Dear Editor,
Thanks to Derek Walcott’s comments at Carifesta (SN August 25), everyone wants to know just how much Caribbean governments should be contributing to the arts. The answer, quite simply, is nothing.
To begin with, art paid for by the government becomes art controlled by the government and that means artistic ideas that challenge authority will be suppressed. In addition, government subsidies for art actually hurt creativity.
A recent study compared art in France, where artists are supported by the government, and art in the United States, where it is not. The study showed that the art in the United States was far more diverse and experimental because it wasn’t being held to government standards.
Finally, consider the artist. I’m sure that Derek Walcott would be the first to say that he would be a writer even if he made no money from it and if no one gave him any awards. Artists will continue to create whether or not they get recognition or money, so why should we demand these things from the government?
Let the government concentrate on cleaning up corruption and crime, on making things easy for investors, on maintaining the physical and legal infrastructure and on everything else that is needed to create economic development. The reality is that when the public is free from worrying about their basic needs, they will not only keep the arts alive, but see to it that they thrive.
Yours faithfully,
Imam Baksh
Imam Baksh does not understand the role of government in administering the affairs of the people, which include preservation and promotion of their arts, history and cultural heritage. Every modern city has buildings that house works showcasing all of these, and in Guyana’s case, we have the National Museum. These help to identify who we are as a people outside of what we manufacture and produce for economic sustenance.
It is true that governments that financially support arts and culture may want to inject partisand politics or influence, but if the organizations managing the artistic and clutural works are independently run in a transparent and accountable manner, there is no reason why government cannot make its contribution and urge private contributors to support these causes and receive a tax-write off.
I have asked before and ask now: When will Guyana ever get a National Sports Hall of Fame to recognize our sports personalities who laid the foundation on whch sports in Guyana is still being supported by both the public and the government? Yes, the government spends money on sports, Imam Baksh!
What about the National Endowment for the Arts in Washington DC?… that’s tax payer funded. As a matter of fact, the Republicans have been trying to cut the budget of that Gov’t agency for years now. The National Endowment for the Arts gives grants of all kinds to young artists.
…… this is a case of the chicken and the egg ! which comes first,,,, arts and entertainment ,, or infrastructural and economic development ?,, and in between inject — as is now unfolding —,, mass gatherings for the exposition of the “artistes” and their crafts……. define ur priorities,,,,,
the comparison of the “endowment ” in dc ,, and the contribution of the Gy govt ,, to the arts ,, is way off base ,, the budget of the American govt ,,is some 40 TRILLION bucks ,, USD ! that of GY is ,, ?????????????????????,,,
let me allow all to see the light ! when destruction is the mode of destabilisation ,, the cost to replace ,, repair ,, renew ,, — u get the pic ! i hope —
with inflation in the equation ,, it’s a strain on the govt ,, that ultimately reaches in the home of all……………
Creativity should not be compromise, it is as fundamental as academia and must
be recognised from school level. We are not all cut from the same cloth and
therefore must recognised the talent in all children from grass root level. It has to
start with government initative if we are going start development in this area
Imam Baksh is a product of an arts programme at UG and it is very worrying that after all his years there, he sees the government’s responsibility to the arts as being irrelevant.
He claims the government’s primary responsibilities should be “maintaining the physical and legal infrastructure and on everything else that is needed to create economic development.” Isn’t it very contradictory that you can say this and still view Walcott’s plea as misguided? I mean, isn’t Walcott asking for museums and theatres? That seems “physical” to me, and of course, there is no fantasy in saying that governments should carry the onus of constructing and maintaining these.
It is my belief that many people have a narrow minded view of the arts, or a warped on at that. So many people see the notion of “arts” as perhaps embodying the visual, literary and dramatic arts, and as such they rather mistakenly conclude that those fields cannot make Guyana economically prosperous. Well, if that were the case, what have we to say about the J.K. Rowlings, the 50 Cents, the Brad Pitts and Beyonces, the Elton Johns etc.? Further yet, the arts today encapsulate the technological arts as in graphic design, 3d animations etc. How penurious can we become in pursuit of a Dreamworks studio? An corporation hinging on 3d animations, telling storylines and imaginative writing?
Finally, Imam Baksh tells us that to associate the arts with government is to have one’s artistic expression constrained. That will surely be the case in dictatorships, but Imam has got to realise, as he should know with his numerous travels abroad, that not every government on this planet epitomises PPP rule. Hence, to say that governmental intervention in the arts is not only fallacious, but also, defensive of a government yet to empirically address its shortcomings on the Auditor General’s report.
If there was one bright light of Carifesta it was Walcott’s fearless and objective dissection of the corruptibility of our executives.
Olive Senior long detailed the destruction perpetrated by greedy capitalism on our cultural legacies, so what Walcott did was only to remind us of how exemplary prostitutes our governments have become.
I hope by the time Imam matures, he would understand the importance of the arts in its fullest and truest sense, and not be so fickle as to pander to the egos of the unedified.
I agree with Baksh. Most of the critics of Baksh are looking at this through the eyes of socialists. Everything government. Govt. must recognise and encourage the importance of the arts but it is not their job to invest in it. In the case of Guyana efforts must be made by Govt. to enforce copy right laws. That’s the main thing that must be done. This should be the issue in Guyana.
Added to that Govt. must recognise that our history is important and it must be preserved. In that light Govt. should be building museums and archives to preserve our history for our up and coming historians and lend assistance in the formation of heritage foundations.
First of all, to Popeoplefedup, I am in no way defending the government. I quite clearly point out that the giovernemtn is lacking in its attention to crime corruption and the accomodation of investment.
Second, those who think that only a dictatorship would constrain the arts is missing the point. Even the most benign standards imposed on art would result in artistic handcuffs. From the point of view of an artist, this is unacceptable. I will also remend readers that even now, the National Cultural Centre has a process whereby all scripts must be submitted for approval by a government censor. Do they really think that in democratic Guyana anything that challenges the PPP in a serious way could ever show up there?
As for the mention of me being a product of UG Arts, that point is irrelevant, since education and arts support are two separate things. Further my objections to govt involvement in the arts comes from my love of the arts, since I feel that the government presence would only harm it, much as govt presence has harmed every other area it touches like bauxite, Sugar, Guyana Stores Limited, GNIC, and the oh so efficient UG.
It is symptomatic of the socialist views of my critics that they automatically assume that if I oppose govt intervention in the arts I must automatically be an enemy of the arts. My overall point is that we must stop looking to govt for salvation since the only thing they have ever been good at is helping themselves.