The Cayman Arts Festival has loaned a grand piano to Layman E. Scott Sr. High School on Cayman Brac, just in time for Christmas.
“It all started with a vision – a vision to bring the gift of music to Cayman Brac,” Marius Gaina, executive director for Cayman Arts Festival, told the Compass, “offering students, the chance to practice and the community the joy of piano recitals. A dream that became a reality.”
Gaina said, with the financial support and expertise of entities in addition to the CAF, they were able to secure the funds to acquire a Kawai GX-2 grand piano from London, UK.
It would be no small feat transporting the piano from the UK to Grand Cayman to its final destination in Cayman Brac, “but in the final leg of the piano’s journey, with the assistance from staff at Miracle Brokers International, we brought the piano by barge from Grand Cayman to Cayman Brac, to its new home at Layman E. Scott Sr. High School,” Gaina said.
“We’re pleased to bring music closer to the hearts of Cayman Brac,” Gaina said.
The grand piano can now be enjoyed by the more than 70 students at the school, and is being used for assemblies, music classes, special events, concerts and the upcoming Layman Scott ‘Christmas Jingle Jangle: Have a Little Christmas’ concert on 14 Dec.
Kasandra Salazar, was the school’s music teacher for 13 years, and is now the deputy principal at Layman E. Scott Sr. High School, said, “I played on those when I was in university, but we’ve never anything this nice on this island.”
She said, “It’s the icing on the cake. We have instruments now that we didn’t have when I was in school. The students [now] have a chance to play on something more advanced.”
“Music has always been something that was really important, we just didn’t have access to the resources that we really needed in the beginning. The piano is a nice addition to the school,” Salazar said.
Gaina said he’s grateful to help the Sister Island community and has plans to build a small Cayman Arts Festival team to organise projects as well as create a series of events to “mirror some of what happens on Grand Cayman”.
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