Institute of Creative Arts to be established

Minister Frank Anthony has revealed that as the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport goes forward in the development of the arts, it will establish, under one umbrella, the Institute of Creative Arts, a release from the Government Information Agency (GINA) said.

The minister was speaking at the award ceremony of the second batch of students certified under the year-old National Music School on Wednesday.  He spoke of the ministry’s rationale in establishing the creative institutions to teach the various art forms.

Frank Anthony
Frank Anthony

He was quoted as saying, “Culture is becoming more important, it is not just about recreation, it is not just about an appreciation for culture that people get involved in culture… and we really believe that we should have institutions that can teach people and give them guidance in this direction.”

This was the motivation that led to the establishment of the Art, Dance, Drama and Music schools and they have been having great impact.

Anthony said, “In the case of the art school, a lot of the masters that we have today are mostly because we have institutionalised the teaching of art in our society, and we have been very fortunate because our art is well recognised, we have veterans of arts, masters that can be recognised as purely Guyanese. Phillip Moore is a good example.

“Not very many places you can go and see sculptors that are from that particular country, we are proud to have these people in our midst, like Ivor Thom and they have done brilliant work, and it is all because we have been teaching art at our school.  They have all gone to the art school and graduated and now become masters in their own right.”

He said the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport will be seeking to bring the four schools and the film school, soon to established, under one umbrella as the Institute of Creative Arts.

According to GINA, he said that bringing them under one roof will allow for cross fertilisation of ideas for the development of the art forms. The ministry envisions that this will lead to the creation of courses that cut across the different schools, and to this end, the ministry has a group of teachers working on developing the courses.

“We have to look at the broader picture and the broader picture is, if you want to move forward in the development of these various areas and to make them into careers, then we have invested in the institutions that will teach people,” Anthony said.

The culture minister said the talents of such individuals would have been lost if the institutions to nurture their talents were not in place. It was this same goal of cultivating the musical talent of Guyanese that resulted in the establishment of the National Music School.

GINA said that the National Music School certified its second batch of musicians after one year of being established. Twenty-three students were awarded certificates by the school after successfully completing between Grades one to six of the Associated Board of the Royal School of Music (ABRSM) examination, an internationally recognised qualification.

The school was built with foreign funding and will this year become a budgeted institution. The proposal for the National Budget 2013 is an allocation for the procurement of musical instruments.

GINA said the ministry is also seeking to develop a community music programme, which the students who passed through the National School of Music can help with, by teaching persons in their communities some of the lessons learnt at the school.

Principal Cecil Bovell, in his address, underscored the achievements of the school for this one-year period. He said it has been having much success because of the appreciation the public has been showing for its work.

The National School of Music School began in 2012 with 23 students and in June, 11 students wrote the ABRSM examinations with 10 graduating with distinctions.

Of the 23 students who received their certificates on Wednesday, 13 obtained distinctions, 5 credits and 5 passes.

There was also a summer programme when over 300 students were trained. In January of this year over 100 students enrolled at the school.

Bovell said that in going forward, the management team at the school will seek to intensify its effort to bring greater success, GINA added.