Joey Summerville - Trumpeteer and Jazz musician featured with Vaughn Anthony, but performed on Friday at the Balmoral. Photo: Demetrius Francis

The Nassau Guardian - Jazz enthusiasts and festival followers are not the only ones who benefitted from Jazz Summer — The Festival, the two-weekend jazz experience that began unfolding last weekend, and will conclude with another two-day extravaganza next weekend.

For the second year in a row, Ivory Global Promotions, the company that produces the festival, has teamed up with the Department of Culture to provide six music scholarships to national winners of the 2009 E. Clement Bethel National Arts Festival. The scholarship recipients will attend the premier Washington Jazz Arts Institute in Washington D.C. for five weeks this summer, an opportunity offered to the same number of national winners last year.

"The Department of Culture, through our program the E. Clement Bethel National Arts Festival, is pleased once again to partner with Ivory Global Promotions to provide six music scholarships to attend the Washington Jazz Arts Institute in Washington D.C.," Minister of State for Culture Charles Maynard read from a statement during a press conference announcing the award last week.

"This public/private partnership allows us to continue to provide opportunities for exposure0and training for our talented young Bahamians."

Irate, Bahamian culture music artist with "Make em Listen" Saturday night at the National Arts Gallery, West Hill Street. Photo: Demetrius Francis

This year's scholarship recipients are trumpet player Liam Brown and baritone/tuba player Steven Cefort from the Orchestral School of Music in Grand Bahama; singer Osano Neely from Queen's College; pianist Bernard Farquharson from the Lyford Cay International School and singer Sharade Taylor from the Jack Hayward High School in Grand Bahama.

Open to people of all ages, the E. Clement Bethel National Arts Festival is the product of a festival movement steeped in history. The movement began in 1959 with the Music Festival and has since evolved, embracing participants from nearly every inhabited island and cay in the country. This year festival officials and adjudicators traveled throughout the country for over four months to assess the performance of and educate participants in the festival's dance, drama, music and art and craft categories. Officials report that the over 30,000 participants in the 2009 festival represent the highest level of participation in the festival's history.

Dames expressed his company's pleasure in partnering with the government to provide scholarships for the winners. The scholarship provision is part of an outreach program for the festival.

"Over the years the movement has grown and grown to a point where we decided to expand our outreach program and include in our outreach program some type of benefit to the community, and especially our youth," said Dames.

"One of the main objectives of Jazz Summer, and one of the main purposes of Jazz Summer, is not only to bring great entertainment to the shores of The Bahamas and bring visitors down here . . . the main goal is to reach out and . . . create a cultural exchange experience for Bahamian students to the Washington Jazz Arts Institute."

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Vaughn Anthony, up and coming entertainer, and brother of R&B musician John Legend, Saturday night at the National Arts Gallery, West Hill Street. Photo: Demetrius Francis

Joey Summerville & guest; along with Leslie and Brad Hanna from Cool 96 FM radio station. Photo: Demetrius Francis

Duke Ellington School of the Arts Orchestra. Photo: Demetrius Francis