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MANY of Guyana’s creative schools will be organised under one umbrella in the near future as the “The Institute of the Creative Arts”, said the Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport, Dr. Frank Anthony, at last Wednesdays end-of -year press conference hosted at his office. “We feel it’s important to head in this direction, as it’s time to provide a holistic art education in Guyana”, he said at the meeting where he underlined the work of various cultural institutions throughout the year.
Music and Dance Education
As in preceding years, there was much training available to Guyanese as the Burrowes School of Art continued to train people in the fine arts. The National School of Dance, originally catering to Georgetown, expanded its reach, and has, since the last quarter, expanded to two sites in Berbice; one site is at Region 5, and one at Mainstay, Essequibo, and the school is looking at establishing a branch in Linden. The idea is to create “satellite schools” so that more people can have access to dancing education, Anthony said, going on to note that the programmes will offer certificates and diplomas.
Anthony said that 10 out of 11 students enrolled in the music school that was started last year attained distinctions in the London Royal School of Music examination. This year, enrolment has gone up with 25 students, he noted, positing that enrolment numbers will continue to grow. In the future, the school will offer classes in a broader range of instruments. Though the music school is currently unable to expand in the way of the dance school, it has been doing outreaches, he noted. The outreaches have focused primarily on the teaching of steel pan music, but the Ministry is working on teaching more instruments. The minister stressed that two years ago there was no formal system of music education in place.
In addition, the ministry has been working with a number of groups to plan activities. One such would be the Music Arts Festival, a festival that originated in 1952, and was resuscitated in 2009. In 2013, the biennial festival will take place. In between, the ministry has been working with the Guyana Music Teachers Association to put a number of workshops in place and train teachers to build their capacity.
The National Song Competition was introduced to promote choir singing. There are a lot of choirs around, Anthony said, but pointed out that previously, there was no competition to keep them together, so one is currently ongoing. About two years ago, the ministry started a partnership with Ray Luck, who formerly held a music workshop in St Lucia for Caribbean teachers, and the partnership will be continued, so more local workshops will be held. The area of steel bands music has seen improvement, with more and more bands coming to the Mashramani competition.
Music and Dance Education
As in preceding years, there was much training available to Guyanese as the Burrowes School of Art continued to train people in the fine arts. The National School of Dance, originally catering to Georgetown, expanded its reach, and has, since the last quarter, expanded to two sites in Berbice; one site is at Region 5, and one at Mainstay, Essequibo, and the school is looking at establishing a branch in Linden. The idea is to create “satellite schools” so that more people can have access to dancing education, Anthony said, going on to note that the programmes will offer certificates and diplomas.
Anthony said that 10 out of 11 students enrolled in the music school that was started last year attained distinctions in the London Royal School of Music examination. This year, enrolment has gone up with 25 students, he noted, positing that enrolment numbers will continue to grow. In the future, the school will offer classes in a broader range of instruments. Though the music school is currently unable to expand in the way of the dance school, it has been doing outreaches, he noted. The outreaches have focused primarily on the teaching of steel pan music, but the Ministry is working on teaching more instruments. The minister stressed that two years ago there was no formal system of music education in place.
In addition, the ministry has been working with a number of groups to plan activities. One such would be the Music Arts Festival, a festival that originated in 1952, and was resuscitated in 2009. In 2013, the biennial festival will take place. In between, the ministry has been working with the Guyana Music Teachers Association to put a number of workshops in place and train teachers to build their capacity.
The National Song Competition was introduced to promote choir singing. There are a lot of choirs around, Anthony said, but pointed out that previously, there was no competition to keep them together, so one is currently ongoing. About two years ago, the ministry started a partnership with Ray Luck, who formerly held a music workshop in St Lucia for Caribbean teachers, and the partnership will be continued, so more local workshops will be held. The area of steel bands music has seen improvement, with more and more bands coming to the Mashramani competition.
Theatre Arts
This year, the National Drama Festival saw 40 new plays taking part. “In any given year, there are 16 to 19 plays; but with the festival alone, there were 40 new plays emerging”, reported Anthony, who stressed that some of these were written just for the festival.
He commended DIGICEL for being a main partner in the festival, which will be an annual feature. He noted that a lot of people come to the festival with raw talent; so to polish and channel their abilities, the ministry will be starting a theatre school based at the National Cultural Centre as of January 2013, under a formal curriculum. He advised to check the press as there will be ads put out informing the public about enrolment.
