NIFCA

NIFCA, or the National Independence Festival of Creative Arts, has at its core the aim to discover the best local talent and provides the opportunity for Barbadians from all walks of life to explore and display their gifts and skills at a national level. The Festival creates a stage, literally and figuratively, for such self-expression by encouraging Bajans to submit entries in the following art forms: music, drama, dance, visual arts, photography, literary and culinary arts. The festival also seeks to help hone the craft of participants and awards are presented for amateur and professional excellence. These awards are named after other Barbadian life-time icons who are also known for distinction in their craft.

Much of what is presented at the Festival spills over into other local events as well creating quite a community and following for those involved. Locals attending the shows look forward to seeing who might return bettering themselves from the year before or what fresh new act or artist might win people's hearts for that year. The Festival culminates with a gala presentation of the finalists in the individual productions in each discipline. Bajans dress to the nines for the event which traditionally is not one to be missed.

NIFCA was conceptualized and in November of 1973 founded, by the late Arden Clarke and his wife Jeanette Layne-Clarke and a group of cultural colleagues who took on the vision as their own.