Marlon Vickerman,Gleaner Writer

Participants from the University of Technology, Centre for the Arts' Tomorrow's Children Programme pose for a snapshot at the Bob Marley Museum in St. Andrew. The final phase of the programme begins on Saturday. - Contributed

If for some reason you missed out on the summer phase of the Tomorrow's Children Programme, put on by the University of Technology (UTech), there is still time to catch up with the third and final phase of the initiative come September 22.

The brainchild of Pat Ramsay, director of UTech's Centre for the Arts, the Tomorrow's Children Programme brings groups of children together annually, exposing them to traditional dance, drumming, music, drama, photography, culinary and visual arts.

To top it all off, there is the trip to the Bob Marley Museum and Hope Zoo as well.

Trudy-Ann Barrett, cultural coordinator at the Centre for the Arts at UTech and coordinator of the Tomorrow's Children Programme, said the aim of the initiative goes far beyond art, even though that was a vital component.

"The overall aim of the programme was to get children from different strata in the society and re-socialise (them) through the arts," Barrett said. "We aimed to break down the uptown/downtown divide among the children in addition to teaching them non-violent ways of resolving their problems, and the programme has been accomplishing this through uniting them via the arts."

She continued that the programme, which catered to children between ages five and 14 years, had participants from communities in downtown Kingston, Papine, Mona and from Camp Bustamante (a mitigation movement for troubled or crisis-facing teenagers).

For the final phase coming up on September 22, Barrett said participants should expect the usual fun-filled package that the programme is known for and more.

"Well we are working on a few new things for the final phase. For example, in the Culinary Arts Programme, we'll be trying to get participants on the Creative Cooking television programme (on Television Jamaica) to show off what they have learned," she said.

Parents interested in having their children participate in the Tomorrow's Children Programme can collect registration forms at the Centre for the Arts at Utech.