Georgetown : Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport Dr. Frank Anthony and Permanent Secretary Alfred King, today handed over a cheque of $5M to Executive Member, African Cultural Development Association (ACDA) Eric Phillips.
The cheque is the ministry’s financial support to ACDA for the August 1 hosting of ‘Emancipation Day’ celebrations at the National Park.
Minister Anthony in presenting the cheque praised the organisation’s execution of the cultural event this year. He said that “ACDA has been able to maintain a very vibrant festival in the National Park.”
The Minister said that the Association “has done very great work to bring the festival to the level that it is,” and that their efforts would have accumulated in a festival of, “high quality” and “good cultural presentations.”
During the Emancipation period, 45 other groups would have benefited from the ministry for the hosting of village activities. Minister Anthony was pleased that the number of groups seeking this assistance would have increased over the years. He said that this shows that, the vibrancy of the African culture is taking root in the communities.
“This is important as it only serves to anchor us and build our self esteem…As Guyanese all of our cultures- what we have brought from our transplanted homelands and have now grown up here in Guyana is something for us to be proud of,” he said.
“When we embrace our culture it helps to anchor us in our identity and that is very important because then we know who we are,” he added
Phillips said that ACDA is thankful to the Government through the Ministry’s support of its work and of the event.
“Culture is key to uniting Guyana,” he said and expressed hope that the different cultures, religions and, way of life become invaluable as Guyanese seek to live the motto of ‘One People, One Nation, One Destiny’.
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