Ghanaians want to play part in Barbados’ Season of Emancipation

Arts and culture will play a key role in the upcoming extended Season of Emancipation, Minister with responsibility for Culture, Senator Dr Shantal Munro-Knight has said.

She also reported there is wide interest in the West African nation of Ghana in being part of this Season of Emancipation in Barbados.

At the official launch of the season on Thursday, at Sky Mall, Munro-Knight said the Government intended to mark that April 14 – August 31 period and commemorate the 206th Anniversary of the 1816 Slave Rebellion in a significant way, with culture and creatives featuring prominently.

“Too often, the view of culture has been [that it is] something that we do for entertainment, that it is something we do on the side…. We say that with the launch of this Season of Emancipation, no more; that the full weight of culture and the values of culture, of the morals, of the traditions, of the business of culture as well, is and will be critical to the development of Barbados as we go forward,” Munro-Knight said.

“It will be critical to the development of those young people who are yet to come, because we will look for them in the schools through development programmes through the National Cultural Foundation. We will look for them and teach them as we go forward, as we develop our digital archival economy, because the intent is that we will digitise millions of records within the Archives Department, so that we never lose that history that is so important,” she added.

The Government Senator also indicated there was interest, within the African diaspora, in what the season this year has to offer.

She said officials from Ghana were already signalling their intent to be highly involved in the several weeks of activities.

“Next week, we will be having a dialogue with the Ghana Deputy Minister for Tourism, Arts, and Culture about the extent to which, within the context of this year’s Season of Emancipation, that we can see the participation of Ghanaian artists within our Season of Emancipation and, further than that, they are so enthusiastic that they are saying to us that they want to have talks about a charter flight for which they can have a charter for people coming from Ghana to Barbados to participate in our season.

“Even more than that, just today in an email exchange we learned as well that there is so much interest in the Season of Emancipation that we have had calls from the missions that Barbados holds in various countries, to make sure that we move our Season of Emancipation from within these borders, into the wider diaspora, because they are so interested,” Munro-Knight added.

Distinguished calypsonian and songwriter Stedson RPB Wiltshire, also spoke during the launch, said he was elated about the longer season dedicated to emancipation.

“I always thought that one day was not enough, we had to do more, and I believe that this extension will go a long way in helping to deepen the appreciation for the journey to get to this point and the significance of emancipation,” he said.

“For me, it is going to be special simply because of the fact that culture is going to play a pivotal role in it, culture is going to be intrinsic to the success of this period. Culture has a way of bringing about social cohesion, and social cohesion is going to be very important during this period.

“Coming out of COVID, I think it’s going to be very important that we understand that we are coming out of a very rough period, and art and culture is going to play a very pivotal role in helping us to move back to where we were before the pandemic,” he added.

Several events will be hosted during this year’s Season of Emancipation, including a Heritage Fair hosted at Rock Hall Freedom Park on May 15, a launch of a national monument competition for Heroes Square, and many more.
(SB)