NDTC Journal vol.5 2014

J URNAL VOLUME 5 – CREATIVE INDUSTRIES IN JAMAICA: OPPORTUNITIES FOR GROWTH & PROTECTION

10 NATIONAL DANCE THEATRE COMPANY OF JAMAICA SUMMER 2014

Cover Page: Orlando Barnett & Marisa Benain in SULKARI Chor. Eduardo Rivero-Walker This Page: Kerry-Ann Henry and Allatunje Connell in ODE Chor. Clive Thompson Photos: Stuart Reeves

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FROM THE EDITOR

COMMENTARIES, NEWS & REVIEWS

Barbara Requa 6

50 NDTC NEWS NDTC NEWS

SPOTLIGHT

Compiled by Marlon Simms

Citation in Tribute to Jamaican Dance Industry CELEBRATING JAMAICA’S EVOLVING DANCE HERITAGE: STEP BY STEP Planning Committee Literary Arts Festival (2014), University of Technology, Jamaica

ARTICLES

56 NDTC Satisfied with Trainees Michael Reckord – Gleaner Writer 58 Remembering Rex Nettleford Marcia Rowe – Gleaner Writer 60 NDTC Continues Legacy Richard Johnson – Observer Senior Reporter

12 Dance in Jamaica

Prof. Rex Nettleford 17 Dance Theatre as Catalyst for the Development of

Jamaica’s Creative Industries Dr. Sabine Sörgel 20 “Lest we perish” – A Vision for Cultural Enterprise

and the Creative Industries in Jamaica Michael Holgate 28 The Role of Universities in the Advancement

of Creative Industries Dr. Janice Lindsay 34 The Role of Edna Manley College of the Visual and

Performing Arts in the Development of Jamaica’s Creative Industry in the 21st Century Carol ‘Annie’ Hamilton 38 The Role of the Media in Developing Jamaica’s

Creative Industry Michael Reckord 42 Creative Industries and Intellectual Property Law,

a lonely duo or the magic potion?

Ewan Simpson 46 Technology: Powering the way we manage the arts

Simone Harris

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59 NDTC Pays Tribute with Spiritual Easter Concert Michael Reckord – Gleaner Writer 64 Tribute to Eddy Thomas Alma MockYen, CD

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ARTICLE REFERENCES

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CONTRIBUTORS

The NDTC 52nd Season of Dance – July 25 to August 17 – has ended. My congratulations to all the participants for another ‘outstanding’ collection of dance works, presented by ‘extraordinarily’, competent, professional artists/production personnel.

I offer a warm welcome to our readers as we present the summer issue of the NDTC Journal (#5).

We begin with Spotlight – two items that provide historical information on Dance in Jamaica.

A Citation- “Celebrating Jamaica’s Evolving Dance Heritage”; Step by Step” from the University of Technology uses the well-known photographs of Belisario (1837) to introduce the topic. This is a ‘must read’ for historians. The second item by the late Professor Nettleford looks at and supports this historic discourse.

Together, readers are able to put all the pieces together and better understand how the ‘early years’ have informed Jamaican dance as we now know it in 2014.

Articles in this issue are being presented under the heading –“Creative Industries in Jamaica – opportunities for Growth and Protection.” As usual the contributors have gone ‘all out’ to share their knowledge and experiences on a variety of topics that fall under this umbrella and offer our readers new ‘insights’ for application of the ‘creative mind’. Author Sabine Sörgel in her article entitled “Dance Theatre – a Catalyst for the Development of Jamaica’s Creative Industries” uses the NDTC as a point of reference stating: “As a non-for-profit organisation, the NDTC facilitates the global exchange of creativity and talent which are the backbone of the creative industries at home and abroad… thus dance theatre provides an invaluable asset to Jamaica’s local and global economy.” “Lest we Perish”- A vision for Cultural Enterprise and the Creative Industries in Jamaica” by our own Michael Holgate provides his vision for a zoned cultural area as central to the proposed redevelopment of downtown Kingston.

This brilliant concept is definitely workable; it is a ‘must read’ for every Jamaican.

FROM THE EDITOR

The Role of Universities in the Advancement of Creative Industries” by Janice Lindsay – very well researched and informative – promotes the use of ‘evidence-based’ research as the key to developing/exporting Jamaican creative/cultural industries; she suggests that

BARBARA REQUA

Mrs. Barbara Requa, Founding Member/Former Principal Dancer in REFLECTIONS (1975) Chor. Bert Rose Photo: Maria LaYacona

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“Research Universities have a part to play in the realization, participation and growth of this industry by offering relevant programmes of study that will produce globally competitive creators and practitioners….thus bringing academic and professional respectability to these disciplines”.

Arts Educator Carol ‘Annie’ Hamilton brings us up-to-date with “The Role of the Edna Manley College of the Visual & Performing Arts (EMCVPA) in the Development of Jamaica’s Creative Industry in the 21st Century”.

In this article we are introduced to the role played by the EMCVPA as a creative institution; the author states - “as well as the Mission Statement that aims to promote cultural diversity, the College has also created a space for the public to have dialogue through the biennial hosting of the Rex Nettleford Conference and sharing and celebrating research in the Arts, achieved through its Final year presentations that are well supported each year”. “The Role of Media in Developing Jamaica’s Creative Industries”: author Michael Reckord’s brief but concise contribution to our journal asks a number of questions that need important answers. Who will ‘bell the cat?” In the penultimate article “Creative Industries and Intellectual Property Law, a lonely duo or the magic potion?”, the multi-talented Ewan D.A. Simpson provides insights into how the Creative Industries and Intellectual Property Law can work together to share their specialized skills to ‘boost’ the economies of the Region. He believes that “the possibilities of the magic potion are endless”.

Our final article entitled “Technology: Powering the way we Manage the Arts” offers a challenge to Arts producers. This excellent pre-

sentation by Simone Harris provides important information on the Technology needed for Management of Arts productions, guaranteed to assist Arts Managers who are constantly on the run to achieve their objectives, thereby allowing them to “work smarter and not harder”.

Other items included in this issue speak to NDTC activities that have taken place over the past six months. They include: Commentaries, News & Reviews: Here Associate Artistic Director Marlon Simms brings us up-to-date with important events that have occurred since reading Journal #4. A new section introduces the NDTC Trainee dancers – a group of extra-talented young people who form part of the Renewal and Continuity process, and who have already found a comfortable space in our NDTC home.

Reports & Remembrances focuses on remembering the NDTC Co-founders Rex Nettleford and Eddy Thomas who have both ‘made the transition’ but continue to live in our hearts. Remembering Rex Nettleford is a report on the memorial performance mounted in February of this year by the Rex Nettleford Foundation, the UWI Singers, and the NDTC to commemorate his birthday.

The journal ends with a beautiful tribute to Eddy Thomas who transitioned April 10, 2014. Written by Alma MockYen, CD, the author shares her dance experiences with this ‘unusually gifted man’ who co-founded the NDTC in l962. May he Rest in Peace.

Break a Leg! C

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SPOTLIGHT

Celebrating Jamaica’s Evolving Dance Heritage: Step by Step CITATION IN TRIBUTE TO JAMAICAN DANCE INDUSTRY The University of Technology, Jamaica through the dynamic platform of its annual Literary Festival and Showcase, seeks to honour the men and women who have given brand Jamaica its global appeal. This year’s event celebrates the prowess, creativity, vision and entrepreneurial skills of a range of practitioners in the Jamaican dance industry.

Movement, as captured in dance, completes the dialogue that is music, transcending even the lyrical content emanating from song. As cultural expression, it is the most engaging mode of communication, embodying, as it does diverse values, messages and themes.

Historically, Jamaica has always been a nation enamoured by dance. One of the most revered records of colonialism is that of Isaac Mendes Belisario, reputedly the first documented Jamaican artist. His best known work produced in 1837, titled “Sketches of Character Habits, Occupation and Costume of the Negro Population in the island of Jamaica” comprised twelve (12) hand coloured lithographs, seven of which were images from the masquerades commonly performed by the enslaved during the Christmas season.

The works “Christmas Amusements” depicted overlapping performances: the Sets, the Actor Boys, and Jonkonnu.

