Posted on Thursday, 4 March 2010 at 11:40 by Gemma Thompson
Category: Festivals, South West | No Comments »
Bournemouth Arts Festival will take place on Sunday April 25th 2010. They are hoping that with the support of the local community and the artistic population of their town that the Bournemouth Arts Festival can become an annual event.
They are looking for any creative groups, individuals or organisations to take part and help them create a varied and exciting programme of events.
It is free to take part in the festival but there will be collection buckets on the doors to raise money for the Children of Haiti.
Bournemouth Arts Festival will be a great opportunity to promote what you do, advertise and preview any productions or events that you have in the near future and meet other creative people, whilst helping them raise money for a brilliant cause.
The chaos and confusion that Haiti is experiencing since the earthquake has thrown up a persistent, ugly problem that impacts on its most vulnerable section – the children. Child slavery and trafficking is endemic in Haiti. Prior to the earthquake, some 250,000 children were living as child slaves. They are sold and traded, forced to labour as domestic help, farm workers or panhandlers on the street. Other children were being trafficked to the Dominican Republic and sold for £50. There is now a heightened fear that as gangs are now reforming and with the increase in orphans this vile trade will grow. UNICEF has discovered that children are already being sent to the West in quickly arranged ‘adoptions’. However, it is unclear if these children’s parents survived the earthquake. In-country UNICEF spokeswoman Veronique Taveau warned that “in this type of emergency, children are unfortunately the most vulnerable, especially those who have been abandoned.” In such emergencies, when usual government business has been put on hold to deal with immense humanitarian considerations, or is otherwise in a state of disarray, it is very easy for criminals to circumvent the laws of the state and any administrative controls. Please help to safeguard this most vulnerable group by donating your time, talent or money in aid of UNICEF’s child mission.
All money raised by Bournemouth Arts Festival will go directly to UNICEF.
If you are a painter, a dance group, a juggler, a film maker, a story teller a theatre company, a choir, a clown or anything artistic and creative please contact them before Friday March 12th with your thoughts and ideas. All ages are welcome to join in.
Email Vicky today at Vicky@bournerep.com.