Dominica beat Golden Drums tonight

This evening's Golden Drum Award ceremony is expected to be a red carpet event and grander than that of previous years, the Cultural Division has promised in a press release.

The ceremony will be held at the Arawak House of Culture today, August 1, Emancipation Day from 8.00 p.m.

The Award Ceremony will be followed by a cocktail reception for the awardees.

The event will be under the patronage of His Excellency the President Charles Savarin.

The 2015 Golden Drum Awardees are:

Jerry Coipel of Kings Hill - Development & Promotion of Theatre Arts; Costume Builders Mas Camp - Development & Promotion of Carnival Arts; Creative Dynamix - Development & Promotion of Carnival Arts; Hans Francis of Petite Savanne - Preservation & Promotion of Traditional Music; Gerard Langlais of Bataca, Kalinago Territory- Preservation & Promotion of Indigenous Culture; Tradibelle Cultural Group of Grand Bay - Preservation and Promotion of Traditonal Arts.

The Special Recognition Awardees are:

Orlando Cuffy of Canefield - Excellence in Wood Carving; Patricia Cuffy of Bath Estate - Development of pageantry; Thomas Defoe of Grand Bay - Development and Promotion of Traditional Drumming; Bella Leatham of Grand Bay - Promotion of Traditional Culture and Pageantry; Tasha Peltier of Canefield - Excellence in Music Performance; Melanie Timothy of Bataca, Kalinago Territory - Excellence in Garment Design & Production.

The Golden Drum Award is issued to individuals, groups or institutions that have made outstanding contributions to the development of art and culture spanning at least twenty years. The Golden Drum is Dominica's top cultural award. Between three and five awards are issued annually. The Golden Drum Award was instituted in 1982.

The Special Recognition Award is issued to those who have made special contributions in culture over a period of time generally between ten and twenty years and to those who have achieved notable successes in a particular field of arts and culture. This award serves as recognition of their efforts and motivates them to continue contributing to the development of culture. .