Tell-Across-Jamaica Day 2013

November 20 is Tell-Across-Jamaica Day

Ananse Soundsplash runs from November 19 - 22

Kingston, November 11, 2013

Ntukuma Foundation has announced the 2013 Tell-Acros- Jamaica Day schedule that will feature storytelling across the nation on November 20 under the theme Reclaiming Memories, Repairing Lives. The events are being hosted by community colleges, libraries and schools.

The day will see storytellers of various genres including community and family historians, fable tellers, humourists and Ananse storytellers, to name a few, honouring the contribution of African ancestors through telling stories to young people.

Director of Ntukuma Foundation, which promotes the art of storytelling, Anima Blackwood Meeks, says, “For Tell-Across-Jamaica Day we want everyone, everywhere to tell wherever they are. In St Ann, the Social Development Commission will be bringing out community members who tell stories to schools in the parish; the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission St. Thomas office is having its event in the parish library; and the Institute of Jamaica Junior Centre in Kingston is also hosting an event.”

The day is a highlight of the Ananse Soundsplash, the storytelling conference and festival which will run from November 19 – 22 and focus attention on the unique value of Jamaica’s rich oral tradition and its potential for enhancing national development.

Blackwood Meeks says, “A critical objective is the placement of storytelling as a core subject in the CXC/CAPE Exams and the deliberate use of the artform as strategy for curriculum delivery in schools. It will also address storytelling within the context of its capacity for generating economic activities.”

The conference’s overseas participant is Mara Menzies, a Kenyan/Scottish storyteller who has a special interest in women’s affairs, and whose stories provide an alternative view of Africa that is often ignored by the media.  Her participation is being made possible by the British Council.

Host institutions for the festival are the Portmore, Moneague, Exed and Montego Bay community colleges, and the key events of Ananse Soundsplash are: 

Likkle Story Fest on Tuesday November 19 at the Portmore Community College between 11AM and 2PM;

Ancestral Revelry Duppy Story Night will be held at the Exed Community College later that evening from 6PM;

Tell Across Jamaica Day in St Ann from 8AM – 10AM on Wednesday November 20, which is also Universal Children’s Day;

The storytelling conference gets under way at the Moneague Teachers’ College on Wednesday from noon to close with Ancestral Revelry Duppy Story Night ; it resumes on Thursday to close with a gala dinner and performances.

The festival moves to Holland High School in Trelawny on Friday November 22 with Brawta from 10AM to noon; and closes with Gi Laugh fi Peas Soup in St James at the Montego Bay Community College from 7PM.

Ananse Soundsplash has been endorsed by the Council of Community Colleges of Jamaica, the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission (JCDC), the Jamaica National Heritage Trust (JNHT) and the African Caribbean Institute of Jamaica.

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CONTACT:

Amina Blackwood Meeks

Director, Ntukuma Foundation

Contact: 465-9824