News

After a challenging and competitive selection process, the Cayman Islands Mangrove Rangers have chosen the winners of the first Cayman Mangrove Festival Student Art Show, hosted 22 July at George Town’s Parcel 110.
More than 30 students from Grand Cayman and Cayman Brac, alongside 10 invited artists, contributed their mangrove-inspired art to the inaugural event, aimed at raising awareness and education about the islands’ wetlands.
Students were tasked with creating art of any style of their choosing on the environmental, cultural or economic value of Cayman’s mangroves. The prompt inspired a diverse range of submissions, including painting, sculpture, knitting and fashion.
The charity event raised hundreds of dollars in support of the Cayman Islands Mangrove Rangers through donations, art sales and workshop partnerships with STOAK’D and Art Nest Creative Studio.
"We are so happy that the first Cayman Mangrove Festival was a success,” said Dinara Perera, lead Mangrove Ranger and event organiser. “The artworks from our student and invited artists were all amazing and we hope that this experience will help to pave the way for a cultural shift in Cayman about the importance of our mangroves."
The winning pieces from the student art show will be used to design a 2022 Cayman Islands Mangrove Rangers calendar, which will raise funds to support the nonprofit organisation’s goal of promoting mangrove education and conservation.
Winners were selected in four categories: Ages 10 and under, Ages 11 to 14, Ages 15-18 and the Mangrove Fashion Show. Invited artist Teresa Grimes provided insight for the art competition judging and Miss Cayman Islands Universe Mariah Tibbetts judged the fashion show.
Each winning student artist will receive a prize, thanks to support from Central Terrace (Lucky Slice Pizza), Cayman Arts Festival, Michelle Bryan and CLM Publishing.