Since its inception, the Scotiabank Junior Monarch Competition has provided Barbadian youth the opportunity to take the stage, allowing them to hone their skills as young artistes.
Described as a developmental programme, the Scotiabank Junior Monarch Competition also features exciting workshops and mentorship sessions hosted thanks to the partnership between Scotiabank and the National Cultural Foundation (NCF).
These workshops are aimed at boosting confidence and fortifying participants’ presentation and other performance skills. However, their purpose goes beyond the musical realm. They also seek to provide relevant learning experiences centered around the personal development of young artistes.
For example, the beloved financial planning workshop, conducted by Scotiabank seeks to teach the youth participating in Junior Monarch what it means to save, invest, and gives them a better understanding of how money works overall.
This is in an effort to equip the budding calypsonians with the principles of financial literacy necessary to manage prize money, but the information is intended to be useful in their future endeavours, far beyond the competition.
The first of these workshops for the 2022 Junior Monarch Competition took place Tuesday, July 5,and Thursday, July 7.
According to NCF’s Music Officer, Kevin Moore, these workshops would not have been possible without the assistance of Scotiabank, sponsor of the Junior Monarch Competition for over 25 years.
The music offer noted that the bank was integral not only in financing the workshops, but in helping to produce the programme in its entirety, one major example being the outfitting of the bands.
“Through the sponsorship by Scotiabank, the Junior Monarch is able to reach its objective of guiding the creative minds of the youth in the practice of the calypso art form. Despite the success the programme has seen so far, it was not possible for these workshops to remain completely unaffected by COVID in a post-2020 era,” Moore said.
At the recent media launch of the competition, Suzette Armoogam-Shah, Managing Director, Scotiabank Barbados, said: “We are very excited that we can resume this amazing collaboration with NCF. Helping our young people reach their full potential is a key area of investment for Scotiabank long-term special and economic prosperity in our community depends on future generations. When young people in the community succeed, families, businesses and entire societies are positioned to benefit for years to come,” the managing director said.
The workshops have undergone another significant change, moving away from the previous town-hall style presentation and being redesigned with more interactive sessions and demonstrations.
The success of some of these workshops will be measured on Saturday, July 16, when the Scotiabank Junior Monarch Competition Final comes off at the Garfield Sobers Complex.