Among the popular images is the ‘Queen of the dancing Girls’ and that of ‘Koo Koo’ or Actor Boy, widely known as ‘John Canoe’. The National Gallery of Jamaica in documenting this outstanding 19th century artist noted that Belisario’s images became models for the revival of Jonkonnu in the 1950s.

Jonkonnu was one of the early dance forms and bore the solid stamp of African heritage, as well as a clear evidence of European influence, as was true also for the Maypole, a significant European derivative, and the Quadrille. The genre emerged in Jamaica in the late 18th century when the European settlers of the island showcased its elegance and beauty. The enslaved African mimicked and even ridiculed the dance form but soon, added their own flair to the movements.

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In addition to its European influences, African dance retentions were practised widely by the enslaved. Out of these arose the ‘grass roots’, of the Dance Industry. As well a the ‘branded’ faces of the groups, and individuals essential to the performances, dance forms such as Kumina, Revival and Dinki Mimi, became synonymous with certain parishes and communities in Jamaica. For example, St. Thomas is ‘Kumina land’ and the late great Kumina-Queen, Imogene “Queenie” Kennedy, was the face of the genre and of Port Morant, Dalvy and Seaforth Kumina groups. Likewise, Mallica Kappo Reynolds became the most identifiable figure associated with Revival as practised primarily in parts of St. Andrew, Kingston, St. Catherine, St. Ann and Hanover. Dinki Mini was for a long time a staple in St. Mary. The Islington Cultural Group has safeguarded the dance form which over time became popular across Jamaica, with its vibrant waist-gyrations. The dance is also known as Zella in Portland and Gerreh in the West of the island. Bruckins strictly defined as traditional Jamaican influenced by the Europeans Pavanne emerged as Bruckins Party – a celebration of the abolition of slavery. g

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We salute the cultural bearers and practitioners such as the Manchioneal Cultural Group in Portland and its head custodian, Richard Derby who must be lauded for his single handed efforts to champion the teaching of the folk forms across the country.

The relevance and necessity of cultural groups becomes even more evident when history speak to African-derived dances such as Ettu practised by the Pell River Ettu Group, Hanover; Tambu safeguarded by the Wakefield Cultural Group, Trelawny and Gumbay practised by the Lacovia Gumbay Group in St. Elizabeth. Emanating from these cultural groups are ordinary Jamaicans who continue to be legends in their villages. The nation’s Maroon communities must also be recognized for safeguarding many of these dance forms that reflect African heritage.

Dance was to be given a more nationalistic presence through the development of contemporary dance theatre. Such was the case in the 1950s, when nationalism was high on the national agenda.

The iconic Ivy Baxter in establishing the Ivy Baxter Dance Group brought sublimity, finesse and precision to dance. Here was a diverse dance vocabulary expressed through Caribbean folk tales and songs, work songs and classical recordings. Membership included figures such as Avis Henriques, Alma Mock Yen, Enid Douglas and Buddy Pouyatt and later expanded to embrace household names such as the late Professor Rex Nettleford, Clive Thompson and Eddy Thomas.

Thomas, trained by Ivy Baxter, was to create his own group in the 1960s – the Eddy Thomas Dance Workshop, renamed the Jamaica Dance Theatre in the late 70’s. His tutor clearly had a profound influence on Thomas who mastered in performance the rhythms of the Jamaican-Caribbean folk, jazz and a range of modern dance forms.

As a dancer, artist, choreographer, and musician Eddy Thomas remains a widely-respected figure in the Dance Industry.

Thomas’ intellectually charged dance colleague from the Ivy Baxter Dance Company, Rex Nettleford, was himself poised to leave an indelible mark on both the national and international dance stages.

The Company he co-founded with Thomas in 1962, the National Dance Theatre Company of Jamaica (NDTC), was to become the leading dance theatre company in the island and the region. Former Prime Minister and current Chancellor of the University of Technology, Jamaica, Most Hon. Edward Seaga in a 2010 Gleaner interview, noted of Nettleford:

“There was a strong willingness on his part to absorb Jamaican culture, which I believe is his greatest contribution. It’s on that basis that the NDTC became such a force.”

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The exposure of the company members to Kumina and Revival meetings, an experience which Mr. Seaga was instrumental in facilitating, resulted in some of the group’s most memorable dance routines.

These religious rituals brought with them musical ‘staples’ such as the drum, an instrument that would arguably emerge as a virtual ‘practitioner’ in dance, a consequence of its vibrant and often haunting ‘voice’ in the ‘stories’ that unfolds on stage. NDTC’s rhythmic use of the Drum is distinctive but the Company, like all its counterparts, embraces music of all genres in choreography. Musicians like Marjorie Whylie, ‘Minky’ Jefferson, Wigmoore Francis, Tony Holness, Henry Miller, Billy Lawrence, Paul Green, Ewan Simpson and Jesse Golding, Calvin Mitchell and Phillip Supersad must therefore be included in any chronicle of dance development in Jamaica.

In a similar vein, dance cannot unfold without the fundamental tenets of research, composition, artistic direction, promotion and marketing, areas that were to be strengthened locally through the creation of a number of institutions.

Doubtless, the very necessity of dance in the whole process of cultural transformation itself spurred the birth and growth of agencies such as the Jamaican Festival Commission in 1968, (re-named the g

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Jamaica Cultural Development Commission in 1980); the African Caribbean Institute of Jamaica (ACIJ) in 1970, the formation of the School of Dance also in 1970 and of course the Jamaica Memory Bank in 1980. The Protection of Jamaica’s traditional dance forms would be in jeopardy without the ACIJ and pioneer researchers within the institution such as the late Olive Lewin. Let us not forget either the role of the festival of the Arts Dance Competition led by the JCDC, which unearths numerous talents annually, and importantly, contributes to the constant refinement of what the literature describes as “Festival (dance) vocabulary and style.”

As the Jamaica Festival Commission, however, this agency has had a crucial community impact in supporting, facilitating and promoting through its training sessions, performances of the highest calibre. The University takes pleasure in saluting the Tivoli Dance Troupe as the most noted success story coming out of the JCDC Festival of the Arts Dance competition. The dynamism of the group speaks volumes to the reason it is the longest standing entrant in the competition since 1976 this under the guidance of Founding Director, Jennifer Morgan-Garwood and current Directors, Robertha Daley and Annette Dennister.

to the creation of the School of Dance as well as the early development of dance theatre in Jamaica. Rose remained with the NDTC for twenty years, and choreographed some 13 original works. Another outstanding NDTC member, Barry Moncrieffe also imparted his technical expertise as a teacher at the School of Dance. His years as a dancer/Artistic Coordinator within the National Dance Theatre most likely prepared him for the classroom.

Moncrieffe today serves as Artistic Director of the NDTC.

The landmark achievement in institutional development was the creation of the Jamaica School of Dance, led by the National Dance Theatre Company. Barbara Requa, as founder of the school, ensured that dance education gained the required academic and technical strengthening, a process that also engaged the late Professor Rex Nettleford and Sheila Barnett, as it did Bert Rose.

Barnett, a master dancer, choreographer, researcher, and teacher, enjoyed a long and successful professional sojourn in the industry. Her work as a researcher earned her respect as ‘a major authority on Caribbean movement and Jamaican Jonkonnu’. Others have since carried on the mantle in Dance research to include Hilary Carty, Joyce Campbell and Cheryl Ryman. Bert Rose, one of the NDTC’s original 17 dancers, contributed

Students and graduates of the School of Dance have welcomed the mushrooming of dance companies in Jamaica which have permitted dancers to perform, to develop their techniques and of course to access employment opportunities for a range of skill sets that include choreography, artistic direction, set design, and musical accompaniment . International Dancer and Artistic Director, Tony Wilson, was among the first of the original principals in the business with his Company Dance Theatre established in 1979 and operating out of Chicago, USA. Wilson eventually returned to the island in 1982, making Jamaica the Company’s new home. The Company continues to reinvent itself thus igniting the next generation of dancers. Just one year earlier, Monica Campbell McFarlane, supported by partners

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A number of notable educators have built on the foundation of excellence in Dance Education. Among them is Dr. Nicholeen DeGrasse Johnson, an alumna of the Jamaica School of Dance, who took up the leadership reins of the Caribbean’s premier Dance institution between 1999 and 2012, a function she executed with distinction. Her passion as an educator is undeniably evidenced by her continued commitment to the development of Dance education, even with new mandate as Principal of the Edna Manley College. The University of Technology unreservedly recognizes the educators of this tertiary institution and specifically acknowledges its national, regional and global impact.

