LAST Thursday, I graduated from the National School of Theatre Arts and Drama (NSTAD) under the Institute of Creative Arts with my Diploma in Creative Writing. As the Best Graduating Student from the School, I was asked to give a valedictory address at the graduation ceremony. I believe the speech, outlined below, is something that members of the Guyanese public should read, so that they know that there are people who still try to fight for the Arts and Culture and that there are still people who will try to hold the government accountable through criticism.

“Good evening everyone !
Firstly, congrats to all of the students graduating, especially those from the National School of Theatre Arts and Drama. You’ve worked so hard this year and you should all be very proud of yourselves.

Thank you to all of our teachers who worked with us over the past year. I do not think we could have asked for better.

As fun and exciting as this night is, I think it is important for us, as people in the creative arts, to be reminded on this night of our place in this society, so that we may aim to change it. Tomorrow morning, teachers will head out to teach, bankers will head to the bank, doctors to the hospitals and so on. Artists, on the other hand, will not be given the opportunity to do what they love. Most dancers will not head out to dance in the morning. Actors will not head to the stage. Writers will not turn to their manuscripts. We in the creative arts will be the only ones who, tomorrow morning, will have to prepare for our “day jobs” while being left unable to pursue that which is truly important to us, our true passions, in the arts.

The reasons for this are many, but it ultimately comes down to a perception of the arts as “less than” or not as important as other professions. Sometimes, I think this is a viewpoint that is shared by the government. I say this based on the fact that there is so limited funding sent our way each year. For example, we don’t even know if there is going to be a National Drama Festival this year, meaning students from the NSTAD will be denied an important opportunity to showcase all they have learned in their year of study if the Festival is not announced soon. Thus far, there has not been any opportunity for the publication of stories, poems, or plays for local writers, meaning that their work cannot be shared or embraced or appreciated. A great majority of the scholarships given out by the government seem to be geared towards science and technology, with very little being done for the arts. Perhaps they are content with having us at the Diploma level, rather than funding Degrees and Masters. Perhaps that is all they think we are worth. Perhaps they do not understand the power we, the graduates, have to offer. Perhaps they do not care.

I once met a government official who said that when it comes to scholarships and they have to choose between a doctor and someone in the creative arts, they would have to take into consideration that the doctor will be able to save lives. Well, you know what? The arts save lives as well. I’m certain that it has saved the life of every single creative person who walked this stage tonight. It is the arts that kept us from falling prey to depression, it is the arts that gave us something to look forward to at the end of the day, it is the arts that gave us hope, that made us believe that things can be better, that things will be better, that we will make it through whatever it is every one of us goes through.

There are things an artist can do that a doctor will never be able to. A doctor cannot cure the racial tensions in our country. But we, playwrights, can write a play that tries to fix it. A doctor cannot know what sadness or loneliness looks like, but dancers can show us that just using their bodies. A doctor cannot undo hundreds of years of colonialism, but every time musicians play African or Indian music, we take a step forward when it comes to showcasing our pride in the Guyanese identity. A doctor cannot undo the patriarchy, but a painter with a brush can.

It is time for the current administration to recognise everything that creative artists are capable of, and it is time for them to ask themselves how they want history to view them, particularly when it comes to culture and the creative sector. Do you, the government, want to be remembered as the administration that lusted after oil, while neglecting the other sectors? Do you want to be remembered as the government that didn’t publish a single book? The government that didn’t fund the graduate or post graduate students in the arts? Do you want to be the government who did very little to advance the arts and culture in Guyana?

Thank you very much.”