Latest update April 19th, 2024 12:59 AM
Jul 06, 2014 Letters
Dear Editor,
Lisa Punch has worked her talents with smart support into the corridors that could lead to success, and a life in the upbeat enchanted forests with its myriad creatures that beckon every artiste, and I’m confident she can survive the paths with flying colours. The electronic media has done her good, at this point, though where she’s going now, is not all she was about. She had the courage to affix her name to a letter on Mon. January13, 2014 titled ‘Manner in which many initiatives executed by Ministry of Culture undermines its efforts and frustrates creative community.’ The letter was penned by 30 young creative individuals and it surrounded indiscretions and failures of management by the so-called Ministry of Culture in the handling of the 2013 National Drama Festival. The Ministry of Culture should have long ceased to continue under its present Minister, Frank Anthony.
Matters of cultural development has crumbled because of the absence of the web effect that is crucial to its movement, though the letters have frequented the print media with related topics as [A] No policies for Cultural Industries [B] The abuses of the Caribbean Press [C] Inadequate support for the Cultural centre [D] Non-Payments of Royalties to local Artistes [E] The question of enforcement for Copyright [IPRs] through ratifying obsolete laws [ F] The non-existence of Policies to enforce the right for the economic existence of creative citizens.
These issues, among others, have never inspired, clicked or aroused any interest enough to receive five minutes of interactive coverage by the electronic media, though I stand to be corrected. The institutions like GT&T, ANSAL MACAL , DIH, DIGICEL and others like the folks at The Upscale Restaurant, whose project support and interest have contributed to sustaining creative outlets and pot boilers must be commended. Lisa Punch is not just an item on the news, she’s a statement of a type of marginalization that is peculiar only to Guyana in the CARICOM belt and most likely in Central and South America.
The problem lies, as Ruel Johnson pointed out in a letter on Dec. 1, 2013, ( Sunday Stabroek News) ‘Anthony has issues with competitive inclusiveness’. This accusation is grounded on real scenarios, and i know this, as i have worked with genuinely creative heads of departments, who do not shy away from engaging the contentions and frustrations of Creative people, and solving those contentions. Lynette Dolphin, the Pilgrims, A.J Seymour, Denis Williams, Francis Quamina were all gifted talents in their own right. They created and shaped what institutions, though damaged, that still exist today as Guyanese. The problem is, really, who’s Cultural in the Ministry of Culture? As a matter of fact, the PPP was schooled in communist ideals, which diminished artistic appreciation wherever that ideology prevailed, though currently they have become avaricious capitalists not through entrepreneurship but via State and Party underhand mechanisms. One does not have to be able to write a poem, play a musical Instrument, have acted in a play, painted a picture, executed a pencil sketch of anything, even a ‘cup’ or published a book on any topic, to be able to comprehend the viability of Artistic economics. Has the electronic media missed this all? To date; only Kaieteur News of the print media has engaged the topics mentioned in the second paragraph. During CARIFESTA 1X the Stabroek News ‘Guyana review’ did Review the atmosphere of these contentions. The Saturday Stabroek and the Sunday edition through The Scene, and Al Creighton’s Arts on Sunday respectively are among the oldest forums that celebrate creativity. But these are not columns that press urgency for the Arts-Rights campaigns, though, by the nature of those rights-economic survival based topics, they should be ongoing discussions in the Business supplement. The event of Lisa Punch is about empowerment, national prestige, and analytical reporting on the elements of this achievement, for Ms Punch is not the mere semblance associated with impromptu guests, along the way festivals of which precedents exist, or are copied from other national realms. This is the context of which the pure talents of Lisa Punch embodies, and must be seen as a symbol, a creative prototype of potential realised so far, inspirational, back here in ‘Culture Stalag’ Guyana.
Barrington Braithwaite
Please share this to every Guyanese including your house cats.
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