Pat Grant-Heron, Michelle Tappin-Lee and Denise Desnoes, set out to build a reputable Movement Dance Company performing to both traditional and Caribbean rhythms. The Dance landscape spurred diversification by emerging companies and in L’Acadco, headed by Dr. L’Antoinette Stines; there has been an engaging interpretation of indigenous and contemporary dances. Stines utilized her expertise to help place Jamaican dance on the world stage. The company’s yearly travels to the Caribbean and to Asia presented Jamaican culture in intensely researched and highly stylized choreographic routines.

Her thirty years in the industry was fittingly celebrated in 2012 and the Creative Director seems unabated in her efforts to build training and education in dance. The same holds true for Educator and Choreographer, Barbara McDaniel, a founding member of The Company Dance Theatre as well as of the Wolmer’s Dance Troupe in 1991. Her young dancers have demonstrated riveting performances season after season and her directorship of Dance Theatre Xaymaca, established in 1996, is among Ms. McDaniel’s most telling accomplishments. Also holding the mantle for young talented Jamaicans is Artistic Director and Co-founder of Stella Maris Dance Ensemble, Dr. MoniKa Lawrence who in 1993 created a distinctive space for dancers at the Stella Maris Preparatory school. Over its 20-year history, the group has matured in its striking delivery of diverse works, and now embraces and nurtures talent outside the school community.

As music genres developed in Jamaica, so did dance moves, particularly with the emergence of dancehall. Dance began to enjoy more prominence, styles often being created even before musical score was written. The street dancers’ ingenuity has enabled them often to tailor moves that though not fluid, still stand the test of time. The late Gerald ‘Bogle’ Levy regarded as “the patriarch of street dancing” got his name from the popular dancehall move he created. Bogle was his breakout hit; other notable dances attributed to him include Willie Bounce, Wacky

Dip, Weddy Weddy and Stookie. Without a doubt, Bogle paved the way for many street dancers to include – David ‘Ice’ Smith; Kimiko ‘Kim Versatile’ Miller; Keiva ‘the Diva’ Hibbert; Latoya Style; Chad ‘Global Bob’ Torrington; and Mystic Davis – to mention some popular ones. These practitioners seek to bring prominence to this niche through the international promotion of stage performances and their efforts to copyright their dance moves.

The future of the industry rests in the hands of those who are striving to safeguard this intangible asset through creative entrepreneurship untapping its marketing value and strengthening the technical, production and training elements of dance. Leading examples are Amaneya Stines, Jessica Shaw, Kareen Mclean, Patrick Earle, Kerry-Ann Henry, Marisa Benain, Marlon Simms, Kevin Moore, Oniel Pryce, Neila Ebanks, Sodanne Browne, Phillip Clarke, Jennifer Small, Orville Hall and Yendi Phillipps.

As we embark on another five decades of national independence, we can anticipate that the Dance Industry will continue to mature significantly, even while the discipline keeps evolving. We are confident that a growing vocabulary of dance will persist and that the companies, institutions, practitioners and bearers in the industry will be of one accord, as they celebrate the diversity, vibrancy, and inherent creativity of Jamaican dance. C Thursday, March 20, 2014

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Over the years, the Dance as an art-form has developed dimensions which have far outstripped the expectations of the rather humble beginnings and has emerged during the period immediately preceding and following Independence as one of the most dynamic art-forms in Jamaica. Important beginnings were, indeed, made by the late Hazel Johnson in the field of classical ballet which is carried on by teachers today who came under her influence. But i

the dance for Jamaicans is as old as life itself and seems to “grasp something that has nothing in common with language, being the living law ... of (our) enthusiasm and despair, (our) hopes and regrets”. The storehouse of our dance-lore is probably best discovered in another century when the society that has been bequeathed to us in the 20th Century, consolidated and formed itself. Plantation revelries produced among the otherwise miserable i

DANCE IN JAMAICA PROF. REX NETTLEFORD

as an art-form which seeks to relate itself to the realities of the Jamaican situation, this could only have come when Jamaicans were more or less decided among themselves that there was a Jamaican situation which could be expressed in this art-form.

It is against this background of national consciousness and pride that the Jamaican, Ivy Baxter, emerged in the early fifties with her vision of seeing people ‘move on the stage’ to the sounds and rhythms in which Jamaica abounds. But although Jamaica had its folksongs, ring games, mento, and Anancy stories, there was no ample reservoir of rich, variegated or integrated dance tradition as may be found in the islands of the Eastern Caribbean. The plunge was therefore into the creative and sometimes abstract, and what emerged were dances composed out of the spirit rather than the letter of Jamaican folksong and stories. For like our folk hero, Brer Anancy, the spirit of Jamaican dance is difficult to pin down, is elusive and, for that reason, power-ful.

This is not to deny the dance in Jamaica any genuine foundations that are rooted in the history and collective experiences of the Jamaican. As for people elsewhere,

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slaves’ dances which they had obviously copied from their Jamaican masters with the important difference that they underscored the music with a more complex and satisfying (to them at least) rhythmic pattern.

The Quadrille which has its counterparts in the Spanish and French Caribbean, could well be called the national dance of Jamaica, more robust than the 18th Century European Court Dances of which it is a creolised version, and less ‘square’ than the wheeling, yippeeing American square dance, which seem to share a common heritage. This European influence persisted among the John Canoe masqueraders who, according to travel writers of an earlier period, were complete with powdered wigs and Georgian dress, but cut capers and went through antics which betrayed African origins in the dancing. This particular dance and ceremony might have developed into something of a Carnival had it not been for those in authority who, fearing the sounds of drums and the symbolism of the masks, did everything to discourage it.

The religious up-stirrings which followed Emancipation in 1838 produced Chris-

Kerry-Ann Henry, Tamara Noel, Marisa Benain, Maia Pereira, Terry-Ann Dennison (foreground) Patrick Earle, Mark Phinn, Paul Newman (background) in DIS POEM Chor. Rex Nettleford Photo: Stuart Reeves

tianity and missionaries but also Revivalism and Shepherds. And this so-called cult form which is dying out in the face of modernisation, presents yet another reservoir of folk material for dance art. The spectacle and colour of the ceremonies is enhanced by the variety of rhythms and counterpoint movements that come from trampling feet, contracting diaphragms and expanding larynges. The religious and other ceremonies of the Kumina people in Jamaica also provide matter for dance-theatre and the ‘hip-saw’ Kingston, Jamaica movement (a forward-backward contraction-release movement of the pelvis) lives today not only among these people, but in the public dancehalls and private parties.

Among the warlike Maroons of the Jamaica Cockpit Country Dances commemorating Yam Festivals, court trials, weddings, funerals, are said to have existed, and recent discoveries have given the Limbo to the old people in Accompong who called it Masumba, since the men shuffled under the stick held horizontally starting at the navel (masumba) height.

But these are not the only sources; the day-to-day activities and experiences of a tough but sturdily independent peasant life

provides mimetic material for the imaginative and resourceful dance creator. It can be cutting cane, it can be mending roads, it can be planting corn, it can be digging yam holes, it can be riding jackass, it can be ‘cyarrying wata’, and of course it can be the expression of the universal emotions such as rejoicing (in a bruckins), sorrowing, hating or loving. The dances can reflect the satirical and humorous spirit of the folk material of Jamaica. They can also catch the drama of the legends — Rose Hall, Lovers Leap, Three Finger Jack, Nanny and Cudjoe.

