With a swell of entries this year that threatens to overflow out of the Central Bank's main gallery, the Art Competition and Exhibition's 25th year is reminiscent of its earliest. When the Central Bank held its first Art Competition and Exhibition in 1984, it created a stir that attracted a slew of works from young and talented hopefuls.

In those introductory years, well-known Bahamian artist Antonius Roberts, "architect" of the event and the bank gallery's first curator, found himself extending the exhibition space into the bank's eastern garden and along its outer walkways.

"We had special display partitions, portable walls built in which we organized [pieces] around either the walkway or the balcony," he said. "We just had a wonderful time displaying the art work in the public arena. The only challenge was every morning I had to go out and install the works and take them down in the evening," he laughed.

On Wednesday, November 5 at 5:30 p.m. the Central Bank will hold the Grand Opening and Awards Presentation for its annual competition. More than two decades after its first competition, the bank continues its call to the nation's most talented young artists to enter its High School, Open and 3D Open categories. The spoils - over $10,000 in prize money for first, second, third place winners and honorable mentions and scholarship funds - still provide a great boost for contestants.

"For an up-and-coming artist, it's still a wonderful opportunity," said Erica James, the director of the National Art Gallery of The Bahamas and a competition winner.

The idea of a Central Bank holding an art competition and exhibition of all things, seemed a new concept for a fairly new nation at the time of the first event. The first competition and exhibition was in fact held in commemoration of the Bank's tenth anniversary.

Sir William Allen, a former Central Bank governor whose tenure the event was established under, explained that the idea was inspired by some of the older Latin American central banks that are renowned for their art collections.

"In any event central banking is itself an art and perhaps that may be the reason so many [older central banks] are comfortable as promoters of art," Allen wrote in a Message during the bank's 20th Annual Art Competition and Exhibition in 2003.

"Twenty years on there can be no doubt that this event has had an enormous impact on art and the artist in The Bahamas," he continued.

Few would disagree. Over the years the competition's winners have gone on to become notable forces in the Bahamian art world, some gaining coveted recognition both at home and abroad. Past winners include the likes of Ricardo Knowles, John Beadle, Nicole Minnis Ferguson, Roshanne Minnis Eyma, Lillian Blades and the late Chan Pratt. What began as an art competition for high school students and young adults became a rite of passage for young artists aspiring to great heights.

"The Central Bank competition was the baptism in a way into being an artist," said Erica James, "If you could win the Central Bank competition it meant that you truly were an artist." James' win in the Open Category during her senior year at Vassar College determined her career path from that day on.

"It was a key time in my career, whether I would apply to go to architecture school or whether I would apply to go to art school," she said. "After I won I decided I would apply for a Master's in Fine Arts. It really did impact my decision to actually get a master's degree in painting, otherwise I don't know if I would have had the confidence to do it."

The introduction the bank's competition gave to up-and-coming artists also left the institution with a priceless collection of their early works. The walls of the bank, as well as those of Bahamian embassies around the world that the bank has lent its pieces to, hold the works of these artists at the advent of their careers.

"The important thing about this event ... is that it has really fostered the development of art in the country," said Ian Fernander, whose portfolio the gallery falls under as Manager of Administration at the bank. "Practically every artist that has done well and made good of himself has had an initiation through the Central Bank Competition, and many of the art teachers and most persons who are involved in art in the country have gone through this program."

While proud of what the competition has meant to the development of the art community in the country, there are things that those behind the event would like to see improved. Although the competition is meant to be national in scope, it has seen a drop-off in entries from the Family Islands, a phenomenon that Fernander and Ed Dorsett, Senior Assistant Manager at the bank and a coordinator of the competition from its inception, both lament. The managers have also worried about the decrease in entries from high school participants in recent years.

"We've had years when the numbers have been dismal from the High School category, particularly in recent times," said Fernander. "We had one or two years where we've had one entry or two entries from high schools."

On the other hand, coordinators have tried to improve aspects of the competition, making entry into the less popular 3D Open Category more attractive by increasing the prize money. They've also reached out to high school art teachers by holding art symposiums. The symposiums, said Fernander and Dorsett, have been ways of recognizing teachers for their role in the development of their students in the field.

Maintaining the focus of the competition and of the gallery itself as one of fine art has been another challenge that the bank has met head-on over the years to its delight. Coordinators have had to stave off requests for using the gallery as an exhibition space for commercial wares.

"We just really wanted to maintain some integrity around the concept of an exhibition space and not a commercial space," said Roberts, who credits the competition as "one of the greatest programs" he has ever been involved with. Although he has taken a break as curator over the years, temporarily handing his post to artist Monik Rolle for a period, this year marks the first year that he will no longer be curator, a post now held by artist Heino Schmid.

Schmid, who will be producing a catalog of the works of all of the competition's past winners for its 25th anniversary in 2009, is excited about the turn out and the quality of work for this year's competition. He has also added something new to the competition. For the first time, artists can enter works larger than the former 30 by 40-inch size constraints.

"There's a lot of work," he said of the entries. "From what I've seen, I'm really excited and I think the standard is quite high this year."

By THEA RUTHERFORD