The culture of the Virgin Islands needs to be included to revive the Christmas concert aspect during the Christmas season within the territory. Photo: Internet Source

Attorney-at-Law, Playwright, author, and poet, Janice A. Stoutt, raised concerns that virgin islanders lost interest in Christmas concerts over the years. Photo: Facebook

That’s according to Attorney-at-Law, Playwright, Author, and Poet, Janice A. Stoutt, who raised concerns that Virgin Islanders lost interest in Christmas concerts over the years.

She made this statement while speaking during the Umoja programme on ZBVI 780 AM on December 18, 2025.

Virgin Islanders became disinterested in Christmas concerts

"Each December, every church, every school will be having a Christmas play. But it was not really centred around the culture. It was centred along the religious aspect of it, and after a while, people began to get bored about hearing the same thing. People were tired of hearing the story, and they became disinterested in Christmas concerts."

Stoutt further stated that, "I think to revive that aspect of the Christmas concert, you probably need to put it in a more cultural context, putting on a play, probably about the society, about culture, about its people, and not that we are saying we are moving away from the religious aspect. But I think it probably will be more enjoyable if people present the playwright, present plays about the culture, about the community, maybe about issues happening, but still tie Christmas into it."

People got tired of hearing the traditional stories 

Stoutt said that over the years, she believed people got tired of hearing the old traditional story of the birth of Jesus during Christmas time.

"So people have heard those stories so much. They are really not interested in that story. They want to hear something different. 

And so, that is why we have lost interest in that aspect of playwright, acting, and school concerts, because all of them were religiously centred around the church and people, they know the story, but they don’t want to hear the story every year.’’

She added that now it is time to revive a different type of story to give to people to recapture their interest.