Dear Editor,
I have written a number of letters to the Editor commencing in 2009 in the aftermath of Carifesta X in Guyana when things took a turn for the worse for “Grass-root” artists. I have been “dragged through the mud” so to speak by both the Ministry of Culture under the PPP Government and now a spokesperson for that Ministry under the APNU+AFC Government in the letter section of the SN. There have been times when both the SN and KN have not printed my letters. I do not see what needs to be censored in my letters.
Along the electoral trail promises of all sorts are made but seldom kept. Once elected to public office the Minister assumes the status of an overlord. Quite recently the Minister of Social Cohesion Dr. George Norton, forgetting that his party is currently begging for Guyanese votes was visibly annoyed when he was reminded by an artist in Main Street, Georgetown of the promise to acquire the land at the corner of Main and Middle streets for the artist community and even more so what improvement would there be in the lives of the artists with the oil/gas revenue? Would the Ministry commission public works or give grants to senior artists? If the Minister wants he can make public his answer, so much to say that his response gave no assurance of a better life for this very small artist community of which the senior producing artists are on their way out by plane, illness and the grave.
In 2017 when I received the Guyana Cultural Award New York, I also received two magazines one titled “Guyana Folk” dated September 2017. Inside is an article by Ronald M. Austin C.C.H. Titled “We must Respect and Protect our Artists”, the following is the conclusion of the article.
“Guyana, a small Nation, is culturally endowed. We have produced some of the finest Artists, singers, writers, sculptures, musicians, painters, actors, poets, conductors, steel band players and thinkers that the region and the world have seen” ….” Yet fifty-one years after our independence, Guyana as a nation has not put in place the measures or the institutions to ensure the integration of our artists into our national life. Nor did we create the environment in which their artistry was safely secured in a Hall of Fame, or to create a safe place for them to mellow in their old age where they could seek solace and a place to call home. In fact, there is a correlation between the greatness of our Artists and their flight from the homeland. More than this, only those who have created outside of the home seem protected from the indignities suffered by several artists who have chosen to return to their native land. Notwithstanding some artists are not independently wealthy, and they do not get their due reward in monetary compensation for daily sustenance. Surely, this should not deter or thwart their undying means of creativity and genius. I do not get the impression that we as a people identify the need to recognize and protect our great Artists.
“The treatment of our artists at home is my abiding concern and ought to be to the rest of my compatriots. Family Teach returned here and perished on our streets, impoverished and unrecognized, and that is a crying shame. Not only is this disgraceful to our seniors or grownups, but also to the young aspiring artists of today who are seeking mentors. What image and legacy are our artists leaving for young promising Tenecia Defreitas’s to pursue? Surely one may think it is not worth the while to venture into the arts if the results display impoverishment and destitute patterns. “
…” In fact, turning our backs on our artists seems to be a national past-time. Before he died, Billy Moore wandered unknown among his compatriots. I also had the unpleasant experience of seeing Billy Rogers begging school children for coins in front of St. Margaret’s Primary School. His desperation would have melted the hardest heart. And Mignon Lowe drifted from pillar to post about our capital city until nature brought her rest. These incidents I have recounted are a sad commentary on our regard for our artists and a refusal to recognize what their talents have brought both delight and psychic comfort to our people.” … “The hour is not too late for us to create a space for our artists to rest and produce.”
Yours faithfully,
Desmond Alli
General Secretary G.U.A
