Important milestone for Institute of Creative Arts

From page 10A

The youngest of the four schools is the National School of Theatre Arts and Drama (NSTAD) , launched in 2013. Its first set of students graduated with the Diploma in Theatre Arts and Drama. Since then it has been included in the ICA and participated in the first Convocation. The Administrator of NSTAD is Margaret Lawrence, who, when active on the stage, was Guyana’s best actress and a member of the Theatre Guild.

This year she will present graduands in the Diploma programme in drama. NSTAD offers the Certificate as well as the Diploma as part of its regular programming. Additionally, for the second year, there will be graduates in the Diploma in Creative Writing. This Creative Writing programme started in 2016 after an initiative by Director of Culture Rose and an agreement with NSTAD. The Guyana Prize for Literature had been holding workshops in creative writing, but something more substantive was needed, and so a full programme was designed to give more stability to the Guyana Prize efforts.

NSTAD now has responsibility for training in drama and in creative writing as well as several other programmes and activities. These include the annual National Drama Festival, the Workshops in the Teaching of Drama, outreach training across the regions of the country, the Mentorship scheme for both communities, drama groups and secondary schools.

This institution – the Institute of Creative Arts, is therefore extremely critical to the development of the arts in Guyana. It has taken on overall responsibility for training at a national level in the performing, visual and literary arts. It offers professional, academic and technical training in addition to various enhancement programmes. This Convocation is a functional and academic requirement, but it is a symbolic ritual to the deepening of a wide network in the development of the arts.