Masters of music, dance, theatre, fashion and performance poetry to impart knowledge and skills to local artistes.

The Saint Lucia Tourist Board has booked a range of master classes that will appeal to aspiring and experienced students of theatre, music, dance, fashion and performance poetry.

The master classes will facilitate the transfer of knowledge and skills from industry professionals to aspiring artistes, as an outcome of the hosting of the festival.

Under the music component, international jazz artiste Chris Standring, and 13 year-old piano prodigy Joey Alexander, will host a music master class and a music workshop on May 5 and 6 respectively, at the Saint Lucia School of Music.

Standring, who has developed a series of master classes for a range of levels, will host  a two-hour class for intermediate to advanced instrumentalists. He will also dedicate one-on-one time with one or two recommended advanced students, and as an incentive, promises to allow participation in his dinner set at Windjammer Landing.

The Joey Alexander workshop targets students of varying abilities in the 9-14 age range. The hour-long workshop will focus on concentration skills, and will feature a question/answer and discussion segment.

Under the dance component, two workshops are planned. The first will be under the theme “Life as a professional dancer - Making Dance a Career” from April 27 - 29, and targets dance students from various schools. The facilitators will be Shakeena President-Beckford, Micole Aubertin-Murray and Tania Isaac - an Assistant Teaching Professor at Drexel University, a Pew Fellow (2011) and a MacDowell Fellow (2012).

The second dance workshop will be a full week of intensive training lead by working professional dancers and teachers from Europe with the objective of providing participants with technical dance training in a range of styles. The workshop will end with an informal sharing via performances from both students and instructors. The project is aimed at exposing participants to the rigor of professional dance training while developing their performance and creative skills in a supportive environment. These workshops target secondary school students currently studying Theatre Arts/Dance, Theatre Arts teachers with an interest in dance/movement, and local dancers. The two workshops run from April 25 - 30.

Under the Saint Lucia HOT Couture component, there will be a free creative business training session on May 5 from 10 a.m. -12:30p.m. The session will be facilitated by Romero Bryan, a lecturer at the London College of Fashion and Saint Martin’s School of Arts, and will deal with Concept and Fabric Research, Market Research and PR and Marketing.

A second paid workshop on Design and Patternmaking will be facilitated by Myriam Belasse, designer and owner of Atlanta Sewing and Patternmaking Services, LLC. Belasse’s workshop will run from 9:30 a.m. to 12 noon on May 6. The fashion related workshops will take place at the Blue Coral Conference Room.

Joseph Marcell, who will play the lead in Shakespeare Globe Theatre’s production of Derek Walcott’s Omeros on May 3 is also expected to meet and engage Saint Lucian actors. An educational component is also being finalized for the Arts Village, and will be formally unveiled within the coming week.