Barbados is set to redraw the cultural landscape with several major heritage and creative projects over the next two years, Prime Minister Mia Mottley revealed on Thursday.
The ambitious plans include expanding cultural hubs across the island, starting with upgrades to Queen’s Park and new developments at other iconic locations like the Newton Burial Ground and the National Botanical Gardens.
While addressing the official opening of the Marcus Garvey Amphitheatre in Queen’s Park, the prime minister insisted the city cultural hub must be accessible to the average Barbadian at any time of day.
She said: “Queen’s Park will also see further renovations over the course of the next year or so. We determined… that this must be the cultural hub and the place where Bajans formally and informally can get to know one another and participate; therefore, we will see different hubs. We already have the hub committed to theatre with the very modest Queen’s Park Theatre.”
Noting that there is already an art gallery there, Mottley said the government expects to have artists in residence, a studio, and the headquarters of the National Cultural Foundation (NCF) relocated to Queen’s Park.
Declaring that this work will roll out as an evolving undertaking, Mottley said that if Barbados were not in an economic transformation programme with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the government might have been able to accomplish many of these cultural developments this far earlier.
“To that extent, it is important that I share with you that we, as a government, have now settled the financing of three other major projects that will take place and that one, we already, little by little, in the last five years, put aside money to be able to have it done,” she said.
“But those projects to which I refer, the one for which we have been saving over the last five years and which is now formally started, is the monument at the Newton Burial Ground, in what will become the Barbados Heritage District. And I thank the Barbados Tourism Investment Inc (BTII) for very quietly and patiently going about the business of having that monument ready next year for us.”
“Separately, we have also agreed to have the financing of those three projects… one, a theatre in the Barbados Heritage District at the same location of Newton Burial Ground. You heard me refer just now to the very modest theatre here at Queen’s Park; and before we become 60 years old as a nation, this country must have spaces that are equal to the genius and creativity that our people have had, rather than ‘butting ‘bout’ to try and find somewhere to be able to perform in circumstances where it takes away from that which has been nobly created by our artists.”
Mottley also announced that the Daphne Joseph-Hackett Theatre at Queen’s Park is to be enlarged significantly and would cater not only to those who want to see a reflection of who they are as descendants of Africa but also ensure the space facilitates multi-performances by artists.
She added that the second project relates to the Richard Stoute Amphitheatre at the National Botanical Gardens in Waterford.
“I am happy to report that after months of negotiations, the public servants have now put the Cabinet in a position to agree to that amphitheatre which will also be completed next year and that, we believe, will also be an iconic design and an iconic space for all Barbadians to be proud, reflecting those things that are iconic to Barbados with respect to the amphitheatre there,” said the prime minister.
Mottley identified the long-mooted National Art Gallery as the third project to be rolled out.
She said: “We have agreed that while we had asked at the beginning of the IMF programme, the artists to be able to work together with other philanthropists to get this gallery off the ground, that we are now, having seen the hard work and the results of our hard work and sacrifice, that the Government of Barbados is prepared to step up and play the major role now in making that National Art Gallery become finally a reality.”
The Marcus Garvey Amphitheatre will have a QR code to allow access to the iconic Pan-Africanist’s speeches via any smartphone.
Mottley also said she hoped the NCF would make available audio-visual representations of Garvey’s speeches for those who don’t like to read.
She pointed out that the Marcus Garvey Amphitheatre will join other “sacred” spaces such as Golden Square to give vent to the physical, psychological, and spiritual expressions of all Barbadians.
The amphitheatre will accommodate about 314 people, with an additional 13 wheelchair spaces. It also features a stage space measuring 41 by 23 feet.
The prime minister also hinted that the statue of British Admiral Horatio Lord Nelson, which was replaced by a homegrown monument to the resilience of the Barbadian family in Heroes Square, will find a home elsewhere on the island. She did not elaborate.
emmanueljoseph@barbadostoday.bb
