The Jamaica Cultural Development Commission (JCDC) will begin to accept entries for its 2021 competition cycle on Thursday, April 29.

The competitions are: Festival of the Performing Arts subject areas of dance, drama and theatre, speech and music; Jamaica Culinary Arts; Jamaica Creative Writing; Jamaica Visual Arts ; Miss Jamaica Festival Queen; Jamaica Festival Song; and the Jamaica Gospel Song.

“The COVID 19 pandemic has truly done a great disservice to the development of the arts, and has left many of our creatives worried about the sustainability of their crafts and the related financial effects. Therefore, we are elated to announce that we will indeed be hosting our competitions this year, though slightly modified to suit the virtual atmosphere that will keep our participants, adjudicators and audiences safe,” said Andrew Clunis, director of marketing and public relations at the JCDC.

“2021 has been dubbed the year of the soloist by the JCDC as we will only be accepting entries of solo performers across our competitions, in support of the national social distancing protocols caused by the pandemic,” Clunis continued.

Clunis further stated that all entries for the JCDC competitions will be accepted through an online platform, which will also be launched on April 29, during a virtual press conference. This press conference will also give additional information on the entry process and guidelines for each competition.

“We will host a virtual press conference on April 29 to share additional information on all of our 2021 competitions with the public, as well as to give them some general guidance in navigating the new parameters of the competitions due to the COVID-19-related changes,” Clunis said.

“In the meantime, we are telling all our creatives to get ready; put your creative pieces, your culinary delights and your patriotic and moving songs, together, because the JCDC is ready and raring to open the gates of our 2021 competition cycle,” he added.