April 12, 2008 – The collaborative of the Virgin Islands Department of Education's Division of Cultural Education, VI Cultural Heritage Institute, VI Council on the Arts (VICA) and the VI Humanities Council (VIHC) announce the presentation of The Active Voice of Authors, a weekly lecture series featuring local authors and their recent publications. The lectures begin at 6 p.m., on Thursday, April 17, and will be held at the VICA Gallery on Norre Gade.
Glen "Kwabena" Davis, director of cultural education for the Education Department said, "The general public is invited and in particular, we encourage school librarians, teachers and high school and college students to come out to these very special lectures. This inaugural lecture features Jahheal A. Massac as he reintroduces his anthology of poetry entitled "Up From your Mind Poetry In Motion" and "Unchained," a collection of poetry and musings by public school students from East Orange, New Jersey.
"The first 25 librarians and/or teachers in attendance will receive a free copy of one of the publications for their school's library," Davis added. Massac's half hour lecture will discuss the range of issues that inspired his creations and what went into motivating the students to write, along with the guidance and educational strategies used toward the production of "Unchained." Following his presentation, Massac will field questions from the audience, followed by an autograph session.
Davis said that a similar schedule of presentations is being worked on for the St. Croix and St. John communities as well. Upcoming scheduled lectures for St. Thomas include: May 1 – Dr. Gilbert Sprauve presenting "Soundings over Cultural Shoals" and May 8 – Edgar O. Lake, "The Devil's Bridge."
For more information, contact the Division of Cultural Education at 774-0100, ext. 8049 or 8050.