Minister of State for Culture the Hon. Charles Maynard officially opened the Grand Bahama Artists Association’s Thanksgiving Art Exhibition Thursday evening, calling on more Bahamians to showcase their talents.

The event, which displayed the talents of some thirty plus painters, was held at the Freeport Art Centre.

Minister Maynard told those in attendance that he recently attended a conference in Columbia which attracted cultural ministers from throughout the Caribbean and Latin American, and that one of the things officials sought to do was look at the similarities in cultural expression.

“One of the things that I said in my contributions to the conference was that I believe that cultural expression is one of those things in this life that is really an equalizer. It does not matter where you come from, it doesn’t matter what your surroundings are or your environment is.

“If you have that natural born talent that enables you to create works of art, you rise to the level of a Queen or King, and a Queen or King will come and seek you out to get a piece of work that you would have created.

“And so I want to congratulate the thirty odd artists who participated in this first event and hope that it encourages more people who create in the privacy of their home, and are probably scared to branch out and actually show their art to join the Association and to start to grow,” he said.