Member Highlights

LIVE UP Spotlight:
Committed CBMP Members Take Action

Dub Rap Contest Educates Youth (St. Vincent) *

"Flow Masters" earned $1000.00 in prize money after performing live in a hot Dub Rap song competition on November 17, 2007 in St. Vincent. The song was chosen for best conveying important messages the National Broadcasting Corporation of St. Vincent & the Grenadines aimed to spread among youth when it organized and promoted a youth rap contest focused on the themes of HIV/AIDS.

Flow Masters' song was chosen as the winner from among twelve entries. The finalists performed live at an outdoor concert that was attended by more than 200 people. Flow Masters will now serve as ambassador at HIV/AIDS events coordinated by the National AIDS Commission.

The contest was advertised through broadcast announcements on radio and television. Listen to the promo jingles and talk show. The Ministry of Education also helped to distribute flyers throughout the schools. The National AIDS Commission was instrumental in reviewing the songs and messaging to eliminate stigma or discrimination and ensure accuracy. The competition was broadcast live on NBC Radio with coverage from the Agency for Public Information and two local newspapers, the News and Searchlight.

CBMP/NBC plan to feature the impact of the contest in a future episode of Live Up:The Show.

First HIV-positive Characters in a Caribbean Dramatic Television Series (Trinidad)

Two of the leading male characters of Gayelle Ltd's original weekly drama Radio Guapo are HIV-positive. Having slept with the same woman, the two characters learned of their status in consecutive seasons. Gayelle's weekly television drama series is set in a rural radio station featuring two incompatible announcers as they manage their morning show under the vigilant eye of the station's owner, the immensely fallible 'Radiator'. The story line was introduced in 2006. Two male characters slept w/ the same woman. When she started showing AIDS-related complications, they both got tested. One was positive and the other negative. But, after the incubation period, the second tested positive too.

CBMP is negotiating the possibility of rights-free distribution of Radio Guapo to all CBMP members in 2008. Gayelle broadcasts to more than 200,000 households in Trinidad, Tobago and Grenada. More info and link to LIVE BROADCAST at - http://www.gayelletv.com/radioguapo.html.

New HIV/AIDS Documentaries Produced in the Caribbean
(Jamaica, Belize, Grenada) *

Three new documentaries addressing HIV/AIDS in Grenada, Belize, Jamaica, Barbados, Trinidad and New York will be available in the December 2007 and Spring 2008 CBMP Programming Packages courtesy of CVM Jamaica, Great Belize Productions and Grenada Cablevision.

Under the theme "Sparking the Consciousness" , CVM Jamaica has actively launched a three month campaign focusing on HIV prevention and behavioral change in Jamaica. Their production team traveled through Jamaica, St. Thomas, Barbados, Trinidad, and New York collecting footage of Caribbean people affected by HIV/AIDS. The rigorous production schedule included filming almost every minute of the Caribbean Coalition of National AIDS Program Coordinators (CCNAPC) annual meeting. The resulting documentaries will be aired as a lead up to an expo and forum on World AIDS Day (December 1, 2007) in Kingston, Jamaica to focus on protection, testing, living with HIV/AIDS, and discrimination.

"They are afraid of being judged, of being discriminated against, of being targeted ... they want to be comfortable in public, but won't until they feel that policies are in place to protect their human rights," says Kendra Griffith regarding the challenges of finding men who have sex with men (MSMs) or commercial sex workers (CSWs) who are willing to go on camera. Her recently filmed news feature "HIV and Vulnerable Populations: MSMs and CSWs" features individuals in vulnerable populations and organizations that work with these groups to highlight issues related to HIV/AIDS. It is produced by CBMP member Great Belize Productions (TV Channel 5)

Grenada's response to the epidemic is featured in The Wave of Tomorrow: It Can Happen to Me, a production of Grenada Cablevision Ltd., Community Channel 6. This 60-minute video documentary focuses on the effects of HIV and AIDS with specific emphasis on Grenada's response to the epidemic. Experts and officials are framed by the interactions of two characters, "Tasha" and "Ron" discussing HIV/AIDS. "Ron" reinforces the main theme with the concluding message: "HIV might be a killer. But, it doesn't have to kill me." Read the related press release.

Concert and On-air Personality Attract Government Partnership (Bermuda)

Inter Island Communications Ltd. (HOTT 107.5) organized a concert called "Shurwayne Winchester - Open De Gate" and incorporated LIVE UP messaging throughout the event. Scott Pearman, COO, said, "We were pleased with the potential to use the concert event as a platform for promoting the LIVE UP campaign. We gave away 200 t-shirts and I have seen the tees in circulation being worn around town in bars and on a truck driver in recent weeks." Bermuda's number one radio station also appointed afternoon personality Ms. Kristy Burgess, a.k.a. Ms. Thang, the official station spokesperson for HIV/AIDS awareness. In addition to public service announcements that will be featured daily on Inter-Island Communications radio properties; a portion of the company's new web site has also been dedicated to HIV/AIDS education of Caribbean youth. These activities attracted the interest of the Bermuda government, which is now working in partnership with HOTT 107.5 FM.

* Produced in part with financial support from the CBMP Project Awards.