Culture

A young creative is using her skills to educate others on the history of Montserrat. She is Nia Golden. Golden, who resides in the United Kingdom, was the recipient of the Excellence in Arts and Cultural Preservation Award at the recent 2026 Caribbean Global Youth Awards. In an interview with ZJB News, Golden spoke on the work she has been doing over the past few years including providing backing vocals alongside the Black Rhythms Band for the National Calypso and Soca Monarch shows. During that time, she also “got the opportunity to work with a lot of our local artists. I did it for about five years and I was able to make a lot of relationships with them, connections, and just hear a lot of stories.” Her curiosity led her to “pursue a documentary surrounding Montserrat’s calypso and try to sort of put together a storyline of events that would hopefully be a foundation for further research. “And then for my dissertation, (1:07) for my undergraduate degree, I pursued it even further looking at how calypso can be used as part of the Caribbean curriculum from primary school to college.” Ms Golden’s latest projects is a documentary ”looking at the events surrounding the volcanic eruption but more on a personal story level. So talking to the teachers, talking to people who were students at the time, talking to health professionals, police professionals, just because I feel like there isn’t a lot of that around that I wanted to sort of add to that conversation. “So I did get the (1:41) opportunity to present at the MVO conference which was really cool just to give a bit of a taster of what I had and I’ve still been working quite diligently on it. I do want it to be as good as it possibly can and hope that people can enjoy it so it will come out soon.” Sandrae Thomas, who lives in Montserrat, also received the Excellence Global Innovation Award for Leadership, and the Excellence Vanguard in Legislation and Climate Award.

The Montserrat Arts Council (MAC) is renewing their call for registrations from Vendors, Troupes, Groups, Individuals, and Junior Calypsonians and Soca Artistes for the upcoming St. Patrick’s Festival. The MAC is holding several registration open days, which are February 12th, 19th and 26th, from 1:00 to 2:00 PM, at the Little Bay Public Market. A completed registration form is required to partake in any and all festival activities. The deadline for registrations is February 27th, 2026. For more information, persons can contact the Montserrat Arts Council by emailing info@artscouncil.ms or calling +1 664 491 8555, or +1 664 491 8556.