THE Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport is currently accepting entries for the first biennial Guyana Visual Arts Competition and Exhibition, in a move to promote visual arts in Guyana.

Mr. Alim Hosein, a Linguistics Lecturer at the University of Guyana (UG), has been tasked with planning and managing the event. He hopes that Guyanese artists will gain recognition from the staging.
Hosein said other objectives are to encourage working artists and to stimulate interest in people who may be thinking about creating art work, as he believes the event can help to develop and grow creative arts in Guyana.
Hosein said any Guyanese artist over the age of 16 years is eligible to enter the contest, and make submissions in six categories: painting, sculpture, drawing, ceramics, textile and photography. Any artist is allowed to enter a maximum of three pieces in any category, or in a combination of categories.
Hosein explained further that, for this year only, work produced within the last five years (November 2007 to November 2012) will be accepted. However, this is just because no such initiative has been staged in Guyana since 1994.
For the next competition, though, which will be staged sometime in 2014, only work produced after 2012 would be accepted.
Noting that the Guyana Visual Arts Competition and Exhibition is open to both new and experienced artists, Hosein said it is important to note that the Ministry is not limiting entrants in terms of age, experience, style, or theme.
The deadline for submission of entries is November 23, after which approximately two weeks would be taken for judging, and there would be an awards ceremony; but the exhibition would begin sometime in December.
The exact date and venue for the latter activity have not yet been decided upon.

Accessible
“We haven’t finalised the venue as yet, but it’s going to be a central venue where persons can have easy access, because we’re trying to make the exhibition as accessible as possible, both to the artists and also to the public,” Hosein said.
He said judges are presently being reviewed and shortlisted, and that those would be persons of high calibre in the field of the arts, such as critics, academics and artists themselves. They would be both Guyanese and nationals from other Caribbean countries.
Hosein said the sponsors are trying to work with the prospective judges from outside the country, to determine if they would be available to spend some time in Guyana for that purpose. He indicated that judges would have approximately one week to examine the various pieces and come up with a short list after some deliberations. From that listing, they would pick winners in each category, who would be announced at the awards ceremony.
He assured that not only the winning entries will be on display at the exhibition, but all entries that were submitted.
The first prize winner would be awarded $500,000 and a gold medal; second prize winner $300,000 and a silver medal, while the third place winner gets $200,000 and a bronze medal. A special ‘promise’ award, of $200,000 and a bronze medal will be given to an emerging artist whose work shows exceptional promise.
Interested artists can view the competition rules and regulations at www.mcys.gov.gy, or a hard copy can be obtained from the Mashramani Secretariat on Middle Street, or from the Burrowes School of Art.