Christmas Day has come and gone but the revelry is just getting started on St. Croix, where the 72nd Crucian Christmas Festival Village opened on Sunday night in Frederiksted.
This year’s Festival Village honors distinguished musician, service member and educator Kevré “Maestro” Hendricks, the current band director for the St. Croix Educational Complex. The village’s theme is, appropriately, “Maestro’s Musical Haven.”
Hendricks’s accolades and accomplishments in the field of music include 11 Road March titles — 10 with the Fusion Band and one with Black Empire, which won the inaugural USVI Band Clash on Saturday. On stage Sunday night, Hendricks said he initially didn’t understand the gravity of being recognized as this year’s Festival Village honoree.
“A lot of times, you think that people are not paying attention. And I work really, really hard for what I believe in,” he said. “I believe in the Virgin Islands. I believe in Virgin Islands music. I believe in everything that we have to offer to the world.”
With that, Hendricks announced an initiative to raise funds for the island’s music programs. Revelers were encouraged to donate either by contributing to a donation box on the side of the stage or by scanning a QR code found on Crucian Christmas Festival event flyers.
Later, Hendricks told The Source he was “elated,” “grateful and humbled” by the recognition.
“It’s not something that I would expect, because when you work, you’re not working for recognition, you’re working for the benefit of others,” he said. “Everything that I do is in benefit of others — I’m just grateful and humbled to receive the award.”
Hendricks said that when he transitioned into teaching, his goal was to produce at least one music major every year who could, eventually, fill teaching roles. This year, he said, territory schools acquired six.
“And they came from my program in Educational Complex, and they came back to now nurture the village, the same way that they had the opportunity to be nurtured,” he said. “So the whole reason that I want to do it is to give them a good jump-start into their career, because funding is always a major issue with music programs.”
Sunday night was also the Village’s Cultural Night, which this year honored Frandelle Gerard, executive director of Crucian Heritage and Nature Tourism — or CHANT.
