The heads of the Princess Margaret School (PMS) steel band and music programme have already envisioned that a recent pledge of as much as $75,000 could provide a suite of new steelpans and even opportunities for students to travel.
Prime Minister Gaston Browne made the pledge during a ceremony at the school on Tuesday and said that while $15,000 would come from his own pockets, he would lobby his corporate contacts to raise the remainder.
Manager of the Serenaders (the PMS steel band) Cleo-Antoinette Hampson-Cordice told OBSERVER media, “Currently the Serenaders are using instruments that belong to the Gemonites Steel Orchestra, so financially it would benefit in getting our own instruments.”
Long-term goals would be to get the students to travel to play abroad because many of them have not traveled outside of Antigua & Barbuda. She revealed that while “regular players are between 25 and 30 individuals as many as 70 students come out to perform at larger events”.
Head of the Performing Arts Department, Kimdale Mackellar said that he would like to integrate the resources that the donation provides for the band in the schools music programme “because presently we’re running on a shoe string budget”.
More in today’s Daily Observer.