Red Boat Experience team, following inaugural performance in April 2023
Inset Artist and Oh Cayman Islands Director Stuart Wilson
The sounds of Cayman will fill the air - and are expected to echo across the airwaves - the weekend of November 18th and 19th in the first of what is hoped to become an annual Cayman music festival.
The Cayman National Cultural Foundation (CNCF) is organising the event as part of their ‘central mission to serve as a platform for Caymanian creatives’.
“The two concerts at the Harquail Theatre seek to pay homage to Cayman’s rich cultural history, through musical performance,2 it says.
On Saturday 18 November, Stuart Wilson will be joined by several of the island’s leading musicians for his concert ‘Oh Cayman Islands’.
The brainchild of Wilson, the musical concert celebrates the different facets of Cayman’s history and traditions through original songwriting.
According to the CNCF, patrons will be able to enjoy music from a wide variety of genres by Wilson, Chris Sanchez, Beneil Miller, Madam Nirosa, Georgie Duarte, and James Geary.
Alongside the Oh Cayman concert on November 18th, the Red Boat Experience will feature on November 19th for an encore event after a successful launch performance at the Harquail Theatre in April of this year,
Created by multidisciplinary artist and musician Randy Chollette, with support from CNCF’s Grants for the Arts programme, the Red Boat Experience is dedicated to highlighting and celebrating Caymanian drumming traditions whilst providing musicians with a foundation in which to incorporate Cayman’s heritage and traditions into their work.
All the music performed at these ‘gatherings’ is entirely improvisational and features an array of artists.
Seventeen local musicians will join Chollette on stage including Eden Hurlston, Glen Scott, Michael Wilks, Nasaria Suckoo Chollette, Heather Lopez, Freya Jane, Patrick Lopez, Matrix the Rapper, Beneil Miller, Yohann S. Fitzgerald, Melisha McField of Dream Chasers Cayman, Michael Mothen, Max Kazakov, Lorna Reid, Nathan Barnett, Bill McLaughlin, Brian Watler, and Humberto Scanio.
CNCF’s CEO Natalie Urquhart enthused: “We are excited to welcome so many talented musicians and creatives to the Harquail stage for the weekend of Caymanian music that celebrates past and present. These production partnerships are part of CNCF’s expanded commitment to providing both projects grants and performance opportunities for the creative sector, and we look forward to supporting more such events in the future. “
Oh Cayman Islands will take place Saturday, 18 November from 6-8pm, and the Red Boat Experience will show the following day from 4-6pm.
The two concerts are made possible through CNCF’s recently expanded Grants for the Arts programme, and CNCF’s new Production Partnership Grant, funded in 2023 by Chairperson Susan A Olde, OBE.
Tickets for both concerts are available for purchase at TicketsPlus.ky, as well as in person at the CNCF offices at 17 Harquail Drive. In addition, Red Boat Experience tickets are also available at the Body Works Wholistic Wellness Centre in Queen’s Court or via direct message to Red Boat Experience co-organiser Nasaria Suckoo Chollette on Instagram, who can be reached @suckoochollette.
For more information about these events or CNCF programmes and event calendar, visit www.artscayman.org , follow @caymanculture or contact cncf@artscayman.org or 949-5477.
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