PREAMBLE:

ACTT has noted that the Culture section of the Budget document is framed by the Minister’s desire to create “A caring society”. This is also our interest. On this note we’ll like to say that the rampant crime now convulsing the society can be solved through unleashing the transformative power of Culture, the Arts and Sports. Our country stands at a crucial crossroad and the artists and cultural stakeholders of Trinidad and Tobago stand ready to work for the redemption of our country at this moment.



1. ACTT would like to re-assert that Culture and the Arts- including festivals like Carnival and Divali- belong to the people of Trinidad and Tobago- and it is ‘the people’ that must be involved in the decision about their direction.

2. The major problem that has sabotaged even the best initiatives of the present government is a modus operandi of non-consultation with stakeholders- as regards the way forward for the Arts and the construction of billions of dollars worth of cultural infrastructure. For 5 years government has ignored all calls to consult with artists on these matters. The result has been the continuing marginalization of the arts, the collapse of many traditions, and decreasing returns in turns of artistic quantity and quality.

3. We note the following: The recent problems of the Parang Association with the Ministry and the Annual Parang Festival; the concerns expressed by Pantrinbago as regards the continuing short-sighted resourcing of pan as an instrument and as an industry; and the non-payment of a subvention to NCDF who conducted a ground-breaking consultation for stakeholders of Carnival earlier this year. There are many such issues from other bodies in the artistic fraternity. In response to these matters we have heard statements coming from the Ministry about a greater need for professionalism. We would like to say we are glad to hear this, because many artists have been calling for professionalism from the Ministry for almost 45 years.

4. What all these issues from both sides points to is a critical need to re-enter a new charter between government and the artistic community. Artists would like to sit with government and craft a way forward that can elevate the transformative power of culture and thus change the direction of communities, youth and the nation for the better. We would like this moment to be a turning point for the nation, a moment when artists are recognized as equal partners in the nation- where we can recognize and elevate the critical role Arts have in rescuing Trinidad and Tobago.

5. ACTT is re-issuing our 5 year call for consultation on the multi-billion dollar cultural complexes government is building: having ignored artist suggestions to twin the Academy with the National Performance Arts Centre government has now created the need for a separate facility. We understand that there are plans for 2 of these facilities and would like to engage in consultations post haste.

6. Government has plans to enhance and build over 200 community centres. This current drive is actually the result of decade long demands by artists and community activists! However again the unfortunate fact is that for 5 years government has refused to adopt proper minimum specifications for these community centres or begin respectful and meaningful consultation with communities, end users, artists and experts.







7. ACTT continues to assert that BADLY BUILT BUILDINGS ARE WORST THAN NONE AT ALL. Community centres without proper specs, proper administration and programming are actually dangerous and may help destroy the same communities they were built to assist. We are calling on government to adopt ACTT’s minimum specs and re-visit their current template for community centres. Government also needs to begin a transparent scholarship programme to send candidates abroad to train as qualified institutional administrators for the entire range of cultural institutions it is constructing.

8. In the budget the Minister also speaks about the training that government is offering via the Best Village Program. This training is important- but is also 30 years behind where we should be as a modern nation. This question of training brings up outstanding issues with what will become the primary arts training institution in T&T - the 3 Academy of the Arts at the UTT. ACTT is concerned that an entire progressive series of national consultations regarding the Academy has been derailed by the firing of then principal- Trinity Cross holder Pat Bishop. At stake is the very nature of the curriculum of the Academy and the survival of many older cultural traditions in the country which are within years of disappearing.

9. ACTT is asserting that the Academies can document and revitalize threatened traditions whilst at the same time take T&T Arts into the 21st and 22nd century- making it a multi-billion dollar foreign exchange earner. ACTT is calling for the restoration of consultations with stakeholders towards the development of proper architectural specs, a relevant curriculum and visionary programming of the 3 UTT Academies.

10. The artistic fraternity has noted the Honourable Prime Minister’s G Pan, National Symphony Orchestra, Divine Echoes and the newly announced National Theatre projects. All have lofty ambitions of taking art to youth and the people. These ambitions may mean nothing without the proper national and local facilities. In addition, whilst these are singular initiatives we are calling on government to remember that every single form of musical revolution in T&T has been accompanied by musical bands of young people- from back in times bands, soca bands, steelbands to Indian orchestras. It is these bands that need to be facilitated in a structured and consistent manner. These have been the standard bearers of T&T culture, vehicles of transformation for our youth, and vehicles of cultural retention.

11. On Carnival, the Minister states that government plans to work with stakeholders to make Carnival 2009 a success adding that: “Carnival 2008 was a big success.” ACTT would like to humbly say that the jury is still out on this ‘success’. For many Stakeholders there are massive areas of dissatisfaction. The major problem with Carnival remains that government seems content to plan carnival on a year to year basis- and only 3 months before the festival.

