July 12^th, 2023

The University of Trinidad and Tobago’s (UTT) Academy for the Performing Arts (APA) Community is pleased to announce that the 2023 Medal of Excellence has been awarded to Ms. Natasha Sealy-Worrell.

Ms. Sealy-Worrell recently graduated from UTT’s Bachelor of Fine Arts in the Performing Arts programme at APA.

The Medal of Excellence is awarded on an annual basis to an APA student who best exemplifies the ideals of creativity, collaboration, and a commitment to excellence in all areas of endeavour. Furthermore, it is bestowed upon the student who shows the greatest potential for success in their chosen creative field.

The award consists of a medal designed by renowned designer, Gillian Bishop, a Certificate of Achievement, and a Letter of Commendation from The Academy for the Performing Arts. The award will be formally presented to Ms. Sealy-Worrell at the 2023 Medal of Excellence Award Showcase, to be held at the Lord Kitchener Auditorium at the National Academy for the Performing Arts (NAPA) on September 30, 2023.

The nominating period ran from October 2022 to February 2023; each faculty member of the Academy was invited to nominate one student in their final year of study with a Cumulative Grade Point Average at 3.00 or above. Nominees compiled a dossier consisting of a statement of purpose, testimonials and recommendations, and examples of work between February and May 2023. The dossiers were reviewed by an external panel of industry professionals and a shortlist of nominees was selected for interview by the panel. At the end of the process, the panel selected Ms. Sealy-Worrell as the Award recipient for 2023.

Natasha Sealy-Worrell is an educator and performer, as well as an entrepreneur. She runs a private Music school, the Worrell School of Music. She is a member of the National Philharmonic Orchestra of Trinidad and Tobago, where she plays in the violin section.

Photo from The Strad, May 9, 2023, publication 

She has invested in her own training as an arctier (a craftsman who makes and sells bows for string instruments), and as a luthier (who specialises in the building and maintenance of string instruments).

She was recently featured in the music magazine, The Strad, as a recipient of a Women in Lutherie fellow to further pursue her studies. She is currently the only qualified and trained arctier in Trinidad and Tobago.

In addition, she has participated in the partnership between APA and the Consortium of Disabilities Organization, which hosts the Music Festival for students with disabilities. Natasha joined first as a student teaching artist and later mentored other student teaching artists, designing her own activities and curriculum. This year she designed her own independent study in early childhood music curriculum, for which she created a theory of change logic model, outlining impressive research which supported a residency she designed and implemented for a primary school in her community of Barataria.

Natasha Sealy-Worrell embodies the highest ideals of The Academy for the Performing Arts; she is hard working, passionate, innovative, entrepreneurial, and civic-minded. She is a critical thinker and achiever, a life-long learner and pursuer of excellence in all things.

For these reasons she is highly deserving of the award of the APA Medal of Excellence, 2023.