‘Vybzing with the Youth’, in collaboration with the Ministry of Education, Youth, Sports and Culture in St. Kitts and Nevis and the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) hosted a spoken word exercise, at the Sweet Lime restaurant on Saturday, March 28, entitled ‘Vybzing, St. Kitts and Nevis Spoken Word Workshop’.

Held under the theme, ‘Creative Industries and Youth: Unleashing Potential and Growth’, the workshop was designed for all experience levels and provided guidelines to direct the novice, as well as tools to help the more experienced writer/performer.

The workshop gave participants the opportunity to engage with and learn from a renowned Barbados Spoken Word Artist, Adrian Green, who expressed his amazement with the calibre of talent and energy displayed by the participants, all of whom were able to share some of their pieces of work. It was an opportunity to be inspired and improve the craft and enhance their capacity to effectively express themselves through spoken word.

The workshop is part of the ‘Spoken Word Challenge’, which emanates from the CDB Youth Outreach Program. Registration for the ‘Spoken Word Challenge’ ends on April 17.  Successful pieces will move on to the preliminaries which will  be held April 21-22. The final round of performances will take place on April 24, at Sweet Lime restaurant.

Participants of the challenge in the 16-29 age category will vie for the 1st prize of US $1000, 2nd prize US $750 and 3rd prize US $500.   Contestants ages 30-35 will challenge for the prize of US $1000. Interested persons are asked to submit registration forms which can be obtained online at www.cdvybing.org.facebook

According to former CARICOM Youth Ambassador, Pierre Liburd, the CDB Youth Outreach Programme, an initiative of the CDB Board of Governors, recognizes that the youth of St. Kitts and Nevis must be seen as active players in Regional development.

The challenge offers participants the opportunity for creative expression and to be heard not only nationally, but by the CDB Board of Governors during their meeting here on St. Kitts in May. I must also note that the finals performances will be documented and shared with the global community,” stated Liburd.