“In­stead of evad­ing it, we are con­fronting COVID-19 with an at­ti­tude of pos­i­tiv­i­ty by high­light­ing the cre­ative out­puts of our cit­i­zens.”

So said Min­is­ter of Tourism, Cul­ture and the Arts Ran­dall Mitchell as he an­nounced ac­tiv­i­ties in com­mem­o­ra­tion of Na­tion­al Pa­tri­o­tism Month.

“Our na­tion, like most na­tions across the world, is search­ing for heal­ing. Cul­ture and the arts are time-test­ed agents of up­lift­ment and we at the Min­istry of Tourism, Cul­ture and the Arts are de­ter­mined to el­e­vate our coun­try’s morale with a cel­e­bra­to­ry jour­ney through our artis­tic her­itage,” Mitchell stat­ed.

This year, he said Na­tion­al Pa­tri­o­tism Month will take on a new di­men­sion as an on­line cam­paign in­tend­ed to re­mind cit­i­zens and the glob­al di­as­po­ra of our nev­er-end­ing “Trin­bag­on­ian love.”

Themed “Cel­e­brat­ing Di­ver­si­ty,” Na­tion­al Pa­tri­o­tism Month will present a packed, on­line cam­paign with the pri­ma­ry ob­jec­tive of ed­u­cat­ing, en­ter­tain­ing and en­gag­ing au­di­ences. The month-long com­mem­o­ra­tion ends on Sep­tem­ber 24.

“Dur­ing this pe­ri­od in our cal­en­dar, our coun­try is draped in the na­tion­al colours and na­tion-build­ing songs fill our air­waves. We re­mem­ber why our an­ces­tors fought for our free­dom; our right to have a unique voice in this world. There is no bet­ter time to host a month of pa­tri­ot­ic mus­ings,” Mitchell said.

The Cul­ture Di­vi­sion of the min­istry has al­ready kicked off cel­e­bra­to­ry events with the first of four con­certs ti­tled “100% Tri­ni Pan.”

The on­line cam­paign will al­so en­com­pass a mul­ti­tude of re­caps, in­clud­ing the Cul­ture Di­vi­sion’s cul­tur­al camps, high­lights of past men­tors of the Men­tor­ing by the Mas­ters pro­gramme and past Mu­sic Schools in the Com­mu­ni­ty per­for­mances, three pro­grammes all aimed at ca­pac­i­ty-build­ing in the cul­tur­al sec­tor.

The min­istry said it is ever mind­ful of the COVID-19 pan­dem­ic and has cho­sen to high­light cul­tur­al achieve­ments com­ing out of this try­ing time.

It said the per­form­ing en­ti­ties will present an emo­tion­al­ly-charged piece called “Lock­down re­flec­tions,” where mem­bers of the The­atre Arts Com­pa­ny re­veal raw, hon­est per­spec­tives on the pan­dem­ic.

It in­vit­ed cit­i­zens to join the ex­cit­ing jour­ney on the Cul­ture Di­vi­sion’s Face­book and In­sta­gram pages, @Cul­ture Di­vis­tiontt, as well as the min­istry’s FB page.

Week­ly cal­en­dars will al­so be pub­lished on­line and in the press for cit­i­zens to stay abreast of events.