Culture Division & NCF examining ways to strengthen funding arrangements

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office with responsibility for Culture, Senator Dr Shantal Munro-Knight, will soon be holding discussions with the National Cultural Foundation’s Board to examine ways to make existing funding arrangements more responsive to the needs of cultural practitioners.

Senator Munro-Knight said Government would seek to build capacity in this area and deliver funding to those who need it in a timely manner, while pointing out that practitioners of the craft must “match what it is that they need to deliver” to the public.

She stated this last night as she addressed the unveiling of three iconic wax figures – Jockey Patrick Husbands, Musician Nicholas Brancker and international recording artist, the late Llewellyn “Jiggs” Kirton – by the Caribbean Wax Museum, during a ceremony held in the Wildey Mall, St Michael.  A wax figure of Minister Louis Farrakhan will be unveiled at a later date.

The Minister acknowledged that cultural practitioners deserved a better deal, as it relates to building the support and capacity for the sector.

Senator Dr Munro-Knight said: “As a society, we view cultural practitioners only in the context of entertainment, without fundamentally understanding that in Gabby’s songs of Emmerton there are echoes of the past that we should never ever forget. If we don’t value that more as than just Gabby singing a nice tune, then there’s going to be a risk in the context of our history, that we will have our children or grandchildren repeating things.”

The Minister also promised to “do some shifting” within the Division to ensure that it was more responsive to the needs of that segment of the society.

Dr Munro-Knight also spoke about the Division of Culture’s plans to  go into communities next year to hear from residents who are the heroes and builders in their district.

She added that the exercise was designed to help rebuild the island’s intangible heritage. “Who built this community? … Who was the school teacher that helped you?  We want to identify those community heroes to do research on them, establish particular markers so that other people can learn from those communities and rebuild that intangible cultural heritage that is critical to us understanding who we are and how we move forward,” Senator Dr. Munro-Knight stated.

The Minister also underscored the importance of telling more stories about the island’s sugar and rum industry and road tennis to give them more prominence on the world stage, as she stressed the need for more public education.

Senator Munro-Knight proffered: “Therefore, I charged the Division that while we do a lot of things that are important and have a lot of good activity, that perhaps the greatest value lies not just in the doing, but, in building knowledge, building consciousness, particularly among our young people.”

In commending the Directors, Art Edwards and Frances Ross, for recognising persons while they are alive, the Minister gave the commitment to work with her colleagues in the Ministry of Tourism and International Transport and the Ministry of Education, Technological and Vocational Training to heighten the awareness about the work of the Caribbean Wax Museum.