Programme director
The Chairman of the Field Band Foundation, Mr Herman Mashaba
The Founder and Life President of the Field Band Foundation, Mr Bertie Lubner
Members of the board
Our guests from other countries
Our partners in these championships
Members of the panel of judges
Participants
Ladies and gentlemen
We have met here today for the 12th Annual National Championships of the Field Band Foundation. I am particularly excited to see so many young people gathered here from all corners of our culturally diverse country, to be part of this celebration. This event is indeed a celebration of our cultural heritage, reaffirming that as a nation we are united in our diversity.
This event is also about promoting a sense of community involvement, concern about the well being of humanity and most importantly this event is about youth development. On this important occasion, we wish to congratulate the Field Band Foundation and its sponsors on their momentous achievement of being awarded the Chairman’s Premier Award at the recent Business and Arts South Africa (BASA) Awards. This achievement indicates that working together as various stakeholders, we can do more to advance the development of arts, culture and heritage in our country.
We also applaud the foundation for organising these national championships, which offer a platform for the young people of our country to use their creative abilities in support of ongoing efforts to build social cohesion, promote nation building and social inclusiveness. This event falls squarely within our one of our strategic objectives as the Department of Arts and Culture which is to popularise and expand participation in youth bands.
The pursuit of this objective will allow us as a department to promote social inclusion by unleashing the creative capabilities of young people and harnessing their musical talent. It will also strengthen our efforts to empower the youth with musical skills, mainly in the use of brass instruments. In this regard, the Department of Arts and Culture is investigating the possibility of ensuring that these young people, whom we have empowered with skills, participate in the cultural activities that are linked to the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
By fostering expanded participation in youth bands, we are contributing towards proper and fruitful use of leisure time by our young people. We are ensuring that their minds and time are occupied by that which contributes to the well being of our society and makes them better citizens. We are indeed inculcating among them, a culture of self discipline and respect, civic responsibility and patriotism.
Programme director, our ultimate objective is to see the creation of a strong and sustainable movement of youth bands, from various communities and having a presence in all places where youth are gathered. This includes places of worship, sporting clubs, in schools and in various youth organisations. To do this, we will continue to work with all stakeholders including the Filed Band Foundation and the National Youth Development Agency (NYDA).
It is our view that programmes aimed at advancing youth development, such as these championships, need to find expression in the work of the National Youth Development Agency, which is our vehicle for advancing the interests of young people in our country.
This year we have strengthened our partnership with Field Band Foundation, in order to position the 2009 national championships as a platform to test youth bands as a one of the possible 2010 FIFA World Cup cultural activities. We hope to use the outcome of these championships to formulate a comprehensive strategic framework that would guide preparations for the establishment of a national youth band, as part of the Department of Arts and Culture’s 2010 Legacy projects.
We trust that these championships and the establishment of a National Youth Band will instil in our young participants the values that we as South Africans hold dearly, the values of inclusiveness, love, mutual respect, discipline, reconciliation and most of all the values of Ubuntu.
To our participants we say; let these be the values that guide you in your own personal lives. Let these values lay the foundation for you to love and value yourself better as well as harness your true potential for the betterment of our country.
I wish you success in these championships. I now have the honour to declare the 12th Field Band Foundation Annual National Championships officially opened. May the best team win!
Thank you.
Issued by: Department of Arts and Culture
3 October 2009
Source: Department of Arts and Culture (http://www.dac.gov.za/)
