Encourage children’s creativity

IN order to grow the cultural and creative industry in Barbados, persons need to continue to support and encourage young children’s creativity.

Co-ordinator of the CARIFESTA Wise Workshop, Janelle Mitchell, expressed this to The Barbados Advocate during a workshop that was held in the auditorium at the Barbados Community College (BCC) yesterday morning. She believes that it is important for children to know that it is okay to channel their inner thoughts into an avenue that can continue to boost their creativity.

“The youth is the next generation and if we instil the mantra that they should believe in their creativity from a young age, then it’s something that they will continue to work on and our creative industry can bloom once we start from the root and come up,” she said.

She noted that it is important to instil these mantras and encourage the children from a young age so that they will be able to express themselves as they get older. She revealed that, surprisingly, not many children know how to express themselves, or are comfortable doing so, which is why it is important to teach children the importance of expressing themselves.

To do this, she noted that the National Cultural Foundation usually hosts workshops at The St. Michael School every month, which are open for adults and children to attend.

One grandfather dropped his granddaughter – who is a repeat participant – to yesterday’s workshop, and highlighted that he was incredibly impressed with the way her grades in Composition and Comprehension improved significantly following her participation in the Christmas Wise workshop last year.

The tutors also stated that they are happy to see that the participants are able to transfer the knowledge that was picked up during the workshops and transfer them to their school work and succeed.

For this reason, Mitchell believes that it is important to continue to encourage the youth in the literary arts, and arts in general.