The problem of maintaining any Performing Art movement in Jamaica is one of continuity in the face of a mainly amateur situation. For most people the theatre is still a hobby and it is interesting to note that in the present Company at Stratford, performers fill different occupations in various fields ‘back home’ — in the civil service, in law, in social welfare, in teaching, in University Extension and in commerce. This indeed brings to the theatre in Jamaica a wealth of attitudes and experiences gotten from a wider life, but it also presents the ever-present difficulties attendant on an amateur situation. g

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As for people elsewhere, the dance for Jamaicans is as old as life itself and seems to “grasp something that has nothing in common with language, being the living law ... of (our) enthusiasm and despair, (our) hopes and regrets”

Over the past four years, however, the best dancers in Jamaica (first as members of the Ivy Baxter Dance Group and the Eddy Thomas Dance Workshop, then as the Jamaica Company of Dancers and later as the Dance Theatre Group) have emerged into the National Dance Theatre Company of Jamaica, which comprise the cream of Jamaican trained dancers from the leading schools (ballet and creative) of the island.

This Company, under the direction of Rex Nettleford and Eddy Thomas, has established what has been termed “an enviable reputation for high standards in the field of dancing ... demonstrating that a ‘quality’ performance and first-class entertainment are perfectly compatible one with the other”. Moreover, local audiences are increasingly insisting on works that betray a professional approach even if the groups are amateur; probably more so from Dance Groups, for Jamaicans excel in dance.

This interest has been reflected in the dynamism of the ‘creative dance movement’ since the late forties, in the University Extension Summer Schools in Dance, in the fostering of dance by The Little Theatre Movement in its annual Pantomime, in the dance and drama recreation programme of the leading social welfare agency in the island, and in the formation of a National Dance Company which places emphasis on excellence. The creative dance movement has received important re-inforcements from visiting tutors like Lavinia Williams of Haiti, Beryl McBurnie of Trinidad, Neville Black of Chicago, and Eyrick Darby of Jamaica, now working in Nassau, who have helped to ground theatre

dancing on positive and sound technical foundations. Such foundations have been further strengthened by the return of Eddy Thomas, co-director of the NDTC, a 1959 Jamaica Government Arts Awardee, who studied with Martha Graham in New York, and other leading American dance exponents. Both Eddy Thomas and Rex Nettleford have taken dance-theatre in Jamaica further along the line to professionalism by insisting on high standards, rigid training and encouragement of talent.

Meanwhile, much of the work which is being done by ‘dance laboratories’ in Kingston, the capital, find their way back into the Jamaican countryside, both through the efforts of trained dancers and particularly through the Jamaican Social Welfare Commission. In the city itself, the dance schools have increased with the new teaching activities of the National Company’s members. The JSWC continues its tremendous task of encouraging dancing among numerous groups in every single parish of the island. These groups dance for their own pleasure, but they have also brought joy to thousands in the performances they have given all over the countryside. The Ivy Baxter Dance Group, the pioneer creative dance studio, The Eddy Thomas Dance Workshop, and classical ballet schools carry on the work of basic training in technique and performing. For the future there are a great many hopes to be realised in the dance, for the movement has grown and is growing. Op-portunities, then, for cultural interchange can only help to foster this growth. C Originally Published in NDTC Programme Brochure 1963

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Marisa Benain in THE CROSSING Chor. Rex Nettleford Photo: Stuart6Reeves

DANCE THEATRE AS CATALYST

FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF JAMAICA’S CREATIVE INDUSTRIES DR. SABINE SÖRGEL

DANCE AND DEVELOPMENT: THE NDTC’S CREATIVE JOURNEY 1962 - 2014 In order to understand the development of the creative industries as a more and more important and vital aspect of the global economy, one first of all needs to consider the shift that has taken place in the global market since the mid to late 1990s whereby the creative industries now make up the fastest growing industry sector worldwide (Henry, 2007). As a merger of high and low brow culture, the creative industries feed on the artistic creativity and talent of the few to popularize and sell their products amongst the many. At the same time, and this is the route I would like to take here, dichotomies between high and low culture as well as art and commerce are no longer clear cut as both realms increasingly inform each other.

Jamaica’s NDTC is perhaps a prime example of this development and demonstrates the force and potential of dance theatre as a catalyst for creative industrial development. By briefly highlighting a few key moments in the NDTC’s history over the past fifty-two years, I hope

to situate the company’s work in the broader debate that links creativity with the creative industries on a communal, national and global level. More specifically, the argument will be made that Jamaica’s local variant of a largely modern dance based National Dance Theatre company articulates an alternative route to many other more directly commercially oriented brandings of dance for the music industry and also tourism by promoting citizenship and independence as vital tools for democratic development and economic growth.

Africanist Links: Creativity and Talent Jamaica’s geographical location as one of the bigger islands in the Caribbean stands out for its large number of different Africanist dance forms (Myal, Jonkonnu, Dinki-Mini, Maypole, Bruckins, Quadrille, Gumbay, Revival, Kumina and Gerreh to name but a few) which form a vital part of the island’s longstanding cultural heritage (see Ryman 1980). African roots on the island form a cradle of creativity and talent that extends from the performing arts to reggae, dancehall and sports. Creativity in g

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THE CROSSING Chor. Rex Nettleford Photo: Stuart Reeves

Jamaica is evidently linked to embodied memory and survival as the key strategy that people preserved who had survived the hardships and trauma of the Middle Passage and colonialism.

Historically, grass roots culture in Jamaica became the backbone of self-determination and healing that should shape a nation after independence to fully come into its own. ‘Roots and Rhythms’ was thus the first choreography Rex Nettleford and Eddy Thomas presented in 1962 to celebrate Africanist ancestry as the source of local stamina and creative impulse (see Nettleford, 1969 and 1985). Over the next decade or two, dance theatre established the creative link between Jamaica’s cultural capital Kingston and the rural parishes and local communities starting a phase of exploration and consolidation of the cultural heritage.

Founding members of the NDTC thus aligned with musicologist Edward Seaga and others in Jamaican politics and at the University of the West Indies (UWI), such as Sherlock and Bennett (1998) for example, to create and rewrite Jamaica’s history of cultural survival and independence to lead all the way into the new millennium. Now, for the first time, students will read history written by their own people rather than somebody else.

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The Little Theatre in the heart of Kingston soon became the NDTC’s longstanding artistic home marking its central status to Jamaica’s cultural development during the 1960s and 70s. Dance theatre soon evolved as an important factor in the institutionalisation of Jamaica Festival and the Cultural Development Commission spearheaded by Joyce Campbell, one of the NDTC’s founding members. Those early efforts in cultural development established important links between dance and education as well as community from which future creative industries should emerge. Not only were children all over Jamaica now educated in rural dance forms and drumming, but they also learnt to overcome prejudices of class and culture previously instilled by the British colonial system. At the same time, Edna Manley College of the Visual & Performing Arts facilitated dance training that not only provided students with degrees as dance teachers but also led to careers and studies abroad. The NDTC’s network created vital links at home and on tour worldwide and established contacts to other dance companies in the Caribbean (Cuba, Haiti) and the US (Alvin Ailey, Dance Theatre of Harlem) which continue to flourish today (see Nettleford, 2009).

As a recent study by Gibson points out, cultural production and consumption are always embedded in social systems and relationships (2012, p. 19). Cities such as Kingston thus draw from different resources that bring together people around shared interests and topics – developers, planners, arts critics and researchers – all of whom have contributed and supported the growth of the NDTC over the years. Rex Nettleford alongside other intellectuals of his generation took care to promote and publicise their vision of cultural emancipation and freedom thereby creating alternative role models of political leadership and self-determination for future Jamaicans to build on. A trained sociologist with an Oxford degree in his pocket, Nettleford served as the Vice-Chancellor of the University of the West Indies during his later years thus interconnecting arts and higher education through his diverse work as artistic director, principal dancer and academic scholar. Critical debates on Jamaican cultural identity thus emerged from the dance works he choreographed as they grew from each individual dancer’s contribution to the company and expressed the country’s postcolonial struggle towards independence (see Nettleford, 2003). As an embodied art form dance has thus shaped Jamaican cultural identity and self-perception ever since linking memory and survival in historically meaningful ways that affirm cultural subjectivity and difference in the face of global politics and influence.