12. ACTT is thus re-issuing our 5 year call for a massive stakeholder consultation to be held on the present and future of carnival. This is not about Carnival 2009. It is about the next 50 to 100 years of the festival and the 300 Trini style carnivals we have spawned all over the world worth billions of $.

13. ACTT is also re-affirming our opposition to the proposed Savannah Carnival Centre in the last version we had seen. We should add that stakeholders have never been officially shown the full plans. We believe the institution that needs to be built immediately is the National Carnival and Steelband Museum which would be a World Festival and Carnival Museum. One aspect of this is urgent. The top 100 costumes of Trinidad’s Carnival must be identified and be rebuilt with the surviving Master Designers. This re-building will enable the training of younger artists and the documenting of important dying techniques.

14. ACTT is also making a call for immediate action to be taken on mobilizing for the construction of the National Archives- especially the preservation and copying of rapidly decaying documents and the training of staff that can man a sophisticated archive system.

15. On the note of dying Legacy ACTT is calling for the immediate funding of the Brian Honore Oral and Visual Recording Unit entitled Project Memory. The most important phenomenon confronting T&T is that fact that our Golden Age generation (from the 1930s to the 1950s)- now aged 65 and over- is passing on. We have lost thousands of our greatest talents in the last 6 years. As a country we have not been documenting and honouring this Legacy. We have 2 more years to document these stories before it is too late. We do not have time.

16. ACTT salutes The Ministry of Sports and the success of our national sportsmen. Certain initiatives in the Sports Ministry give us a clue as to how the Ministry of Culture could be structured and managed. Two initiatives seem immediately implementable. The first is the idea of a National Cultural Council mirroring the National Sporting Organization. This Council will be an independent think tank made up of stakeholders, visionaries and some Ministry representatives that can drive cultural policy. The other idea of relevance is the Elite Sportsman program. ACTT is saying that a 3 tier youth, mid-term and elder Elite Artist Fund would catapult production of significant work by genius practitioners to the next level in terms of quantity and quality and the ability to penetrate foreign markets.

17. ACTT also is reminding the government of its outstanding legislative agenda with artist and cultural industry stakeholders: We are referring to Legislation related to local content quotas; the proper implementation of the 150% TAX RELIEF FOR SPONSORS; the removal of tariffs on a range of artist materials; and such.

18. ACTT is also calling for a transparent Grant scheme with an entire framework of funding sources (through taxation, etc) and the creation of a transparent independent body to manage and dispense the funds to worthy candidates. In this light we are pleased to hear the Minister’s stated aim of revisiting the annual subventions for representative groups and look forward to sitting in consultation with her as regards the renovation of the allocations.

19. Finally ACTT is pleased to hear that the government is going to release the Draft National Cultural Policy for national consultation. The Draft was completed 5 months ago by a task force (of ACTT members) and should be the guide for the management and deploying of the resources for the Arts and the Cultural Industry.



Members of the working group of ACTT:

1. The Chutney Foundation- Rep. Vijay Ramlal

2. The Tassa Association of Trinidad and Tobago- Rep. Agnes Raghoobarsingh

3. Pantrinbago- Rep. Michael Joseph

4. The Rapso Movement of Trinidad and Tobago- Rep. Brother Resistance

5. The National Drama Association of Trinidad and Tobago- Rep. Joel Greaves

6. National Carnival Development Foundation- Rep. Michael Nobrega

7. The Parang Association of Trinidad and Tobago- Rep. Neil Marcano

8. Trinidad and Tobago Teachers of Visual Arts- Rep. Andre Reyes

9. Association for Media Entertainment of Trinidad and Tobago- Rep. Ryan De Castro

10. The Jazz Alliance of Trinidad and Tobago- Rep. Sean Thomas

11. Trinidad and Tobago Artisan Foundation- Rep. Akilah Jaramogi

12. The Recording Industry Association of Trinidad and Tobago- Rep. Fabien Alfonso

13. The Trinidad and Tobago Hip Hop Fraternity- Rep. Stuart Fortune

14. The Writers Union- Rep. Marina Maxwell Omowale

15. Trinidad and Tobago Archivists- Rep. Shawn Randoo

16. The Traditional Carnival Artists Association- Rep. Rubadiri Victor

17. Green Light Network- Rep. Elspeth Duncan

18. Animators- Rep. Camille Selvon Abrahams



19. Affiliates & Observers: Studio 66- Rep. Makemba Kunle; FITUN- Rep. David Abdullah; Trinidad and Tobago Youth Council- Rep. Akins Vidale; The Fashion Industry Representatives- Rep. Robert Young; The Poet Society of Trinidad and Tobago- Rep. Anna Sahadeo