Entertainment executive Maxine Stowe and reggae superstar Sizzla Kalonji have joined hands on a musical collaboration with Hoseazana Ezekiel Angus, head of Livety Promotions, to organise a series of events in the White River Valley of Ocho Rios, St Ann.

The trio are seeking to use a portion of the money generated from the venture to elevate the technological capabilities of primary and elementary schools in the public school system across the island. The first event will be held this weekend, Blue Hole River Splash at the Blue Hole Spring Paradise in Ocho Rios, St Ann on March 11.

Stowe is pleased with this timely collaboration with Livety Promotions and Sizzla Kalonji in the White River Valley of Ocho Rios as the area “holds such a unique place In Jamaican music entertainment and event history and is community-driven”.

“I am looking forward to collaborating with LIVETY Promotion and Sizzla Kalonji as the focus and opportunity to impact the Ocho Rios entertainment business has been opened,” she said.

“This is a music enterprise collaboration that highlights and is interlinked with Sizzla’s music culture museum & entertainment complex at Judgement Yard in August Town which will be operational by year’s end.”

For his part, music promoter Hoseazana Angus has bought into the vision of using reggae music to uplift communities.

“The White River Valley holds a unique place in Jamaican music entertainment and event history and is community-driven,” Angus said. “We have to use music to liberate and elevate our people and with this venture, we have a unique opportunity to heal hearts and reach minds and use the hard cash to uplift our schools and communities.”

Angus attended Newstead Primary school which sits on the border of St Mary and St Ann. When he returned to the community — once the nostalgia wore off — Angus was shocked at how the school had remained the same since his childhood.

“I came back 20 years later and the school didn’t change. There were no computers, no computer room, and the school still had many basic needs, I was like ‘you got to be kidding me!’,” he said.

This is why he has pledged to donate 33 computers to the school from the proceeds of his upcoming show, Blue Hole River Splash.

He will be turning his philanthropic push towards the Exchange Junior High and Ocho Rios High school with his upcoming events which will be held periodically throughout the year. Other events will be held on July 15, August 5 and November 18th.

“I want to help as many people as possible but I want to begin at home. I will be going to individual schools in the public system and asking them ‘what is your most urgent or important need that you have right now?’. If that is fencing or a roof, then I want to address that,” Angus said.