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This year’s Heritage Month will have the theme of ’Bermuda Resilience’, the Minister of Youth, Culture and Sport said yesterday.

Ernest Peets told the Senate that his ministry would hold several initiatives, including a televised Bermuda Day show in place of a parade, and the first conference of Bermudian artists and cultural groups.

Dr Peets said: “Resilience is at the heart of how we’ve managed to withstand the difficulties of this pandemic as a people and how we will navigate the challenges to come.”

Dr Peets added that the Department of Culture would host a “Covid-safe” Bermuda Day show on May 28 at the National Sports Centre, in Devonshire.

He said the show would include the “dance troupes, vibrant costumes and gombeys” associated with the Bermuda Day Parade, but will likely leave out the traditional parade “gap-time“.

The event will be televised and recorded for later viewing, but a limited number of tickets will also be offered for people to watch the show in person.

Dr Peets added that tickets would also be reserved for immunised frontline workers “who put their lives on the line during the roughest part of the pandemic”.

“This workforce will include healthcare professionals, police officers, Royal Bermuda Regiment soldiers, grocery store workers, gas station attendants and others who “consistently carried out the labour necessary for our country to stay operational”.

Dr Peets said: “This is a small gesture we can offer as a thank you for their dedication and their Bermudian resilience.”

The Ministry of Youth, Culture and Sport will also hold a virtual conference at the start of May between Bermudian artists, creators, cultural groups and heritage organisations.

The conference is planned to become a new Heritage Month tradition and will provide a platform to launch the National Cultural Heritage Policy proposed in last year’s Throne Speech.

Dr Peets said that the conference would also “afford Bermuda’s cultural community the chance to interact and brainstorm ideas around heritage preservation, creative development, challenges and opportunities posed by the pandemic and to consider how best to support our artistic community”.

He added: “Particularly as a result of the current set of challenges that face us as a country, there is much work to be done to ensure the viability and sustainability of Bermuda’s creatives and heritage institutions.

“The staff at the Department of Culture is excited to play a role in that process and Heritage Month is an ideal time to focus on these kinds of conversations.”

The Department of Culture will continue to host the Creatives Live! concert series on the steps of City Hall in Hamilton to showcase Bermudian musicians.