Creative Writing will again be a major feature when the Institute of Creative Arts (ICA) stages its Sixth Convocation at the National Cultural Centre on the evening of Wednes-day, September 25. This will be the third class of creative writers to graduate with the Diploma in Creative Writing from the National School of Theatre Arts and Drama (NSTAD).
The ICA actively came into being in 2014, inaugurated by the Department of Culture, and although it is just 5 years old, it incorporates two venerable institutions and considerable history within its hallowed colleges. The ICA is the affiliation of 4 schools of the arts in Guyana: two of marked veneration – the National School of Dance (established 1974) and the E R Burrowes School of Art (1975) – and two of very recent vintage, the National School of Music (2012) and the NSTAD (2013).
All of these offer the ICA Diploma in their respective disciplines – dance, art, music and drama – in addition to the ICA Certificate and a number of smaller qualifications. All of these will be conferred on the deserving candidates in a ceremony led by the ICA Visitor, who will invoke the authority vested in the ICA Principal, who is the current Director of Culture.
Among these recipients will be the members of the 2019 graduating class of the NSTAD, most of whom studied Drama. The smaller delegation from NSTAD will be the unique group of featured creative writers. It is significant because this is the first full programme of study in creative writing to be established in which a formal qualification in the discipline is conferred in Guyana.
This has been achieved after several decades during which there was the intention to offer training for writers, many workshops, writers’ groups and sessions without any of them realising a structured programme or formal certification. Very notable was the Minor in Creative Writing offered at the University of Guyana. Distinguish-ed Guyanese writer Martin Carter served as the main tutor in that programme, first when he was Artist in Residence, and then as a lecturer when he was Senior Research Fellow in the Division of Creative Arts.
The present Diploma programme saw the light of day when the ICA was first set up under then Director of Culture Dr James Rose. It was noted that there was no School of Creative Writing and still no formal training programme in the discipline. The Guyana Prize for Literature had a history of holding workshops, although that was not a part of its original mandate; it simply took on the task in an attempt to improve the level of the local writers and fledglings. However, those efforts were not enough, and something of longer duration which could end in certification was envisaged. Following discussions with the Guyana Prize and the Department of Culture, it was decided to ask the NSTAD to run the programme.
In 2019, three writers will earn the Diploma, Amaraydha Kartick, Hannah Singh and Kyle Solomon. In addition, Akeesha Giddings, who did not read for the Diploma, completed courses which will earn for her the Special Certificate in Fiction.
Among the requirements for graduation is that all students at NSTAD must participate in two public performances. For the drama students this means dramatic performances on stage. The equivalent for the writers is that they have to present two public readings of samples of the written work done during their studentship. At the end of the first semester this year, the students satisfied this requirement in a very interesting way.
One of their courses of study is a history of literature that included a study of the theory of ritual origins, which speculates that theatre (and oral literature) had their beginnings in religious and spiritual rituals. These were performed in pre-historic times by primordial man in primitive societies that practiced magical religion and various rites that developed into theatrical acts which included dance and mime and led to the development of myth and storytelling.
Oral literature evolved in this way and has always maintained a close relationship with performance. These styles gave rise to what is known as ritualistic theatre (the theatre of ritual) which drew on these spiritual practices and beliefs. The students of creative writing had to write short plays based on ritualistic theatre.
Kartick wrote a drama called Yule, based on her research into the early myths and rituals of the Yuletide Christmas festivals and celebrations. Singh was interested in the early rock drawings and writings of the Guiana Amerindians. Her research resulted in a play called Writings from the Past. Solomon’s play also delved into the early society of the rainforests and told the story of the Bush Spirit. These were samples of the work written by the students, and they met the requirements for public readings when these plays were performed by the drama students in “The Performance 11: Ancient Secrets” at the National Cultural Centre.
History was created by the first batch of students at NSTAD, who qualified for formal certification after the first full programme of training in creative writing ever to be held in Guyana. A total of 11 writers have now earned the Diploma. The first set comprised Esther Hamer, Melinda Primo, Ayanna Waddell, Nirmala Narine and Linden Isles, who all happen to be members of the National Drama Company (NDC), and who had earlier graduated from NSTAD with the Diploma in Drama. There was also Ricoh, a Special Student.
The second batch was a smaller group of three, who survived to the end of the programme: Subraj Singh, Stephen Seepersaud and Akbar Singh. Both Subraj and Akbar had previously graduated with the Diploma in Drama and are NDC members, while Seepersaud was the only newcomer. This current group of Kartick, Hannah Singh and Solomon are all newcomers to NSTAD programmes, and so is Giddings who will be awarded the Special Certificate.
All these are new and emerging Guyanese writers who have completed a formal programme of training and certification in creative writing within Guyana. The road to this achievement is a long one. Guyana had a national History and Arts Council in the 1960s, which was converted into the Department of Culture, headed by Lynette Dolphin. Housed at the location now occupied by the Burrowes School of Art, this had a Director of Music (at one time Bill Pilgrim), a Director of Art (Denis Williams), a Director of Dance (at one time the Haitian Lavinia Williams), a Director of Drama (at one time Ken Corsbie). The Literary Director was A J Seymour, and for some time there were workshops in creative writing conducted by Seymour and also at times by Sheik Sadeek.
These workshops were the first attempts by the government to train writers. Before that and during the same period there were private workshops, private writers’ groups and literary evenings at private residences. These stretched far back to when Edgar Mittelholzer lived in British Guiana (1940s), and over the decades right into the 1970s included Seymour, the P E N Club, Martin Carter, David de Caires, Rajkumarie Singh (who trained Mahadai Das), Jan Shinebourne and a group around the University of Guyana, Rooplall Monar and the Annan-dale Writers Group. Even up to the 1990s, there was the Guyana Association of Writers and Artists led by Roopnandan Singh, and the Janus Group with Kojo McPherson and Ruel Johnson. Even the very new National Drama Company held writers’ groups. To these may be added the efforts of the Department of Culture and of the Guyana Prize.
Through that long list of individuals and groups both public and private there were attempts to offer training in the writing of poetry and fiction. While some of these involved the practice of writing, sharing and critiquing each other’s new work, and formal workshops, none of it resulted in formal courses of training of any length and certification. UG offered a Minor in Creative Writing mainly taken by students in the BA English programme and a few special students.
It was only after the creation of the ICA and the action of the Director of Culture following meetings with the Guyana Prize and NSTAD that such a full formal programme materialised in Guyana’s Golden Jubilee year, 2016.
