Lit Fest Children's Program Spotlights Traditions
For the third year, the BVI Lit Fest Childrens Program focused on local creatives to connect young people with writers, artists and musicians who carry Virgin Islands culture. Organisers say the hands-on sessions and storytelling are designed to pass traditions to a new generation and grow family engagement in coming years.
For the third consecutive year the BVI Lit Fests Childrens Program put local creatives and cultural tradition at the centre of its activities, giving young residents hands-on access to the writers, visual artists and musicians who shape community life. Organised on Tortola under the guidance of Rochelle Smith, director of the H.
Lavity Stoutt Community College Virgin Islands Studies Institute, the programme was run by Kamyce Penn-ONeal. "This part of the festival is strictly about our local authors and creatives," Penn-ONeal said, adding that the structure of the day is intentional: sessions progress by age, moving from reading circles for younger children to art and music demonstrations for older elementary students.
Presenters included childrens author Rick S.S. Grant, photographer Shaun Black, multimedia visual artist Via Donovan-Hodge and musician Kayron Todman of the Razor Blades fungi band. Todman, who also serves as a School Improvement Officer with the Ministry of Education, led a workshop on fungi musicknown in the U.S.
Virgin Islands as quelbeexplaining its history, instruments and role as a storytelling form that preserves memory across generations. "I grew up hanging out with the older guys, like my grandfather, going out during Christmas and New Years serenading from house to house," Todman said. "It became ingrained in me.
So now its about passing it on to the younger generation." He told students how different instruments contribute to the fungi sound and demonstrated the connection between rhythm and narrative memory, noting that seeing childrens smiles and involvement was the highlight. In a nearby room Grant concluded a reading with four books for ages four to seven before partnering with Donovan-Hodge on a collaborative painting activity.
Donovan-Hodge steered conversations about how images tell stories, while Grant emphasised the power of reading and encouraged children to imagine and record their own experiences. "Reading is fundamental its the crux of life," he said. Penn-ONeal stressed that many presenters are community stewards and educators who taught the parents in the room and, in some cases, the organisers themselves.
She said the aim is continuity rather than nostalgia: children should meet the people who hold traditions so they understand culture is living and that they are part of it. Looking ahead, organisers hope to expand attendance and deepen connections so more families and young storytellers participate in coming years.
Primary source: St Thomas Source