Date Posted: June 24, 2009

The Ministry of Social Development- Department of Youth and Culture has entered into a pilot partnership for training in the arts with Klassique Academy of Dance and the Performing Arts, Anguilla. The partnership which is for the provision of training in dance to the public, materialised after several months of development and negotiations including the provision of technical expertise to the academy to develop their five year strategic plan.
 

The Ministry of Social Development - Department is in the business of promoting and developing the arts as a critical component of sustainable social and economic development. The pilot partnership, which will be executed over a period of seven months, will enable the Department to test the effectiveness of such agreements as part of a national strategy for achieving the Department’s strategic objective of increasing the public’s access to the arts by enhancing the knowledge and skills in the arts of at least 500 persons annually beginning in 2010. If the pilot is successful, the Department will seek to develop further partnerships for training in the arts with organisations that meet the Department’s criteria.

Klassique Academy of Dance and Performing Arts, Anguilla was formed in October 2007 under the leadership of Valencia Prentice-Connor, and “aims to build and develop well rounded, confident individuals by providing a safe and nurturing environment where the arts and creativity are able to thrive.” The Academy currently offers instruction in dance to approximately seventy persons. The partnership will support Klassique in implementing its programme of providing regular classes in dance executed in five (5) age categories as well as One (1) dance workshop annually for at least eighty (80) persons , which will expose dance students from across the island to diverse dance styles, techniques and methods of instruction. The support will be provided through a grant of XCD 24,925.00 over a seven month period as well technical support for institutional strengthening in the areas of strategic planning and capacity building for effective leadership and management.

The Ministry of Social Development – Department of Youth and Culture believes that involvement in the arts particularly by young people facilitates the transfer of positive values, develops creative abilities for the achievement of future livelihoods, creates avenues for positive personal and group expression and the constructive engagement of people during leisure.