ACDA presents participants with prizes for Emancipation

Aug 14, 2017 News

The African Cultural Development Association (ACDA) held its Prize Giving ceremony on Thursday, to award several of this year’s participants in the various categories of the Emancipation celebrations.
The ceremony, hosted at ACDA’s Thomas Lands, Georgetown headquarters, included encore performances from the various acts, including the ACDA Youth dancers, who took the stage at the August 1 celebrations.
Event Coordinator, Aisha Haynes, had high praise for the performers, whom she noted worked hard to make this year’s observance worthwhile.
She explained that the prize-giving ceremony is geared towards encouraging youths to express themselves through various art forms such as song, dance, poetry, drumming and spoken word.
Haynes noted that the emancipation celebrations give the young people a chance to freely showcase their creativity and talents.
The Event Coordinator reminded the gathering that although the August 1 observance is past, emancipation celebrations are still ongoing at various levels in African villages across the country.
However, given their sterling contribution to the events, Haynes explained that ACDA has taken the opportunity to award the acts in various categories.

A section of the gathering at the prize giving ceremony

ACDA youth drummer presents a certificate to one of the prize winners

The categories included, the Young, Black Gifted and the Best Dressed.
In the category of ‘Young, Black and Gifted,’ Michael Douglas and Johoshebeth Ferdinand were among those presented with prizes for their winning renditions.
Prizes were also handed out to participants of the cricket and freedom race competitions. Some of the awardees were also presented with gift certificates.
By the end of the event, over 20 trophies and certificates were handed out to participants. The Association also distributed certificates of recognition and trophies to persons, who have contributed to the cultural work of ACDA over the years. Among those presented with certificates and prizes in this category were Brother White and the ACDA Youth Drummers.
Additionally in its bid to preserve the culture of drumming, ACDA also presented representatives from a number of villages with drums.
According to the Mission Statement, ACDA is an Afro-centric Guyanese community dedicated to the cause of nurturing African culture and creating an economically viable and prosperous community.
The organization embraces the idea of both tradition and change as necessary elements in sustaining a vibrant African culture in Guyana.
ACDA always highlights that African culture is far more than its artistic expressions or its “cultural products”—-literature, music, dance, art, sculpture, theatre, film and sport. This is because ACDA sees culture as central to one’s identity. Culture therefore is about shared patterns of identity, symbolic expressions of that common identity and common aspirations.
ACDA celebrates all key national and international events on the African calendar. The organization celebrates Kwanzaa from December 26 to January 1, Black History Month throughout February, Emancipation Day on 1 August, African Holocaust Day on 12 October and the birthdays of key Africans such as Marcus Garvey.
The organization is a registered non-for-profit organization in Guyana. It runs a remedial school, provides social and cultural support to Africans, has many village groups, many weekly cultural activities and has established a nursery & primary school.

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