As Gibson’s study on the creative industries further elucidates, there is a direct connection between local arts, volunteerism and community. This appears as yet another key factor to establish a vital link between dance theatre and the creative industries as dance theatre is mostly focused on the production of symbolic capital that furthers creativity to enable global proliferation and networking (2012, p. 20). According to his logic, dance theatre in Jamaica forms around members of the socalled ‘creative class’ – that is to say people who cater to the local community without direct ‘money-making’ objective – and yet by

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doing so they create and develop an economic market for the desired good as a subsequent outcome of their artistic endeavour. Hence, it is no surprise to see many Jamaican dancers in commercial theatre and dance companies all over the world ranging from Ailey’s Revelations to the West End’s Lion King or Bill T. Jones’ Fela!.

Unlike the presentation of Jamaican folk dance, reggae and dancehall in the local tourist sector on the North coast, the NDTC’s claim of producing high art in a somewhat Western-Eurocentric tradition at the Little Theatre in Kingston upholds ideals of citizenship and freedom that do not easily sell out to the threat of global market forces. In that sense, the NDTC manages to produce an alternative nationalism that maintains some of the European enlightenment’s best promise yet to be fulfilled. Indeed, in Jamaica the enlightenment project has not yet failed or sold out – at least on behalf of the NDTC’s educational mission – as it enables a forum for self-expression and pride reversing the Eurocentric mirror by performing Africanist arts and sensibilities from within the Western theatre frame (see Sorgel, 2007). As a non-for-profit organisation the NDTC thus facilitates the global exchange of creativity and talent which are the backbone of the creative industries at home and abroad (see Hartley, 2005). In that sense, dance theatre provides an invaluable asset to Jamaica’s local and global economy.

As an embodied art form dance has thus shaped Jamaican cultural identity and self-perception ever since linking memory and survival in historically meaningful ways that affirm cultural subjectivity and difference in the face of global politics and influence. C

“LEST WE PERISH”

A VISION FOR CULTURAL ENTERPRISE AND THE CREATIVE INDUSTRIES IN JAMAICA MICHAEL HOLGATE A colleague and friend of mine Neila Ebanks once choreographed a powerful dance entitled ‘lest we perish’ which invited us to answer the call of that line in the Jamaican national anthem “Give us vision lest we perish.” I am borrowing that title from her as a mantra to allow me to tap into what I see as a need for a stronger vision and greater energy around the possibilities for growth in Jamaica’s cultural and creative industries. As such, I am responding as if I have been personally called.

So I write here, to answer the call. I write from the position of an invested observer, cultural practitioner and visionary Jamaican. Hopefully, I’m being forward thinking here and not just ‘forward’ in our colloquial sense as in… meaning… ‘nuff.’ I write because I (like many cultural practitioners) see what’s possible. I write because I believe in what’s possible for Jamaican culture and creative industries. And finally, I write because I am allowed the privilege to write down this vision. I write this as a vision and not as a critical analysis of all that is not being done, because I believe there is a big empty room waiting for an injection of such visions.

I once heard an artist use a term ‘empty-full’ and I like it because it suggests that within what is so obviously lacking, there can be something that is wholesome and complete.

It also suggests the contrary that within that which is satisfyingly comprehensive and

wide-ranging, there can be a dearth of the right and sufficient ideas to make it whole. Such (I believe) is the ‘empty-fullness’ of the Creative Industries in Jamaica. I also believe however, that enough energy and focus from stakeholders from all areas will make a difference and ultimately fill-in the empty spaces within the fulsome possibilities for cultural and creative industry that exists in Jamaica. So here is one more vision on the road to being ‘fully-full.’

FULL TIME NOW A FULL cultural awakening is on the horizon.

It is fully time. We must now move beyond the point of knowing the value of our culture, to the point of using it to enrich and prosper Jamaicans. It is arguably one of our greatest resources and ‘creative industries’ is one of the new ‘catch-phrase’ bandwagons. Almost everyone praises culture, from politicians to beauty queens to athletes and businessmen/women.

Jamaicans know the power of our culture and the value of it and yet what is lacking is the commitment to put it to work for us. Where would countries like Iran and Saudi Arabia be if they only recognized the value of their oil resources but refused to put the infrastructure and investments in place to make it work for them? What if they only put lip-service into oil production and allowed the few who had interest in it to ‘do a ting’? It is time to fully utilize our cultural resources for the benefit of the Jamaican people.

Kerry-Ann Henry & Allatunje Connell in ODE Chor. Clive Thompson Photo: Stuart Reeves

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A part of the problem is that culture, in many ways is such a non-physical product and so many people don’t know how to treat it or invest in it in practical ways for real development. That is no excuse however, for a country calling itself a ‘cultural superstate’ and claiming to be as culturally sophisticated as ours.

All around the globe, people are searching for renewable sources of energy and income.

Bauxite can be used up in time, but the creative imagination of our people is inexhaustible. There might be equally beautiful beaches in other parts of the world to excite tourist interest, but the cultural phenomenon that is Jamaica has captured the imagination of the world and won’t let it go. Our economic progress has not equaled our cultural development and it is time to place culture at the forefront of development in order to drive our economic prosperity. What we must ask ourselves is “What does it take to fulfil on Jamaica’s potential as a Cultural Power house?”

There are no quick solutions to this question, and in fact the cultural plan would need an ongoing working session with creative professionals but it is clear that it is time for the kind of support, respect and credibility to our creative and cultural sector, which is long overdue.

LET’S FACE THE FACTS One of the fears that surfaces in any program to look at Cultural Enterprise, and the Creative Industry relates to a feeling that -“if it isn’t broken, don’t fix it.” After all, Jamaica’s cultural face on the local and international scene seems recognizably strong and is working, on some important levels. The truth, however, is that a more organized, thoughtful and well-developed approach will help to strengthen not hurt or destroy. To go back to the analogy used earlier, we can see that the Oil producing countries of the world became stronger and wealthier when they applied useful policy and infrastructural mechanisms to support their g

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VISION “A united, First world Jamaica where creativity and culture are at the forefront of development.”

1. To create workable models, not by ‘reinventing the wheel’ but to use (where possible) successful cultural and economic models that have worked all over the world in different capacities and find ways of implementing them within the Jamaican context.

2. To use the creative power of Jamaican cultural practitioners; cultural academics; creative minds; economic strategists; creative entrepreneurs and policy makers to develop innovative new strategies for pulling together a cohesive and fully functional Cultural Enterprise and creative industry that works as it should.

SIEMPRE CORRIENDO Chor. Ramon Ramos Photo: Stuart Reeves

industries. No less should be done for Jamaica’s cultural ‘black gold’. Some fear that too much intervention will force culture to become ‘commodified’ as a sort of tourist play-thing, supporting ‘minstrelsy’ and thereby disempowering the practitioners and destroying the culture itself. With the right approach and in the right context however, we can create structures to equally protect the culture while developing and showcasing it for Jamaicans and the world.

For a vibrant Cultural Enterprise and Creative Industry sector to come fully into being, the intention is:

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A critical part of the process towards the development of a vibrant sector as intended above is to stop paying ‘lip-service’ to culture and instead put specific policies in place while implementing projects, based on the understandings mentioned above. Above, I put forward a vision for a unified Jamaican cultural and creative industry.

As this is not a policy document but my own personal ‘visioning’ for the Creative Industries sector and in lieu of writing objectives, I have chosen to support the vision and mission I put forward for this ‘movement’ by touching on various considerations related to the development of such a sector. Hopefully, it will stimulate some thought in the reader while honoring my commitment to the ‘word count’. As part of the unified vision and work-plan for the sector, the following ideas would be ‘fleshed-out’ and explored towards the creation of a cohesive policy document, then developed into an implementation plan. This includes:

CULTURAL ICON THINK TANK The creation of a National Think Tank with stalwart practitioners in the field of culture and creative arts. This includes persons such as Brian Heap; Noel Dexter; Marjorie Whylie; Barbara Requa and Eugene Williams among others.

