In meeting this mandate, the department recently launched a new programme called, “SYNC”, St. Kitts You, N, Culture.

A government release has confirmed that residents of Lime Kiln, in West Basseterre, were the first in the Federation to experience St. Kitts You, N, Culture or SYNC.

Residents of Lime Kiln community were invited to SYNC by ringing of a bell by Sylvester Dore who was the Master of Ceremonies (MC) for the evening.

SYNC is a spontaneous cultural event designed to bring communities together using the performing arts.

Director of Culture Creighton Pencheon encouraged Lime Kiln residents to leave their homes and come into the streets to experience SYNC. He told the audience of the days gone by when evenings were spent playing ring games, story- telling, singing and dancing.

Issues impacting the communities in a negative way are also addressed in the presentations.

Pencheon said, “When the community is united… the criminals stay away”.

He emphasized, “If they know that the Lime Kiln community is united and everybody is looking out for one another, the criminals not going to come here. They will go somewhere else where people stay to themselves and are selfish and if people see something happen in their neighbour’s yard, they keep their mouth closed, but if the community is united, you not going to have a problem”.

Director Pencheon described culture as a vehicle to bring the community together and he encouraged Lime Kiln residents to use SYNC as a new beginning and a means of organizing a community event.

Throughout the evening, MC Dore used catchy phrases to invite residents to come to the spectacle. Accompanied by the National Drum Corps, a member of the Okolo Tegremantine Arts Theatre blessed the area in the African tradition, by dancing the Cumina and spewing out water on the ground.

The evening’s performances also included local poets, the singing of songs about the Lime Kiln community and cultural music and sports.

Marlene Philips Research and Documentation Specialist in the Department of Culture said that SYNC was welcomed with open arms by the Lime Kiln community. She said that the similar events were scheduled for other communities around the island.