Arts and Culture Group Awards Scholarships to Students

By Neil Armstrong

Photo credit: Carolyn Goulbourne  Left-right: Paula de Ronde, founder and immediate past president of Arts & Culture Jamaica Inc.; Cherita Girvan-Campbell, president; Jesse Ellis, Sierra-Anne Conville and Jalen Fairclough at the Consulate General of Jamaica in Toronto, Canada

In the spirit of giving just before Christmas, Arts and Culture Jamaica Inc. has presented scholarships to three students in the Greater Toronto Area.

The 2018-2019 ACJAM recipients are Sierra-Anne Conville, who is pursuing a Bachelor of Journalism at Carleton University; Jalen Fairclough who is in the Bachelor of Design – Fashion Communicator program at Ryerson University; and Jesse Ellis who is currently enrolled at Centennial College pursuing an advanced Diploma – Music Industry Arts and Performance.

Conville, 19, graduated with honours from Stouffville District Secondary School, York Region District School Board.

She was accepted in the four universities that she applied to and chose Carleton for its well-known journalism program.

“It’s huge, it means that people are acknowledging the Arts and the things that us young people are working towards so it’s really special,” says Conville.

She says the scholarship will help with her tuition and to pay for things she needs in the journalism program.

“I’ve always had more of a creative side. I sing and dance and I thought journalism would be sort of an expansion on the kind of creativity that I like. It’s kind of trying something different for me – I just thought it would be interesting.”

An avid volunteer, Conville gives back to the community in music and dance – areas in which she excels.

Photo caption: Carolyn Goulbourne  Paula de Ronde and Sierra-Anne Conville, 2018-2019 ACJAM scholarship awardee

Fairclough, 18, graduated from St. Mary Catholic Secondary School, Durham Catholic District School Board.

“I’m happy with the fact that it’s coming from my culture so it means a lot to me. It’s very encouraging,” he says, noting that it helps him a lot to know that there are people who support him and want him to succeed in his field.

He said this is encouraging him to do better in his studies and in his designs.

Fairclough has had a strong love of fashion since he was 7 years old and is happy to be at Ryerson where he can develop the skills he has already shown in his own designs.

The budding fashion designer is a soccer player for Pickering Soccer Club and volunteer assistant to the coach who applauds his understanding of the importance of teamwork. 

Photo credit: Carolyn Goulbourne  Paula de Ronde and Jalen Fairclough, 2018-2019 ACJAM scholarship awardee

Ellis, 21, graduated from Wexford Collegiate School for the Arts with a Diploma in Musical Theatre.

“I guess it’s an honour, I guess its come full circle cause I have been a part of this community for a little bit. It’s just an honour, honestly.”

An accomplished actor and dancer, he has been a competitive gymnast for 13 years and does songwriting, music production, and a host of community events.

He said the scholarship will go towards his tuition and towards his release of music which is a priority for him. Right now he’s recording music that he is writing.

Ellis thinks his creativity is in his blood and comes naturally because of his family – Alton Ellis and Hortense Ellis, both well-known Jamaican singers; his grandfather, Leslie Ellis and “ passed by my dad [Owen “Blakka” Ellis] – that’s why he makes jokes, It just comes naturally to me – I guess it’s instinct.”

His older brother, Daniel Ellis, was the recipient of the 2007-2008 ACJAM scholarship. Daniel is an actor and playwright who will be featured in Nova Scotian author, poet and playwright Shauntay Grant’s production, “The Bridge,” in Halifax, Nova Scotia in January 2019.

Photo credit: Carolyn Goulbourne   Jesse Ellis, 2018-2019 ACJAM scholarship awardee and Paula de Ronde

Cherita Girvan-Campbell, president of Arts and Culture Jamaica Inc., says the organization was very impressed with the standard of the applications of these three students.

She said the decision was made to give to students in the Arts in the hope that second-generation Jamaicans here in Canada will keep the culture alive.

The president said Arts and Culture Jamaica Inc. did not award a scholarship in 2017 because the applications were “hastily put together and poorly sculpted.”

“The applications that we get very often they are put together hastily. It is very important to do it properly.”

She said students need to pay more attention to the processing of applications and underscored that a high standard and attitude will help them in the future.

Since 2003, 27 students have been awarded scholarships valuing up to $1000 CAD for an academic year in areas of study such as the fine arts, performing arts (dance, music and drama), design, literature, and other cultural forms.

Students must be accepted into a full-time program in a Canadian college or university. The fund is available to undergraduate and graduate students. The deadline is July 1 each year.

Ellis, accompanied by his schoolmate, Owen, a guitarist, performed Daniel Caesar’s “Best Part” and Bob Marley’s “Redemption Song.” Actor and poet, Jermaine Cowie, recited some of Miss Lou’s poems. DJ PsychoSoul provided the music and there was a marketplace where gifts, mainly homemade, for the holidays were being sold.

The scholarships were presented by Paula de Ronde, founder and immediate past president of Arts and Jamaica Inc. at the Consulate General of Jamaica in Toronto on December 13.

Arts and Culture Jamaica was incorporated in 1995, but began as an ad hoc committee several years before that.

Its objectives include showcasing Jamaican arts and culture to Canadians and Jamaicans living in Canada and to support artists in dance, music, literature, theatre and other cultural activities.

[This story was published in the North American Weekly Gleaner, Jan. 3-9, 2019.]