CREATING A RENAISSANCE CITY The redevelopment of downtown Kingston according to Cultural zones – with arts and culture at the centre. This project will feature the “Out of many one people” nature of our community and create zones to represent our multicultural society. In this respect Europe, Africa, China, India and the Indigenous peoples who helped shape our society will have specially zoned areas for development. The governments/ambassadors of these various respective countries would also be invited to contribute towards the development of ‘their’ zones in respect to rehabilitation of buildings.

Each zone would be organized around a central arts/cultural building or facility such as: museum; exhibition space; theatre space etc.

These would be spaces that facilitate local art works as well as works from the respective countries contributing to the development of the zones. Possible zoning could include: – the Spanish quarter – little England – African Village – China Town – little India – Taino Town - Caribbean Community. Singapore’s ‘Esplanade’ on the waterfront near the mouth of the Singapore River is an example of this.

INTERNATIONAL FESTIVALS • The creation of a yearlong festival of the arts calendar (featuring the different festivals which take place each year in Jamaica), which is marketed globally, regionally and locally.

• A month-long Kingston Festival of the arts that takes advantage of a newly refurbished downtown Kingston space as a major tourist attraction.

• Developing festival spaces which operate as all-year-long venues for activities related to the festival such as monthly open mics poetry performances, and book readings, musical showcases, art installations etc.

NATIONAL RECREATIONAL PROGRAMS In addition to the development of the more accepted types of recreation such as sports and other forms of leisure, there would be instituted other programmes such as ‘Car Free Sundays’ – (as in Indonesia) in special zones where Jamaicans are encouraged to walk or ride bicycles from (for example) Half Way Tree to Papine – Sundays from 7:00am to 12:00 noon.

HERITAGE TOURISM Development of a Heritage Tourism programme that links all the heritage sites for creation of an island-wide tour of historic sites of local, g regional and international significance.

MISSION “To empower the people of Jamaica to be a demonstration of the enlightened use of culture and the creative arts, in the development of social and physical infrastructure; wealth; human equality; wholesome governance; and a happy, prosperity-minded society.”

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NATIONAL ARTS COMPANIES Opening up touring routes for our local performing arts companies to showcase their works internationally as a further means of developing the brand of Jamaica as a cultural superstate. g ESTABLISHING PROGRESSION ROUTES TO CAREERS IN THE ARTS FOR YOUNG PERFORMING ARTISTS • It is important to create a clear progression route for performing artists in Jamaica. When that is clear then it will be easier to show viability of a career in the arts to parents, teachers and the youths themselves.

• The Progression route would include: - High school choir, band, drama clubs - then JCDC competitions - Groups like Little People and Teen players/ Ashe/Stella Maris/ - then the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts - then Mentorship EMCVPA COLLEGE ROLE Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts is integral to the process as their students very often graduate and go into the corporate or seek gainful employment elsewhere in the world because of lack of opportunities. The Schools of Dance, Drama and Music are mostly training artists to train artists to train artists, with no real hope or scope for becoming professionals in the field. The college should include as part of their mandate, a focus on career placements for their students according to areas of strengths.

HIGH SCHOOLS • Work on educating high school administrators, as well as the guidance counselors about how to identify and support students with a high level of artistic and creative intelligence. There is still the tendency to send so called ‘smart’ students into the sciences or business even when they show great interest or talent as artists.

• It is important to develop the interests in the schools for participating fully in the CSEC Music and the Theatre Arts exams to start develop-

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ing proficiency in the performing arts from high school.

• The JCDC festival is one of the major performing arts outlets for High School students. It is important to scout talents from this program, especially as the vast numbers that pass through this festival go on to other non-artist related fields even though they show great promise. They need to be shown the viability of the arts as a career.

• Strengthen the music programs in schools by getting musicians and corporate sponsors to start donating instruments to school programs and developing bands from within schools.

UWI RESEARCH This is an invaluable tool for development of the creative/cultural industry. Many of us take it for granted that we know what is best for the industry, but until market research and other types of explorations are done and fully incorporated into the process of development, then it’s like throwing mud against a wall and hoping that some sticks.

WIDER SHOW VENUES Jamaica underutilizes resources. There are numerous heritage sites that could easily be the grounds for show venues, bringing in revenues to towns. There is too much of a Kingston focus on cultural events and activities.

INTERNATIONAL OUTREACH Credible booking agency network • There are literally hundreds of festivals that take place throughout Europe alone each year, that present possibilities and opportunities for Jamaican cultural groups. There is also the largely untapped markets of Africa, India, and Asia.

• Different performing arts organizations throughout Jamaica have established relationships with various promoters throughout the world. It would be very useful to bring these contacts together and create a touring route for performing arts groups.

Established as well as developing performing arts organizations could seasonally travel the world to deliver creative products. A production might for example go to the new Barbados Performing Arts Centre (or Frank Collymore Hall) – then The

Creative Arts Centre in Trinidad – then Guyana’s Main theatre – then Theatre Thalia in Suriname – etc. The performance route could then continue throughout the USA and the UK. TALENT INTEGRATION Musicals (originals) The musical is a form that is popular in the USA and England; it is easily accessible to Jamaica with its culture of ‘integration of the arts.’ There are many potential musicals already from the prolific creators of Reggae Music – In addition to this, new musicals can be created with modern story lines for an international audience that is eager for Jamaican culture. In the same way that Sarafina or Umoja can bring South African culture to life on the Broadway stage, Jamaica, which already occupies a space in the cultural psyche of the world can develop Broadway-ready material.

Disney’s the Lion King is densely populated with the talents of local performers from their many auditions here in the island. g

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Patrick Earle and Tamara Noel in rehearsals

Photo: Stuart Reeves

CONCLUSION This vision obviously also has its empty spaces. It in no way provides a full description of what is possible within the Cultural and Creative Industries. In fact, it is just the proverbial tip of the iceberg.

Culture is truly a large and unwieldy concept to grapple with, but if any society in the world is ready and capable of tackling it, Jamaica is that society. Jamaica can be an example to the world of the intelligent and powerful use of Culture towards the development of a Great Nation. C

clockwise - Neisha-yen Jones & Marlon Simms in ODE TO THE LOST; Jillian Samms & Paul Newman in ODE; Drummer Jesse Golding; NDTC Singers in performance; Kerry-Ann Henry, Kristina Graham & Mark Phinn in URBAN FISSURE; KUMINA Chor.

Rex Nettleford; Marlon Simms & Tamara Noel in THE CROSSING Chor. Rex Nettleford.

Photos: Stuart Reeves

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THE ROLE OF UNIVERSITIES IN THE ADVANCEMENT OF CREATIVE INDUSTRIES DR. JANICE LINDSAY

“In this modern society, students of the creative arts will have a distinct advantage. Creative arts students are the ones who will help to concretize the abstract thoughts of the new generation. They will be the ones who will create the visuals, sounds, and animation for new and innovative products and services. They will be the interface designers, graphic artists, animators, sound engineers, producers, advertising executives, and CEOs of the 21st century businesses.” 1 As an administrative manager of the creative arts, I was struck by the above quotation, because in many respects it endorses the views of many within the sector who are mandated to prepare an efficient and competitive labour force for the local and international markets. However, it is also a brutal reminder that educational institutions are a part of the failure facing the sector as, “Caribbean countries have been underperforming in most segments of the creative industries, even when benchmarked against other developing countries of similar size and level of development”2.

The reality is, the above, will not take shape without the necessary investment to help realize the fullest potential of creative arts students and by extension practitioners.

The conversation that will unfold in the next few paragraphs will be guided by my ongoing research of the heritage industry, and direct relationship with, experiences and observations of the creative industries in Jamaica and the Caribbean.

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Let us begin with an important fact that has yet to be given any priority attention among key stakeholders including our Universities. In as much as the creative industries have been ‘at work’ in the region for decades, there has been marginal success in documenting the true potential of the sector or even charting a path to its cohesive development because of a lack of data.

Globally, we know the impact of the creative industries. The sector has been growing at an annual rate of 14 per cent (UNCTAD, 2010; PIOJ, 2014), a trend likely to continue given the global demand among purposeful cultural tourists. In Jamaica, the data is disaggregated, with the copyright sector contributing 4.8 per cent to GDP or US$ 465 million and 3% employment (James, 2007; PIOJ 2014); while the recreational, cultural and sporting activities, accounted for 2.7 percent of GDP in 2010 and 2011 (PIOJ, 2014) and real gross sales for entertainment categories of which recorded productions are a part recorded

an increase of 5.3% in 2013 (PIOJ, 2014).

