Our duty to the nation is to find workable ways to promote the Arts
Dear Editor,
In the Kaieteur News edition of June 30, 2019, and Stabroek News edition of December 12, 2019, Desmond Alli wrote a letter lamenting that things were getting worse for senior artists. He also complained that $20 million was allocated for the arts and that the culture-vultures swallowed it up. This was followed by the usual finger pointing at the Coalition government.
In Alli’s Stabroek News letter, much of the political ranting is omitted. I suspect that it was edited out. In any case, the fact is that Desmond Alli is poisoning himself with prejudice and delusions. The $20 million he is talking about is a subvention I had lobbied for from 1992 that was in the public arena, and it was a proposal to the Finance Minister Winston Jordan in 2015 that bore fruit in 2016.
I had stopped Desmond Alli on Main Street over a year ago and told him, as I have told other artists, that I had made headway. Desmond shrugged his shoulders and then walked away, as many others did, justifiably, because I was at it for over 24 years. They all knew this and viewed it as just my unrealistic optimism at play.
The only artist that was willing to prepare submissions with me was Burchmore Simon of Kross Kolor Records. Through the lobbying years, (the PPP officials -
both the Finance Minister and the Minister of Culture from 2012 onwards never responded to any correspondences I presented to them), I did not lobby for an allotment for artists, the lobby was a subvention to creative people who are registered and practice Cultural Industries for a living. Most of my suggestions, including a display at Parliament by recipients were ignored.
Desmond is right in declaring that there are retarding cliques in Guyana’s fragmented creative world and I have experiences and have published dozens of correspondences that would allude to that. I would definitely like a more open and engaging platform on the committees and boards that make decisions on the development or retrogression of the Arts, which will occur if these people are not themselves experienced in creative fields.
Whether senior (I am a senior Artist) or younger Artist, our duty to the nation and ourselves is to find workable ways to promote the Arts. This is a revolution that must take place on its own, it is not political parties, but individual enlightenment within institutions that will make a difference.
Forbes Burnham allowed the development of the Burrowes School of Art, the Walter Roth Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology and the National Dance Company; built the National Cultural Centre; and allowed local illustrators to express their creativity in the media as well as develop primary school texts. This is a political legacy we cannot deny or denounce.
I would like to meet your group, and let’s talk about the business of the Arts. Yours faithfully,
Barry Braithwaite