Creating and Dreaming Big on Bequia

The last six months since we touched base have been wild, creative and a period of growth and transformation for our organisation. With our eye set on securing $25,000 through our first crowdfunding campaign, today we are under $1000 away from crossing the first finish line and have you, our kind-hearted and big-spirited donors, to lift up in praise and thanks. 

With the COVID variants limiting outreach into our communities, we started to work tactfully with smaller groups and by December, there was excitement in the air as Bequians, Vincentians and visitors alike started to feel more secure and safe to explore again.  

As such, since the start of 2022 things have been in full swing at our Creative Arts Centre. We resumed painting classes for both youth and adults every Tuesday, which continues to be an exciting weekly offering to our public. We launched the Higher Vibrations music program to develop the skills within our community ensuring that the long-term vision of our community radio station can start taking shape along with building a more fortified music studio presence. 

That programme graduated 10 Bequians from all ages and backgrounds who were split into two groups, each attending a total of eight 2-hour sessions. The workshop focused on 3 aspects of music development: song writing, voice training, and recording. Participants were guided to cultivate their music skills, build an understanding of their vocal range and projection abilities, and experience recording in a music studio. The end goal was to create a collaborative song utilising the skills gained and knowledge learned.

Each participant crafted their own lyrics, and sang their respective parts to a beat produced in house. The group titled the song “Changes”, reflecting on the challenging times we continue to live in. While the sessions culminated in early February, our Creative Director continues to offer weekly voluntary classes to the graduates. It is our goal to offer more music workshops as part of our regular programming and help ensure Bequia’s musical talents continue to emerge and flourish. “Changes” is currently being mixed and mastered, and we are all excited for the anticipated release of the song in April!

Due to this workshop being such a success, we are thrilled to announce that we have on boarded a graduate as our inaugural Music Studio Intern for 2022. He is a 21-year-old aspiring songwriter-producer and is a core youth at The Hub, and will be mentored by our Creative Director to hone in and grow his skill set and talents. 

Our Music Studio Intern shares, “I am so thrilled that this is actually happening for real, to have guidance to achieve more musical capability on a professional level. The gift of being given the time to master my craft, in an authentic way without having to prove anything to anyone, feels amazing. This is the first step on my journey to becoming a real musician, songwriter and producer. I look forward to putting Bequia and SVG on the map with multiple genres of music.”

In the coming months as summer approaches we will be preparing to launch our first ever Creative Recovery Summer Camp, bringing much needed activities around play, exploration, healing, learning and knowledge transfer to the youth of Bequia. We are also working to bring on-stream the foundational blocks for our community radio station: researching best equipment and set ups, developing content and programming, and thinking through necessary training needed. 

Thank you to our donors for enabling our organisation to be resourced to do this much needed community work - the engine continues to run!