“We are pleased to continue with our support to the academy and we will always be there to help not only the academy but also music and the entertainment world,” Samir Hassaniyeh said.

According to the Chairman, his company’s Charitable Foundation is pleased with the wok of the academy as they (Ballanta Academy), do develop the talents of Sierra Leonean musicians, thereby helping them identify their carrier part and also contribute to nation building.

Samir Hassanyeh also advised that the donated money being used to promote the academy and in the interest of the targeted beneficiaries.

“We hope more improvement will be made in the country’s musical world in the coming years than the preceding years      

Receiving the cheque, the acting principal of the Ballanta Academy of Music, Mr. Christobert James Laundeh said they are always appreciative of Mercury International Charitable Foundation’s annual support as they have been there for them.

He said the promotion of music needs funding and over the year’s Mercury International has proven that they are committed to the course of promotion of music in the country.

He said: “I hope this partnership between us and Mercury International will forever continue.”

Ballanta Academy of Music became the fifth institution to benefit from the Mercury International Charitable Foundation gesture after similar donation was done to the King George VI Memorial Home for the aged at Grafton in the Western Rural District in Freetown.

Also the Milton Margai School for the Blind, School for the Deaf have all benefited from the extending assistance from the Sports Betting and Lottery Company.

The Ballanta Academy of Music dedicates itself to Sierra Leone and West African music education. It also organizes recitals, concerts and an international music festival that has hosted artists from Ghana and Nigeria.

The school works with several local professional organizations; National Association of Sierra Leone Artists, Performing Artists Union of Sierra Leone, Coalition of Cultural Organizations in Sierra Leone.