The data from the rest of the region is even more sparse, but, ECLAC’s sub regional headquarters for the Caribbean in its 2012 publication on the Creative Industries in the Caribbean, points to estimates of foreign exchange earnings for Trinidad (US$ 50-60 million from live performances); Barbados (US$20-25 million from festival tourism); Jamaica (US$80-100 million from the recording industry); and the OECS earning an estimated US$20-25 million from the creative industries. 3 Agreeably, statistics alone will not influence policy and the real gap is the misunderstanding of the creative industries, and the cultural heritage industry in general.

UNDERSTANDING THE INDUSTRIES BEYOND QUANTITATIVE DATA Two years ago I upgraded my Doctoral thesis into a book called, “The Paradox of Island Heritage in Nation Building: Examining the ‘diablemblem’ gripping Jamaica’s heritage industry”. The colourful vernacular used in the title is perhaps the single most telling element of the state of the Jamaican heritage industry. ‘Diablemblem’ is used to describe a situation which is in turmoil, a state of severe confusion.

The variables that were coming from the field research carried out in select cultural communities and among public and private sector industry experts, were many, complex and overlapping in ways that suggested a vicious cycle of hindrances to include values placed on heritage, insufficient heritage education and narrow outlook on the economics of heritage4.

These issues are in part failings of our education system. Arguably, our primary and secondary schools are not mature in their structure to take on the gamut of issues that must be addressed, but they do have a part to play. It is the tertiary system – our

colleges and universities - that must invest human and financial resources in this burgeoning sector.

Given the nature of the creative industries, where the creative intellect and energies of humans are an integral part of the finished product and/or service being offered, investment models must be multifaceted and carry an ability to appreciate that both tangible and intangible inputs into the sector are vital to its sustainability. But to realize sustainability we must recognize the value of measuring our creative capital. The United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) Human Development Index (HDI) is a unique tool that focuses on human development as a benchmark to indicate growth in a society. The UNDP in its 2009 Human Development Report noted that the strategic approach was a means, “to re-emphasize that people and their capabilities should be the ultimate criteria for assessing the development of a country” 5 (2009).

If we are to readily agree with Vergos when he states, “Creative arts students are the ones who will help to concretize the abstract thoughts of the new generation”, then there may be merit in expanding the scope of the HDI to embrace the creative and artistic ingenuity of people. This is a fundamental aspect of human development that should be ‘valued’ as part of efforts to measure productivity. With Jamaica’s international appeal in areas like sport, music and the visual and performing arts, what would the country’s showing in the HDI be if such a variable were factored into human development? This proposal is not abstract, as there are documented efforts to measure the economic value of culture to include the Cultural Satellite Account Framework, which represents a coherent framework for gathering and analysing statistical information on the economy of culture.6 g

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UNIVERSITIES AS INVESTMENT PARTNERS IN JAMAICA’S CREATIVE CAPITAL The above cited framework for measuring the creative activities is a complex exercise. The system that must be in place to ensure credible measurement requires, among other foci, rigorous and sustained research, investment in infrastructure and an acute understanding of the labour market needs. This is not a task that can be guided by just any stakeholder. Universities should challenge themselves and operate as investment partners, distinctively positioned to play multiple roles in advancing the creative industries to include: (1) guiding evidence based research originating from creative spaces; (2) helping identify relevant programmes of study that produce rounded and highly competitive creative practitioners and educators; and (3) establishing and managing first world creative facilities as businesses.

UNDERTAKING EVIDENCE BASED RESEARCH ORIGINATING FROM CREATIVE SPACES Universities are urgently needed to fill the knowledge gap to include defining the creative industries in Jamaica and the Caribbean. We also must decide, if we are using the terms cultural and creative interchangeably, or if there is a distinct difference between the two concepts. There are five7 documented models presented by international organizations including UNESCO and WIPO, which present classifications of the creative industries with the view of clarifying concepts and definitions.

As a region, it appears that we are seeing some merit in UNESCO’s outlook on the industries which present the cultural industries as the core segment of the creative industries.

Jamaica’s Vision 2030 Plan (PIOJ, 2009) has adapted UNESCO’s definition of the

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cultural industries as, “involving the creation, production and commercialization of contents which are intangible and cultural in nature, which are typically protected by copyright, and which may take the form of goods or services”. It further lists the components of the industries to include, “printing, publishing and multi-media, audio-visual, phonographic and cinematographic productions, crafts and design, architecture, visual and performing arts, sports, manufacturing of musical instruments, advertising and cultural tourism”, and noting that the, “extended definition based on UNESCO’s description is appropriate for Jamaica”(PIOJ, 2009).

Even while we can embrace general concepts and definitions, there is a need to examine what cultural assets are unique to each country to complete national models, as well as recognize that the evolving nature of cultural heritage means that the components making up the creative fabric of a country are ongoing.

The “Asia-Pacific Creative Communities: A Strategy for the 21st Century” provides an example of what is possible by way of targeted and evidence based research that reflects the realities of a country or region.

The model has at its core, an understanding of what the creative industries look like and provides a definition of the industries based solely on the Asian-Pacific context and experiences. It also outlines principles to help reformulate policy; and help place creative industries within local and national development plans; and popularized the concept of Creative Communities in the region.8 Evidence based research is the start of the overall investigations that must be sustained to ensure islands develop an inclusive, broad based sector. Agreeably, “creativity and creative communities may be the remaining enduring resources in the developing world” (Jodhpur Symposium, 2005) and as such our Universities in the region must invest in the establishment of

a Research Centre for the Creative Arts that will allow for the level of sustained research required for the industries. This is practiced globally, and the successes are endless to include North American, Asian and European models.

CRAFTING RELEVANT PROGRAMMES OF STUDY TO PRODUCE GLOBALLY COMPETITIVE CREATIVE PRACTITIONERS Historically, creative arts programmes in Jamaica and the Caribbean have been included as part of the University experience to enrich cultural life of the internal community and immediate environs 9. Empirical data still suggests, however, that the stigma of what is considered professional versus vocational hangs over the creative arts, and courses are offered to develop the softer skills of the student, a commendable stance of decades gone by. Universities are in a unique position to nullify that stigma while bringing academic and professional respectability to the disciplines and strengthening their entrepreneurial profile and viability. Coincidentally, the countries of the region where, “greater attention has been paid to the development and commercialization of creative activities”10 – are the seats of the Caribbean’s leading Universities to include the University of the West Indies (UWI), the University of Technology, Jamaica (UTech), Northern Caribbean University (NCU) and of course the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts (EMCVPA), the only institution of its kind solely dedicated to training creative practitioners.

The impetus is on these and other like-minded tertiary institutions to ensure that courses are structured around economic frameworks and models, wherein students are exposed to the business of the industries to include accounting, image-building and branding, and strategic

usage of information and communication technologies and social media. By extension, there must be a concerted effort to diversify programme delivery beyond traditional disciplines and certification.

It should not be far- fetched to have programmes that cut across tangible and intangible heritage to include historic preservation and illustration; urban design and fashion; or performing arts and art history. The diversity will force universities to invest in infrastructure, technology and human resources to ensure graduates enjoy superior learning experiences. Such a model is globally applied, and the Savannah College of Art and Design, appropriately branded by its motto, ‘the University for Creative Careers’,11 can be used as a bench mark for our local context.

The level of investment referenced above and seen in the SCAD model will guarantee a more sophisticated creative practitioner for a globally competitive creative industries market. There is merit in reviewing what Universities offer by way of training and how these programmes are offered to include online education. Admittedly, “the limited pool of tertiary graduates in the creative industries sector is of particular concern” (ECLAC, 2012), but it is also becoming necessary to produce ‘creatives’ who hold terminal degrees in their disciplines. I believe the door is open for at least one of our regional Universities to fill that gap in the delivery of post-graduate degrees in a number of disciplines.

