Sunshine Theatre Company, which prides itself as Anguilla’s premier drama company, held its Seventeenth Annual Arts and Culture Awards Banquet at the Anguilla Great House on Saturday, February 6.
The three awardees were: Neo-soul and R&B soloist, Natalie Richardson, Artist of all the Year; Football Coach and community activist, Vernon ‘Nunca’ Hodge, Community Service Award; and Mrs. Alma Franklin – who has been a part of the Sunshine Theatre family since 2000 – Theatre Arts Award.
The keynote address was delivered by Mr. Fabian Adekunte Badejo. Mr. Badejo, who was born in Nigeria, has made neighbouring island, St. Maarten, his home since 1981. He served as Director of the St. Maarten Council on the Arts in the early 1980’s. Between 1989 and 2008, Badejo was the Managing Director/Editor, Publisher, News Director and Editor respectively of The St. Maarten Guardian, St. Maarten Business Week, Today Newspaper and avsnewsonline.com.
In his address ,Mr. Badejo noted that “Creation itself is both art and science – whether we believe in the Big Bang theory of in the Biblical story of a Supreme Being that breathed life into all of us and gave us this earth to inherit. If we were to compare, as we often do, the merits of art and science, I would simply state that art is life, and living is an art”.
He continued: “Our survival, of course, has meaning. But our future development depends on how effectively we can tap into the collective memory bank and realise from the withdrawals we make that art and science are two sides of the same coin we call truth. In fact, I make bold statement that we would not be able to meaningfully develop our economies and our communities without the reconciliation of that truth: that there is no inherent opposition between the arts and science but rather that both are complementary and work together to …advance our culture”.
The prestigious event also featured a number of presentations by Alexis Ryan, Amethist Davis and others, as well as musical renderings by Jaine Rogers.
