Tina Insanally Foundation phenomenal contribution to local music
THE Tina Insanally Foundation, with a mission to “ …enhance the lives of disadvantaged children and young people across Guyana, through exposure to music, provision of resources and educational opportunities” will be having its annual fundraiser this evening at the King’s Plaza Hotel on Main Street at 18:30 hours with a $5000 per plate dinner. Complimentary pre-dinner cocktails will be served, with a full bar available.
The Tina Insanally Foundation was established by the Insanally family to honour their departed daughter and sibling by promoting the two things she loved to engage herself in best, apart from her family, namely, music and the welfare of the vulnerable, especially children.
Wonderful are the ways of the Lord, because He took Tina away, and in her place sprouted many potential Tinas, because the Insanally family has taken their grief at her loss and transformed it into a dynamic of music that is taking the country by storm.
If one were to Google the Tina Insanally Foundation, there, on YouTube, one would encounter a soulful young voice melodiously rendering Norah Jones’ ‘Don’t Know Why’;  Tina Insanally singing for the last time at her sister, Lisa’s recreational bar at the King’s Plaza Hotel.
In her memory, Tina’s legacy of music has been institutionalised in the Tina Insanally Foundation, a school of music that is impacting in a major way on the musical landscape of Guyana.
At what has now become a calendar event in Guyana, the Christmas concert held in December 2010 at the Theatre Guild, Tina’s eldest sister, Sarah, said:
“The Tina Insanally Foundation has been established in honour of our baby sister, Tina, whom we lost in August of this year. Inspired by Tina’s love of music and commitment to volunteering, the Foundation works to bring music into the lives of children who might otherwise not be exposed to this beautiful medium.
“Our goal is to develop programmes to build an appreciation of music, and to nurture talent wherever we find it.  So far, we have established programmes at the RC Convalescent Home, S. Ann’s Orphanage and St. John’s Bosco Home and we plan on extending our reach nationwide, because all children deserve to have music in their lives.”
This programme has been extended to Berbice, with plans for other branches to be established countrywide.  Amazing stories of the discovery of musically gifted children out of this initiative of the Insanlly children, and there could have been no greater tribute to this youngest daughter and sister of theirs.
Twenty-five children, from two to 16 years old, participated in the Tina Insanally Foundation’s first workshop, ‘An Introduction to Music for Children’, at the Theatre Guild Playhouse on Barrack Street, Kingston.
The half-day event sought to expose participants to the basics of music theory.  Other such activities were held periodically since then, with greater numbers of children participating.
Music classes in Georgetown are conducted by musicians in varied musical disciplines at the Guyenterprise building, Irving and Lance Gibbs Streets in Georgetown.
The Bosco TIF Steel Orchestra will be opening its Band Room, created by the Tina Insanally Foundation, through refunds from her college tuition at the St. John’s Bosco Orphanage at Plaisance tomorrow as a further expansion of the TIF outreach in its mission “to bring music into the lives of children who might otherwise not be exposed to this beautiful medium.”