By: Precious Mills
BASSETERRE, St.Kitts (FRIDAY 23RD FEBRUARY 2018)- The Alliance Française of St.Kitts-Nevis is getting ready to host a French Singing Competition targeting high school students for a final concert slated to take place in April after eliminations with a trip to Paris as part of the grand prize package.
Such details were disclosed at a press conference held yesterday ( Thursday) at the institution’s office located on Orchid Street, Greenlands.
That morning, Gold Sponsor Scotia Bank presented a cheque of EC$10,000.
Registration (costing EC$10) begins on Monday 5th March and is expected to end on Friday 23rd March while collection of applications is set for Monday 26th to Friday 30th March.
Eliminations are expected to run from Monday 16th to Friday 20th April and the final concert is scheduled to take place on Saturday 28th April in Sandy Point in collaboration with the Charles E. Mills Secondary School, the school partner of the competition this year. The venue will be announced at a later date.
President of the Alliance Française Kara Daly said the aim of the French singing competition is to fund an afterschool programme in the Charles E. Mills Secondary School.
“We hope to continue this competition on an annual basis to benefit different schools each year. It is important that we invest in youth as they are the future leaders of tomorrow. Being fluent in a second language provides them with many opportunities and allows them to compete not only locally and regionally but also internationally.”
Director at the Alliance Française Marine Moncaut disclosed that this will be the first edition of the competition and that it is Federation wide, opened to the thirteen (13) secondary schools both private and public.
She highlighted that the contest will feature all French songs noting “so it’s not about English songs. It’s all French songs.”
Moncaut also informed that students will have a list of thirty (30) songs to pick from for the judges “to decide which is the best performance depending on the criteria including pronunciation, the rhythm, the choice of the song too because some songs are a bit complicated than others.”
Scotia Bank’s Senior Manager & Team Lead for Corporate & Commercial Banking Charles Morton attended the event on behalf of Country Manager Gordon Julian who was off island.
According Morton, the bank is “very big on its philanthropic ideals and it’s important that we give back to our communities and when the Alliance Française approached us, we saw that this was an opportune time for us to share in something that’s cultural, something that’s new other than the regular sporting events, churches getting donations etc..”
He added: “ We thought that this initiative, the importance of the teaching of a second language this is a necessity and because of this we decided yes we will definitely get involved and become a gold sponsor and indeed we are extremely pleased…”