United Kingdom and Europe. Among them were Work! in 2007 at the Popopistudios Gallery, Nassau; Funky Nassau: Recovering An Identity in 2006 at the National Art Gallery of The Bahamas and at the Nassauischer Kunstverein in Wiesbaden, Germany; and Dare 1, in 2006, at Universiteitsmuseum in Utrecht, The Netherlands.
