The first regional conference about traditional local bands is being held on Saturday, the12th of February 2011. The theme of the conference will be, ‘The Future of local bands depends on how many bandists are lured to music.’
This conference will be held at the Gozo NGOs Centre at Our Lady of Figs Street, Xewkija, Gozo and registration commences at 9am and ends at 1pm. This conference is being organised as part of a year and a half programme of events organised by the Qala Ite ad Joseph Band on the occasion of its 15th Anniversary.
The subjects to be discussed by, are by, Dr Raymond C. Xerri, who is the actual president of Ite ad Joseph – Qala Band, chairman of the Ite ad Joseph – Qala Music Academy and is the representative of all the Gozitan Band Clubs in the national executive committee of the Malta Bands Organisation, who will presenting a paper on A Case Study ‘The Gold Card and the Band Week Concepts.’ This is followed by Mariella Cassar, education officer of music within the Ministry for Education, will be talking about Reforms in the Music Education Sector and finally, Lawrence V. Farrugia, president of Malta’s National Bands Organisation will be addressing the topic,’What is the National Bands Organisation doing to attract more prospective bandists?’ Following each presentation there will be question and answer session.
Due to the importance of this conference, the following people have been invited to attend. The Minister for Gozo, Giovanna Debono, Dr Chris Said, Parliamentary Secretary for the Consumer, Fair Competition, Local Councils and Public Dialogue, Mario De Marco, Parliamentary Secretary for Tourism, the Environment and Culture, Frederick Azzopardi, Parliamentary Assistant, Dr Anton Refalo, opposition spokesperson for Gozo, Dr Justyne Caruana, opposition spokesperson for the family and Owen Bonnici, opposition spokesperson for higher education, the university, research and culture.
Because of the limited spaces, the organisers are requesting that interested participants forward their details along with the name of the organisation they will be representing as soon as possible to: iteadjoseph@onvol.net [1].