The first New Year's Eve celebration in Hamilton was such a success that it will be held again to welcome in 2011.

And the organisers have a string of other events planned before December 31 to promote their idea of 2010 as the year of "Unity in the Community".

Eugene Dean and Gladwyn Simmons, directors of the Emperial Group, told The Royal Gazette that they are working with Public Safety Minister David Burch on a music and arts initiative aimed specifically at those already or at risk of getting involved in violence.

Mr. Dean said: "We are looking to deal with the hard-core elements according to their interests — the elements in the community that right now are most feared and most at risk. We are still at this point dealing with a lot of details."

Mr. Simmons added: "We haven't dotted the i's with the colonel as yet. But you can be assured that it will be built around the arts. Bermuda, like Jamaica, has a number of different sound systems: Genesis, Magnum Force, Twinstar.

"All of the sound systems come out of different areas of Bermuda. These sound systems have a lot of appeal. We will be working with certain mediums in a unique sort of way to garner the interest and respect in a very community orientated way."

The pair believe they have the background and experience to be able to deal with problems like anti-social behaviour and gang shootings in a very positive way.

"Music and the arts is what we have built our relationships around, particularly for young people," said Mr. Simmons.

"We have found that they are very positively responsive to those stimuli, especially when it's coming from people they feel really understand them."

They say the New Year's Eve party on Front Street featuring Collie Buddz — which was attended by some 6,000 people and watched on television by an estimated 30,000 more — was a perfect example of the community coming together.

"The event was just as we anticipated — a beautiful environment for families to come and share together," said Mr. Dean.

"We were pleased to see the diversity in the crowd. We were pleased to see all the different cultural and ethnic groups that were represented in the crowds. We were glad to see that everyone was enjoying themselves together.

"The budget for 2010 has already been approved by the Corporation [of Hamilton]. We see this event not as a separate event but something that's connected to a wide range of events that we have been and plan to continue to be involved in over the year."

During 2010, Emperial will continue with popular events it held last year, including the Moonlight Movies Series, concerts in Victoria Park and family festivals.

The group is also bringing back CultureFest in October at Dockyard — an event which was hugely popular in the 1990s.

Mr. Dean: "It's critical for us all to come together and work together to support one another in order to enjoy any measure of success in any of the areas where we are currently experiencing decline.

"What we have been doing is basically connecting and building relationships. We have speaking to those elements about our mantra and we have constantly received support."