It is the hope of director and founder of East Yard Enterprises Kevon Gareth Foderingham that the introductory Arima Arts Festival tells a story, propels social and behavioural change and reaches someone.
The festival began yesterday and continues until August 30.
East Yard Enterprises, Prince Street, Arima, was founded in 2017 and, for the past six years, has been focused on bringing arts and culture to the east, Foderingham said in a phone interview.
“We started off having a physical space called East Yard and we have transformed into a creative social enterprise that focuses on bringing creative programmes to residences of the eastern part of the country as well as offering creative strategy development services to local and regional NGOs.”
The festival began with the painting of a mural at La Horquetta North Government Primary School, Ladybird Avenue, on Thursday. That continues today. The painting is being done by two artists along with some of the school’s pupils.
On August 28, Foderingham will host a workshop called Making Networking work for you. Foderingham said the workshop aimed to highlight the importance of networking and empower its participants with the skill of “meeting people and closing the deal.”
A film night will take place that evening from 6-9 pm and will feature local and international films with a social change theme, he said.
Sip and Colour will take place on August 29 from 7 pm-9 pm and on August 30, from 7 pm-10 pm, there will be an open mic session and book readings. The events are free and open to the public.
“We are inviting people to come and spend the evening with us. It is all about networking and sharing. They get the opportunity to colour a painting and we are giving them frames.
“They get to leave with something that they can keep for a long time,” Foderingham said of the sip-and-colour event.
Unlike other festivals, Foderingham wants the work of the Arima Arts Festival to be year-round, peaking with a week of activities in August.
“Throughout the year we are going to continue with festival-branded events but with the caveat that it has to be community-based or involving the community.
“So it is us really highlighting what the community is offering in terms of arts and culture.”
[caption id="attachment_1032010" align="alignnone" width="718"] Kevon Gareth Foderingham, founder of East Yard Enterprises of Arima, is hoping the introductory Arima Arts Festival tells a story, propels social and behavioural change and reaches someone. -[/caption]
He said when this is done, it would be done with the intention of giving back, monetarily, to certain community organisations possibly with an award or grant to highlight the work the organisation believes was impactful throughout the year.
“That is why we are specifying we want to do stuff within communities. Because a lot of times you would have entities, organisations and events hosting and putting on events for the community as opposed to with them.
“We want to do stuff with the community and we want to imp
