On the evening of January 25th, The Jamaica Tourist Board hosted the likes of the Jennifer Grffiths permanent secretary of the Ministry of Tourism;Earl Patrick the executive director of the Tourism Product Development Company; representatives from the Tourism Enhancement Fund and Prime Minister Bruce Golding. The real guests for the evening though were the representatives of Jamaica’s media and hotel industries. The warm and elegantly prepared venue chosen for this gathering was the Devonshire restaurant on the grounds of Devon House. What was the focus for the evening? The answer was Jamaica being endorsed and showcased by one of our greatest icons today, Usain ‘Lightning’ Bolt.

The JTB has developed an ad-campaign around Usain, hoping to capitalise on the international fame our athlete has achieved. The campaign takes the form of three commercials, which will be distributed abroad, showing the athlete training and running through different endemic settings in Jamaica. Before the 3 commercials were played we saw a behind the scenes video capturing the production process, some brief stories from Bolt’s past and bit more focus on the locations they visited for shoots. Truly one of the main focuses of these commercials is what a beautiful country Jamaica is. The commercials are comically named: SPEED, STOP and POSE. The commercials were all stunning though the launch’s favourite was definitely STOP. While training Usain has to stop to see every amazing site that he comes upon to which he can only say “Any other island, I’d probably be a marathon runner”. We all found it more than amusing.

After the presentation the minister of tourism took the stage to express his sentiments towards the campaign and its “poster boy”. He seemed filled with a certain pride as he referred to using the value of “our” athlete and the fact that Usain did this pro-bono. We were informed that they were not intending on limiting the mediums that these commercial would be mounted on. Television, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter everything within domain of visual media and social networking is to be the base for the endeavour. Finally Prime Minister Golding took the stage to convey his sentiments as well, “We cannot impact the world by size”, “and yet we have made such an impact on the world,” He went on to mention Jamaican’s strong presence wherever we go and the reaction the world has to our brand. He made the point firm in our minds when he said “it’s our people”. It is our people why these commercial are selling as well as our beautiful country. It is a great fortune that one of our people is this widely recognised figure Usain Bolt, the fastest man in the world.

The commercials began running yesterday (February 8th) look out for them on social networks and YouTube. Tell friends and family abroad to look out for it as well.

Berhane Selassie Art Gallery Now Open

The Berhane Selassie Art Gallery is now open and ready to receive all art lovers, residents and non-residents. It was launched on the afternoon of Wednesday, February 3, 2010 with a keynote address by the Hon Edmund Bartlett, Minister of Tourism for Jamaica.

After the cutting of the ribbon, invited guests were treated to the first official viewing of the art which included five pieces done by 17 year old Jamaican artist, Laura-Anne Fung. Among them was an acrylic and ink rendition of Bob Marley, whose baptismal name graces the name of the gallery.

I first saw her Bob Marley piece featured in the TEENage Observer and I just had to get her on board, says Stephanie Marley in reference to Laura-Anne. She has so many other spectacular pieces as well. Its not so easy to pick five when all of them are so great.

Other artists who are featured in the Berhane Selassie Art Gallery include Switzerland-born Djamila Liniger-Strauss and Tennyson Jimmy Smith, another Jamaican. Exhibits will be rotated to include other artists in the future.

As if the inside of the gallery did not have enough tasteful art for the soul, a full-sized mural appeared on the exterior of the side wall. Painted by Joavan Puran, it depicted a collage of symbols and words with the common theme of peace and unity. Also featured on the wall are lyrics from the song, Beautiful Mother Nature by Ziggy Marley.

The Berhane Selassie Art Gallery is located at Tuff Gong International (220 Marcus Garvey Drive) and has been included in the Making of Music Tour, a half-hour journey through Tuff Gongs facilities allowing visitors to witness the process of making music from start to finish.

Music expresses that which cannot be put into words and cannot remain silent.” Victor Hugo

The Immaculate Conception High School Symphony Orchestra (ICHS SO) has been invited to perform at the Cayman Arts Festival 2010 on Saturday, February 13 at 7:30 pm at the First Baptist Church in Grand Cayman.

The ICHS SO has over 65 members and is one of the largest school instrumental ensembles in Jamaica. Ably led by Steven Woodham with supporting tutors Olga Moraguez, Helen Bromley, Allison Wallace and Joseph Campbell, they have consistently scored high marks in both the Biennial Classical Music Festival and The Trinity College Examinations. They will be travelling with their violins, cellos, violas, saxophones, cymbals, timpanis and bass. If these names aren’t enough to excite you, maybe the names of some of the pieces they are going to perform will: Wildwood Overture, The Tempest, Outdoor Sketches and Pirates of the Caribbean to name a few. Anyone who has seen the ICHS SO perform will agree that they will do us proud whilst flying the Jamaican flag high.

Butterfield Bank has sponsored the ICHS SO group of 56 to the festival. It is their hope that all Cayman schools will be inspired by the festival and develop the performing arts in their education.

“It brings discipline, team work, pride, self confidence. Music is a wonderful compliment to maths, as theatre is to english. We must provide these positive outlets to keep our children off the streets.” said Sheree Ebanks, director and head of wealth development at Butterfield.

The group departs Jamaica on Wednesday, Feb 10, 2010.