FREEPORT, Grand Bahama -- Under the theme Magic & Dance, Soft Touch Productions is bringing the circus back to town!  With show dates in both Freeport and Nassau families will get a chance to experience the wonder and excitement of the circus.  

Students at Bartlett Hill Primary School were the first to see the show on Monday.  Judging by the smiling faces it was a great afternoon for both students and performers alike.

Click HERE to visit the website for complete schedule information for both islands.   

Photo gallery courtesy Derek Carroll.

FREEPORT, Grand Bahama -- Angela Siska's most recent art class will be holding a one-day showing of their works on Sunday, March 10, in the chapel at the Garden of the Groves from 4-6pm, entitled Characteristics of the Bahamas.  Everyone is welcome.

See poster below or click HERE.

NASSAU, Bahamas -- When The Bahamas celebrates 40 years of independence this year, many of the activities will be the expected crowd-pleasers -- fireworks, music, speeches and Junkanoo. The one that might just outlast all the momentary bursts of national pride, however, could be a collection of portraits, faces from every walk of life, that will ultimately make up a national portrait gallery.

The organizers of The Bahamian Collection are now proud to announce that Governor General Sir Arthur Foulkes and Lady Foulkes have agreed to serve as patrons of the unveiling of the first 60 portraits of the Collection. The unveiling will take place July 11 at The National Art Gallery of The Bahamas (NAGB) as part of the 40th anniversary celebrations.

"We are delighted that the Governor General and Lady Foulkes have accepted our invitation to serve as patrons of the unveiling and of this exhibition," said Amanda Coulson, NAGB Director. "We are very excited about creating a strong foundation that we hope will grow into a National Portrait Gallery and about the potential this show has to travel, showing the world who we are as a people and revealing our true national resource, the human capital."

The Collection is the brainchild of Duke Wells, a well-known photographer and long-time Bahamian resident. "Many countries have national art galleries, but most other national galleries focus on leaders -- presidents, prime ministers, governors, business or religious leaders," said Wells.

NASSAU, Bahamas -- It’s hard to live anywhere for three-and-a-half years and remain unchanged by the experience. Ask Audrey Dean-Wright. She lived in Haiti for that long and was devastated when the catastrophic, deadly earthquake struck the country in 2010.

At first, it was hard for her to process. But eventually, Mrs. Dean-Wright, Associate Professor and Head of Visual Arts and Performing Arts at The College of The Bahamas, resorted to what she knew best to express her anguish. She wrote a song called “Port-Au-Prince Tombé”, or “Port-au-Prince Has Fallen”.

One of Mrs. Dean-Wright’s music students at The College, Lavanda Brown, performed the song recently at the 2013 Bahamas International Symposium on Composers of African and Afro-Caribbean Descent. The symposium brought together the diverse creative genius of some of the best musicians in The Bahamas, the region and the world.

Both in lyrics and rendition, “Port-Au-Prince Tombé” conveyed the intensity of human emotion stirred by the natural disaster.

“I get emotional. Haiti is in my heart. You cannot live in a place like Haiti and remained unchanged. When they had the disaster, I was devastated, just like they were and hence the piece “Port-Au-Prince Tombé,” said Mrs. Dean-Wright, one of the composers featured at the recent symposium, a collaboration between the Nassau Music Society and The College of The Bahamas.