The Jamaica Cultural Development Commission (JCDC) ‘Perform A Yaad’ performing arts based social media competition closed to online voting on Friday, July 10, on the JCDC’s Facebook and Instagram pages.

The competition, which saw participating groups submitting a video recording of their best at home performance in keeping with the ‘Perform a Yaad’ theme, ran on the JCDC’s Facebook and Instagram pages for two weeks and has already amassed tens of thousands of likes and views on the posts on both social media platforms.

“We are proud to say that in just two short weeks, this competition has pulled tens of thousands of viewers to the inspiring, junior talent on display on our social media pages. We hosted this competition in an effort to keep our performing arts participants active and engaged during the stay at home orders of the COVID-19 pandemic, while rewarding them for their continued creative excellence,” said Director of Marketing and Public Relations at the JCDC, Andrew Clunis.

 “We encourage persons to continue to like and share these posts until the voting deadline at midnight, as each view and like counts as a vote towards the $500 000 in cash and prizes for our winners,” Clunis continued.

The Perform a Yaad social media competition targeted previous participants of the JCDC’s National Festival of the Performing Arts, and covered all five performing arts subject areas of: Dance, Drama, Music, Speech and Traditional Folk Forms.

The finalists in Music are Alphansus Davis High, Golden Finger Band and Blazing Genesis. Meanwhile, Dance boasts finalists: the Church of God Deliverance Centre, Old Harbour High, Belmont Park Primary, Painite Theatrical Academy, Salt Marsh Primary and Jessie Ripoll Primary.

Traditional Folk Forms is represented by Eagles Wing Elementary, while the Drama finalists are: South Borough Primary and Mountainside Speech Club. The Speech finalists are: St. Richards Primary, Mount Moriah Primary and Duhaney Park Primary.

The winners of the various performing arts subject areas will be announced on Tuesday, July 14, 2020 on the JCDC’s Instagram and Facebook pages. The winners will be selected via a combination of the most likes and views on the videos posted on both Facebook and Instagram.