USING the Guyana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) as a springboard in the early 1980s, a group of talented Guyanese decided to launch a festival that would showcase the talents of talented Guyanese. Thus the Guyana Folk Festival was born with a stated purpose to give Guyanese of all ethnic backgrounds an opportunity to showcase their talents.

The Board was comprised of such well known heavyweights in the field of journalism, sport and the arts as Vibert Cambridge, Basil Bradshaw, Pancho Carew, Phyllis Jackson, Clem David, and Terry Holder, at the time General Manager of GBC.
The festival was a huge success, and even spawned a new catchphrase: “Eagle to Carrion Crow”, which started quite by accident one night in the GBC studio, Bradshaw recalls. One night, Bradshaw was working on ads with Peter Ninvalle (older brother of Steve Ninvalle) when they became stuck for ideas. At some point, Ninvalle used the phrase casually, and it immediately caught on. They played around with intonation, and it was soon used in front of ads for the festival. It soon became so popular that it was adopted by the man in the street.
The Folk Festival as we know it survived about 14 years, until ACDA took over with a more Africanized version of the event.
Today, the festival is pushing ahead in another incarnation, as the annual Guyana Folk Festival in New York, which is recognized as the largest “summer festival of Guyanese culture”.
The Guyana Cultural Association of New York aims to document, showcase and celebrate Guyana’s cultural heritage; and to inspire future generations of Guyanese at home and abroad.

A new incarnation
The Guyana Folk Festival in New York was born in 1998 when Guyanese immigrants Claire Goring and Maurice Bledman organized the first Guyana Folk Festival on the grounds of the Wingate High School. Goring had established herself as s a graphic artist and designer of the festival arts; Bledman was known as an innovative cinematographer in the Guyana Film Centre. In 2001, they organized another festival on the roof gardens of the famous Brooklyn Children’s Museum.
Since the public’s reception of the two folk festivals was encouraging, that same year Goring, Bledman and other New York-based Guyanese immigrants — Claire Patterson, Malcolm Hall and Tangerine Clarke — decided to repurpose the dormant Guyana Cultural Association of New York with the approval of the old board.
Malcolm Hall was elected president of GCA, and served in that capacity until 2010. Goring was elected cultural director; Claire Patterson, treasurer; and Dr Vibert Cambridge, vice-president.
Currently, as stated on their website, www.guyfolkfest.com, the members of the current executive committee of the GCA board are Dr Vibert Cambridge, president; Ave Brewster-Haynes, vice president; Claire Goring, cultural director; Claire Patterson-Monah, treasurer; Dr Juliet Emanuel, secretary; Edgar Henry, assistant to the treasurer; Rose October-Edun, assistant to the secretary; and Maurice Braithwaite, assistant to the cultural director.

GCA’s programmes
The Guyana Folk Festival – the organization’s annual focal point — hosts the following events: awards ceremony, the symposium, literary hang, art exhibition, film and video festival, ‘Come to my Kwe Kwe’, the Caribbean Heritage Summer Camp, performing arts season, and family fun day. Over the years, the events that comprise this festival have expanded, and the season has extended from a one-week period to more than three months.
Through an annual symposium, the GCA provides space for sharing new research and scholarship. In 2008, the symposium ‘Celebrating Mac: Folk, Identity and National Cohesion’ was held in Guyana. In 2012, the symposium ‘Masquerade Lives’ will again be held in Guyana, in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture, Youth, and Sports.
Starting from 2003, the festival has been recognising Guyanese achievements with an awards ceremony.
Existing from 2007, the annual literary hang is a gathering of Guyanese writers who aim to explore the art and craft of writing; share new works; explore techniques, and network. It also serves as a venue for launching new publications, such as the late Godfrey Chin’s publication, “Nostalgia”.
Cynthia Nelson’s “Tastes Like Home” was launched in 2011. The event was also used to promote the Guyana Classics Series in 2011. In 2011, the first exhibition of Guyanese artists in the Diaspora was organized as part of the events to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Guyana Cultural Association of New York, Inc.
Directed by Maurice Braithwaite, the annual performing arts season is also a mentoring space and an active link with the community. The home for the annual performing arts festival is Brooklyn’s Myer Levin High School for the Performing Arts.
In 2011, the Performing Arts Season presented the world premiere of Francis Farrier’s adaptation of C.L. R. James’s “Minty Alley”.
The Caribbean Summer Heritage Camp that was launched in 2008 is dedicated to propagating Guyanese and Caribbean cultural heritage. It underscores the similarity of Caribbean heritage and the common ground of residence in New York.
The organisation has also supported research and scholarship. Dr Gillian Richards-Greaves conducted important research for her dissertation on Kwe Kwe at the annual Come to My Kwe Kwe events.
Noting that Guyanese have been using film and, more recently, video as means of artistic expression and to document Guyanese life and history, the GCA provides a space for that type of creativity with the annual film and video festival.
In 2011, GCA hosted the North American premiere of the eight short films produced by CineGuyana through the President’s Film Endowment Fund.
Guyana Folk and Culture is produced annually to coincide with the annual folk festival season. The online magazine is published monthly, and the online radio programme, “Let’s Talk Folk”, is produced weekly from the studios of One Caribbean Radio (105.1HD2) in Brooklyn, New York.

Family Fun
Usually held on the Sunday before Labor Day, the annual Fun Day is an important moment in the cultural calendar of Guyanese in New York, and increasingly so for the Guyanese Diaspora in the USA. Families get together for a day of folk games, heritage food, music and performances by Guyanese from “home” and from the Diaspora.
Renowned Guyanese performers have graced the stages at the family fun day, including Kenton Wyatt and the Kendrum group from Canada; Angela Douglas, who presented youth dance ensemble from Canada; and the distinguished London-based Guyanese flautist Keith Waite, who has participated in two family fun days. Dave Martins, Eze Rockcliffe, and the Classique Dance Company have also performed at family fun day.
The GCA has collaborated with other Guyanese organizations on innovative cultural events, such as the Festival of Drums with the Rajkumari Cultural Centre in Queens, New York. In 2005, the GCA collaborated with the Guyana Tri-State Alliance in mobilizing the Diaspora’s response to the flood of the same year.
GCA has facilitated the promotion of Guyanese music through the compilation CD “Is We Thing- Music Orchids for You” (2005). The leadership of GCA has received several prestigious awards from important state and local agencies in New York. The Brooklyn Arts Council has collaborated with GCA on highly successful events, such as Moonlight Storytelling.
Caribbean performers have a presence during family day, and GCA and the Caribbean Cultural Theatre collaborate on many initiatives throughout the year.
The organisation’s main goal is to establish the Guyana Cultural Association Centre by 2016, when it will be celebrating its 15th anniversary. For more information on GCA, visit www.guyfolkfest. Com