Guyana Cultural Association to honor 40 whose work enabled the development of Guyana's cultural heritage.
PROMOTERS/ENABLERS INCLUDED IN LIST OF AWARDEES

The Guyana Folk Festival announces its 2006 annual Guyana Cultural Association Folk Festival Awards. Forty awards, one for every year of Guyana's independence, will be presented at an Award Ceremony on August 30, 2006 at the Brooklyn Borough Hall, New York. The honorees will be featured in both the Guyana Folk print magazine and on the website: http://guyfolkfest.org.

In celebration of Guyana's 40th Anniversary of Independence, the Awards will recognize individuals and entities whose work enabled the development of Guyana's cultural heritage, and include a number of non-artiste enablers of our proud heritage. This year, The Guyana Folk Festival will again present the Exemplary Award and the Guyana Cultural Association Lifetime Achievement Award.

Frank Thomasson receives the special Exemplary Award for his role in the development of theatre in Guyana.

Phillip Moore is accorded the Guyana Cultural Association, Lifetime Achievement Award as Guyana's national artist and as the most outstanding Caribbean artist ever.

The Guyana Cultural Association Award and The Guyana Cultural Association Lifetime Achievement Award are reserved for presentation to Guyanese nationals. The Guyana Cultural Association Exemplary Award can be offered to any individual or entity. All honorees are selected through an open process of call for nominations from the global Guyanese Diaspora and must have demonstrated by their individual or organizational action a sense of purpose in promoting Guyanese creativity. A selection committee evaluated each nomination considering seven criteria: originality, scope, impact / influence, integration, pioneering spirit, challenges and achievements.

Every Awardee's work met a distinction considered an exemplary model that can inspire others. Each contribution has impacted cultural attributes that Guyanese admire, or honor, or preserve. The 2006 emphasis is on individuals or organizations recognized as a "doer" whose actions led to something worthy, a technique, a concert series, or a task that has been sustained, or is a precursor to what we have today. The Awardees, through their work, have demonstrated efforts to develop, document, showcase and celebrate Guyana's cultural heritage. The honorees represent exemplary models in their discipline.

Attendance at the Award Ceremony at the Rotunda of the Brooklyn Borough Hall, New York is by invitation. If you have any question, call 718 209 5207 or visit us on the web at www.guyfolkfest.org or send an email to info@guyfolkfest.org

Tangerine Clarke
Co-Chair Awards Committee

THE 2006 GUYANA CULTURAL ASSOCIATION AWARDEES

See details on Awardees