As it stands now, the new cultural complex promised to us by the Republic of China (Taiwan) is a major milestone for the artistic community. Prime Minister Dr. Kenny Anthony and the team he spearheaded to Taiwan last November must be commended for negotiating that deal that is expected to see the construction of a state-of-the-art cultural complex where artistes and audiences would no longer have to contend with the claustrophobic innards of what currently passes for a National Cultural Centre. Having said all that, artistes are pleading with the Minister for Finance to please give them the real support they need in terms of scholarships, training programmes and decent budgets for hosting events that fall either under the CDF or other cultural entities related to government. Please do right by them, Dr. Anthony, when the 2014/15 fiscal budget comes to Parliament shortly. Following the staging of four thought-provoking and redeeming half-hour plays at the Film Night last week, Theatre Arts Officer in the Ministry of Education, Kentillia Louis, told me that the common thread that ran through all four plays was that the late Curriculum Specialist for Music, Mrs. Petronilla Deterville’s introduction of a summer programme in 2007 which later became the Students’ Performing Arts Company (SPAC) has since spawned a long list of creative groups of which young people make up the majority. Mrs. Deterville’s passion lives on in the students who continue to reveal the unbridled talent for all to see. For a woman who has dedicated all her life to the progression of the arts, she deserves to have the dignity albeit in death of knowing that her legacy lives on. Finally, as my mentor Kendel Hippolyte told me recently, despite the hardships faced by the artist, he or she must continue to struggle to do the work: to create bodies of work that can inspire. Like many artists, Kendel believes that the artist thrives best with least resources and under the bleakest conditions. That may well be true, but when industry standards call for artists to take their professional standards to even higher levels, there must be intervention by those who can assist for the greater good of the arts. Artists do not work for themselves; they work for audiences and to enrich the creative base of their environment. As such, it is time that we do right by those who do their best to expose our cultural identity and not treat them like starving artists always begging for crumbs. If you asked me, we need to show more heart for our artists. [Excerpt from A Desperate Plea For The Arts, from my If You Asked Me column in this Tuesdays edition of The VOICE]
Posted on: Mon, 14 Apr 2014 20:10:54 +0000
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