No sector of the economy is immune from the current crisis, not even culture. Minister of Culture Charles Ramson Jr, however, seems blissfully unaware of the financial realities where the cultural segment of his portfolio is concerned, especially in relation to theatre. As we reported a few days ago steep increases for the rental of the National Cultural Centre have been announced, involving a 600% rise in the case of some of the rates. In any other department that would be regarded as nothing less than extortionate.
Most productions at the Cultural Centre are fairly small scale, and are aimed at a popular audience which in many cases is anticipating a night of laughter. But some of Guyana’s best-known producers were in no laughing mood this week. The Signature Production Company, for example, posted a portion of the letter they had received in relation to the new rates. It did say that these were “recommended”, whatever that meant. If these are not the final rates, then those who mount shows need to be informed of what the authorities intend as their ultimate charges.
Whatever those are, the ‘recommended’ rates would require producers to pay $500,000 for the rental of the entire theatre of 1975 seats, when previously the charge was $80,000. The lower auditorium formerly cost approximately $50,000 and it is now $250,000, while the charge for the 500-seat recital hall has risen to $175,000. In addition to this a payment of $50,000 a day would be required for rehearsals, while a theatre company would in any case normally have to pay a 20% service charge on ticket sales plus 14% VAT.
If the Ministry and the Minister were just testing the water with these new ‘recommended’ rates, they soon received a reaction. Producer Simone Dowding said that if the rates were implemented it would place an added burden on the creative sector which has been one of the hardest hit by the pandemic. “What are these people [Ministry of Culture] really thinking?” she asked. For her part Producer Maria Edwards said that with these rates it would be a “long shot” to mount a successful production. Among other things you would have to make sure that you could sell all your tickets, and there was no guarantee of that.
We quoted her as saying: “Even if you cut down and you do a smaller (production) it’s still hard to make a profit … To promote a show of this nature, we invest heavily in costuming, props; we do backdrops and there is marketing… Yes, we do get sponsorship but sponsorship will not cover the expenses… We do depend heavily on revenues from the gate to cover expenses and make a profit because it is a business.” She added that they compensated their artistes fairly well and attempted to keep ticket prices low.
It might be noted that last year the Cultural Centre was upgraded at a cost of $84 million, with 1,214 new seats being installed in the main auditorium. It is tempting to think that the Ministry of Culture is attempting to recoup this sum. As we reported, efforts by this newspaper to get some clarification from the Minister on the matter of the new rates was unsuccessful. In any event it might be asked what the producers would be paying for, given the appalling technical failings during the celebration of India’s 72nd Republic Anniversary in January this year.
Like Ms Dowding one has to wonder what the Minister and his Ministry are really thinking. When shows cannot be put on a whole variety of people will then be put out of work, not just the actors, and this at a time when the cost of living is causing pain to a large proportion of citizens. If a production is mounted and the ticket prices are increased to cover the rates, people will not have the money to attend and the company will lose its investment. Other producers will take their cue from this and will not utilise the NCC, so the fancy new seats will remain little more than a decoration. There is Vice-President Jagdeo zooming all over the country with a plan for part-time jobs in these penurious times, and there is the Culture Ministry making sure that those who already have theatrical work to fall back on are made completely redundant.
But there is potentially a more sinister aspect to this whole story. Last month Guyana’s most experienced producer, Ms Gem Madhoo wrote a letter to this newspaper saying that she had written the Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport since March 10th requesting performance dates in late May/early June for the The Link Show 36. Up to that point she had not even received an acknowledgement of her letter or a response to her enquiry at the Minister’s office.
Ms Dowding told this newspaper that she was not given permission by the Minister to use the Cultural Centre for her Mother’s Day show. She was given no explanation, she said, just a blank ‘no’, and her attempt to speak to the Minister on the matter was unsuccessful. It is Ms Madhoo who first made clear the point about these developments. She wrote that the practice has always been for producers to write the Administrative Manager of the NCC to apply for dates when their shows could be scheduled. What has happened now is that the use of the Cultural Centre is “subject to the sole discretion of the Minister.”
Stabroek News did approach the Minister for a comment on this, and he responded, “I did not know what was the process but anything to do with our [NCC], because we are doing a whole bunch of work and upgrades so we have to be careful.” This was not particularly enlightening, although he did acknowledge having seen Ms Madhoo’s letter but not an application for the use of the NCC. He said he would check up on the issue. Whether he did so or not remains in the realm of the unknowable at the present time.
Whatever the current status of Ms Madhoo’s scheduled dates, the question still has to be asked what the Minister was doing making decisions about shows at the Cultural Centre. Ms Dowding called it ‘micro-managing’, but it goes beyond that. Allowing ministers to have the power to make purely cultural decisions has echoes of the communist era, when all forms of cultural expression had to meet political objectives. In its most extreme manifestation it will be recalled how Stalin could fill the great Russian composer Shostakovich with utter fear.
No one is suggesting for one moment there is any correspondence here with the USSR of the mid-20th century, let alone that Mr Ramson Jr has any pretensions to absolute power. However, he should be sensitive to the optics as well as the principle involved: he should not put himself in a position where he will be accused, perhaps mistakenly, of allowing political imperatives to penetrate the cultural sphere.
It may be that he wants the NCC to be home to shows reflecting more ‘elevated’ content, or fewer satirical productions, but that is not his place to decide. The Cultural Centre will have guidelines as to what they will not allow on stage, and those guidelines will have been in force for a long time. The Minister is not the one to control cultural content; theatrical productions are a form of creativity, and that must be left free as far as possible to follow its own trajectory. Political control of forms of cultural expression will in the end strangle creativity.
Minister Ramson Jr should revert to the traditional way of doing things, and allow the Administrative Manager to perform their job unhindered.
