MCMF organiser continues to sponsor CSR programme for Penans

0
Tan (centre) presents a basket as a memento to Yii as Mark (left) and his team, representatives of Parkcity Everly Hotel and members of Helping Hands look on.

Tan (centre) presents a basket as a memento to Yii as Mark (left) and his team, representatives of Parkcity Everly Hotel and members of Helping Hands look on.

MIRI: The annual Miri Country Music Festival (MCMF) is continuing its corporate social responsibility (CSR) affiliation with an outreach programme for the Penans.

MCMF director Mark Justin Silvester said this year marked the fourth time that the organiser had been sponsoring Helping Hands – a non-governmental organisation (NGO) that focuses on the welfare and wellbeing of the Penans.

“The festival is a good platform for entrepreneurs eyeing to have their offerings to be seen, heard and bought by festival-goers from Malaysia and other countries like Brunei, Singapore and the UK,” he told reporters here after leading a group comprising members of the MCMF 2017 organising committee and Helping Hands for a courtesy call on Miri Mayor Adam Yii at Miri City Council (MCC) yesterday.

In his remarks, Yii commended the MCMF organiser for incorporating CSR into the event, adding he was confident that such  an initiative would aid Helping Hands tremendously in its efforts to help the Penans.

“Helping Hands’ key focus for the Penans is education – education is the game-changer that could transform the community for the better,” the mayor said.

Meanwhile, Helping Hands chairwoman Voilette Tan said among the NGO’s initiatives planned for helping the Penans were promotion and marketing of basketry and woven products, installation of gravity-feed piped water and solar power supply at their villages, and sponsorships for students to further their studies up to tertiary level.

“We are very grateful to the MCMF organiser for its generous sponsorships, as well as its help in selling the Penan handicrafts of which all proceeds go back to the community,” she said.

Helping Hands will run one of the 13 sales booths specially set up for MCMF 2017, which will take place at Parkcity Everly Hotel here this weekend (Feb 25-26).

The day section of the festival, beginning from noon and ending at 5pm, will consist of the ‘MCMF Bazaar’, country music workshops and line dancing workshops, while the night segment will kick off at 6pm with nightly concerts.

The opening act on Saturday will be Adi and Maha of Kota Kinabalu, to be followed by Mountain Wind Band (Sarawak), James Thompson and the Strange Pilgrims (Australia), Shane Smith and The Saints (US) and Raggy Project (Penang).

On Sunday, the performing bands will be Casual Ceilidh of Brunei, James Thompson (Australia), Russell Curtis (Kuala Lumpur) and Country Road Band (Sarawak).

The festival is organised by Place Borneo Sdn Bhd, endorsed by MCC and supported by Sarawak Tourism Board, the Tourism, Arts and Culture Ministry, and Malaysia Convention and Exhibition Bureau (MyCEB). Rentak Sejuta is the online media partner.

Tickets to MCMF17 are still available online via www.miricountrymusic.com. Visitors can also purchase them at the festival counters this Saturday and Sunday. Pricing – each is inclusive of one complimentary drink – is RM80 per day and RM150 for two days (per adult); and RM40 per day and RM70 for two days (per child).