(Video) ACDA, UG School of Humanities benefit from IDB cultural grants

The African Cultural and Development Association (ACCA) and the University of Guyana’s School of Education and Humanities Department of Language and the Cultural Studies have each been awarded US$5,000 by the Inter-American Development Bank’s (IDB) 2012 Cultural Centre’s Cultural Development Programme.

According to IDB Country Representative Sophie Makonnen, the grants will go towards the support the development of the recipients’ cultural programmes.

Makonnen said yesterday that ACDA will be using its US$5,000 grant to fund a project titled ‘Drum Resistance’, the object of which is to facilitate theresuscitation of drumming, a seemingly dying art form in Guyana.

Sophie Makonnen (second from right), IDB Country Representative addressing reporters yesterday, while at extreme left is Executive Member of ACDA Eric Phillips and at far right is Michael Khan. (Photograph by Arian Browne)

“Drumming is dying and we will resuscitate it with this grant,” said ACDA Executive Member Eric Phillips, who collected the grant on behalf of the organisation. Phillips revealed plans to hire 3 drum masters, who will each be sent to a county to train drummers there. He also disclosed that the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport has promised to import 20 drums from Africa, which he hopes local drum makers will be able to study, enabling them to improve their technique in drum making, and by extension, the quality of drums made in Guyana.

Phillips said ACDA is committed to “revitalizing Guyanese culture to where it should be so it does not reach a state where we cannot recognise it.”

He said this will be the second time his organisation has been the beneficiary of a grant from the IDB, having benefited from the first in 2008 to fund its ‘Afro Descent’ programme. As part of that programme, 30 persons from Agricola, Buxton and Albouystown took part in workshops where they were trained in Entrepreneurship, Leadership, Agriculture, Community Development, Media, as well as how to be Servant Leaders.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3KVYo8Jciw

The other awardee, UG’s School of Education and Humanities Department of Language and Cultural Studies plans to use the grant to fund a project called ‘Developing a Greater Awareness of Self Expression Through Art Among Primary School Children, using Puppetry and Dramatic Story Telling Derived from Oral Traditions’.

Michael Khan, Primary Researcher for the IDB Cultural Centre Grant in association with UG, collected the grant on behalf of the university. While speaking on the importance of preserving and sharing culture, Khan related his experience of visiting around 21 primary schools, only to find that just one was in possession of Anansi books. He also noted that folklore such as stories of moon gazers and bacoos have vanished significantly from culture and need to be brought back. “We among our own people must preserve our own culture, and it is my mission to share the culture, the folklore of my people to my people,” said Khan.

Makonnen said that the object of this project is the development of a greater awareness of creativity and self-expression through various avenues such as Puppetry, Dramatic Story Telling, Ceramics, Sculpture, Textile Designs, Floral Arrangements, Craft Making, Painting and Drawing.

She explained that 12 participants will be trained to make 18 Marionette Puppets, ten glove puppets, five Shadow Puppets and ten Rod Puppets. In addition, they will also be taught to make a portable puppet stage, and 15 miniature stage backdrops. After the training and workshops, participants will eventually be expected to become trainers and train other persons in their communities with the aim of being able to sustain the Creative Art Expressions.

The IDB is the only international financial institution with a cultural centre devoted to the promotion of creative expressions within the artistic heritage of Latin America and the Caribbean. Makonnen stated that culture in the bank has been and continues to be a factor in development, and the power of visual art is becoming an even more effective communication tool to its work.

Since its establishment in 1992, 15 institutions including those awarded yesterday have benefited from this grant. The others are: the University of Guyana – 1996, Ministry of Culture Youth and Sports – 1999, Guyana Women Artists’ Association – 2002, Varqua Foundation – 2003, Dayspring Guidance Centre – 2004, Region Nine Development Association – 2004, Conservation International Guyana – 2005, The Arts Forum Inc – 2006, Guyana Teachers Union North Branch – 2007, GuyberNet – 2008, the Guyana Women Artists’ Association – 2009, Mainstay-Whyaka Village Council – 2010, and Merundoi Incorporated – 2011.