The Crown Heights, Brooklyn-based Carlos Lezama Archives and Caribbean Cultural Center (CLACC-C) will host, on Saturday, Aug. 28, its 8th Annual Children’s Festival & Youth Pan Fest, showcasing New York City’s junior steel pan talent.
The free festival, sponsored by Target, will include games, entertainment, food and giveaways; and runs from 1:00 pm. to 8:00 pm.
It will be held at the CLACC-C museum grounds at St. John’s Place, between Kingston and Brooklyn avenues, in Crown Heights.
CLACC-C said all CDC protocols will be in place “to ensure a safe experience.”
The junior steel pan competition includes some of New York City’s youngest steel band members and attracts pan aficionados across the five boroughs, CLACC-C said.
It said performing steel bands will include Tonic X, Harmony, Pantonics, Radoes, Crossfire Youth, Pan Evolution Steel Orchestra (PESO), and defending champions Metro Steel.
“We’re back outside, and it’s exciting,” said Yolanda Lezama-Clark, CLACC-C president and daughter of the late Carlos Lezama, co-founder and former president of the Brooklyn-based West Indian American Day Carnival Association (WIADCA).
“It is exciting to celebrate the children’s commitment to playing and practicing steel pan this year and also to be outside as intended,” she added. “Pan is meant to be experienced in person.”
CLACC-C said it is “a non-profit institution devoted to the development, promotion and preservation of Caribbean culture and history through the collection of archives and art memorabilia.”
Established in 2005, CLACC-C said its mission is to educate communities regarding Caribbean heritage.
Cultural activities have included panel discussions with Caribbean scholars, writers and artistes, art/costume exhibits, and music/dance/theater performances.
CLACC-C said it “promotes and preserves West Indian culture and history through the growth of an archive center dedicated to the legacy of Carlos Lezama, the ‘godfather’ of Brooklyn’s annual Caribbean Carnival on Labor Day.”