This will help equip practitioners’ conduct and interpret research aimed at influencing policy, and importantly prepare them to become educators in the system. These are among the urgent issues that one hopes will be tackled in Jamaica through the Institutional Strengthening Sub-Committee of the National Cultural and Creative Industries Commission (NCCIC) 12.

While these initiatives are anticipated, the reality is that the economic landscape may not be able to sustain such levels of g

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investments. Is it prudent for all Universities to offer degree programmes in the creative industries? Are there sufficient numbers among potential students of the creative arts or creative practitioners to sustain programmes? What are the gaps in the skills set of practitioners and should Universities seek only to address these through the delivery of short courses? The latter may be the most strategic approach, particularly in light of ECLAC’s observation that there is “inadequate mechanisms for reaching the high-school graduates and persons with vocational training who predominate in the sector.” (2012) Should the region’s Universities instead focus their energies on developing collaborations with the Edna Manley College by way of programme delivery as is seen with the college’s MOU with UWI? Should the Edna Manley College be moving toward a new history in its academic development by pursuing University status, thereby giving itself latitude to meet the growing and sophisticated needs of the labour market?

What is not in question is the need to establish state of the art facilities to support the dynamic components of the region’s creative industries and the role of Universities in this regard.

ESTABLISHING AND MANAGING CREATIVE FACILITIES AS BUSINESSES

that the University will have to see through if it is to stake a credible presence as an investor in the creative industries. Its recent plans to extend the mandate of the Centre for the Arts to include Heritage Research15 will mean a revision of the existing plans for the cultural centre, to include a museum and additional exhibition spaces. The investment would not be in isolation of the aforementioned initiatives, which will be positioned as an incubator for teaching, learning and hosting consumers of creative industries.

The Errol Barrow Centre for Creative Imagination (EBCCI) at UWI’s Cave Hill campus has the makings of such a facility, however, “the Centre was built before there was any course structure to support it. That vision was not translated in dynamic engagement with the community. The attendance to shows is poor.

The programme offerings are not attractive and not attracting students for admissions” (Rowe, 2014). The Centre has also not been “aggressive” enough in its marketing and collaboration with other stakeholders” (Rowe, 2014) to fully position itself in the business market by way of rental of spaces, staging events and the like within the University and to external clients.

CONCLUSION

Universities can be positioned to reap returns in the creative industries by establishing and managing facilities such as theatres, concert halls, galleries, museums, art studios, digital/ computer labs, research centres and lecture halls. Ideally, a multipurpose facility that hosts all of the above is ideal for a University setting. I am inspired by the Musee du quai Branly as a new type of cultural and scientific institution 13.

The University of Technology, Jamaica (UTech) had long been earmarked to house and manage a similar structure in the form of the Caribbean Cultural Centre 14. This is a project

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It is encouraging that Caribbean governments are considering education and training as a vital component of efforts to develop the creative industries 16. The onus will be on tertiary level stakeholders to be strategic in their approaches to include facilitating forward thinking research to help guide policy framework in support of the region’s creative economy; designing relevant programmes to ensure rounded and competitive creative practitioners, and managing outlets for creative products and services. These are only a few of the key approaches that will determine a University’s returns as an investor in local and global creative industries. C

ENDNOTES

1 Zissimos

Vergos, Head of Social Development, Delegation of the European Union to Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean. The above is an excerpt from a presentation made at the Barbados Community College (BCC) on the occasion of the awards of EU Jingle and Poster Competition presented to students of the Fine Arts division, BCC. 2 The above view was posited in an abstract for the publication, “Creative Industries in the Caribbean: a new road for diversification and export growth” written for the Studies and Perspectives series (No.19) produced by ECLAC Sub-regional Headquarters for the Caribbean.

3 Figures are 2006 statistics produced by CARICOM’s mapping of the cultural and creative industries in the Caribbean.

4 The summary of data extracted from field work carried out between 2007 and 2011 is captured in Doctoral thesis, “Examining strategies towards sustainable development of heritage industry in Small Island Developing States (SIDS): the case of Jamaica. The thesis was later compiled for publication under the cited name.

5 The Human Development Report is collated annually by the United Nations Population Fund. The cited report was referenced as part of field research for 2010 thesis looking at strategies for sustainable development of heritage in small island developing states. The report can be viewed in full on-line at http://hdr.undp. org/en/content/human-development-report-2009 6 The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in 2007 put forward a proposal for the establishment of a Cultural Satellite Account Framework. The model is discussed in UNESCO’s 2009 publication, “Measuring the economic contribution of cultural industries: a review and assessment of current methodological approaches”.

7 The creative industry models are designed by the United Nation Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the United Kingdom Department of Culture and Media Sport (UKDCMS), the symbolic texts, concentric circles and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). Details on the models are captured in a 2012 Studies and Perspectives series (no 19) produced by ECLAC Sub Regional Headquarters for the Caribbean under the title, “Creative Industries in the Caribbean: A new Road for diversification and export growth.”

8 In cooperation with the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation, the World Intellectual Property Organization, the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, the Office of the UNESCO Regional Advisor for Asia and the Pacific held a Senior

Expert Symposium in Jodhpur, India, between 22 and 26 February 2005. Presentations and papers from the meeting are available online at:www.unescobkk.org/ culture/cultural_industries 9 Mandates of the Phillip Sherlock Centre for the Creative Arts established in 1968 and Centre for the Arts at the University of Technology, Jamaica formed in 1998 were both developed around a need to meet the cultural needs of University communities and allow for development of the softer skills of students. Both Universities offer a number of extracurricular programmes/ clubs and selected electives in the creative arts. Northern Caribbean University through its Communication Studies department offers a core course in Fine Arts intended to expose students to the creative components of the communications industry.

10 See Studies and Perspective Series (No 19), “Creative Industries in the Caribbean…” produced by ECLAC Sub Regional Headquarters for the Caribbean.

11 Savannah College of Art and Design operates four campuses in Atlanta and Savannah Georgia, Hong Kong and Lacoste, France.

12 In March 2014 the Government of Jamaica established the National Cultural and Creative Industries Commission (NCCIC) mandated to develop an integrated policy on cultural and creative industries through the coordinated efforts of the Ministries and government agencies responsible for this area. An Institutional Strengthening Sub-Committee has been created to develop an operational plan for Education, Training, Certification and Skills Rationalisation for the creative industries. The sub-committee will include representation from the country’s three main Universities.

13 Musee du quai Branly is located in Paris, France and is dedicated entirely to the arts of Africa, Asia, Oceania and the Americas. It is described as a new type of cultural and scientific institution that operates as a museum, cultural centre and a facility for research and teaching. Details of the facility may be obtained at http://www.quaibranly.fr/en/ 14 A draft plan for the Caribbean Cultural Centre (2005) is logged at the Centre for the Arts, University of Technology, Jamaica.

15 A draft document, “Visioning the creation of a Museum and Heritage Preservation Unit” (2013-2014) forms part of the proposed plan to expand the mandate of Centre for the Arts to include Heritage Research.

Document is logged at Centre for the Arts, University of Technology, Jamaica.

16 See ECLAC’s 2012 Report on Creative Industries in the Caribbean, a new road for diversification and economic growth.

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CAROL ‘ANNIE’ HAMILTON

THE ROLE OF

EDNA MANLEY COLLEGE OF THE VISUAL AND PERFORMING ARTS in the Development of Jamaica’s Creative Industry in the 21st Century Over the last 30 years, Jamaica has seen the expansion and development in the visual and performing arts in areas such as visual arts, music, dance, drama and arts management among other areas being referred to as the creative industries.

Since the late 1990s these industries were championed as new sources for economic regeneration (Garnham, 2001), urban development, employment creation, and later, as a means to combat social exclusion (Leadbetter and Oakley, 1999). In his definition of cultural industries, Hesmondhalgh (2007) includes: advertising, visual art and antiques, crafts, design, designer fashion, dramatic production, interactive leisure software, dance and music. This definition challenged conventional distinctions between art, commerce, and science, and recognized that other sectors, such as tourism, hospitality, heritage and museums, were able to contribute to and benefit from the growth of the creative industries. Bilton (1999: 19-20) posited that the creative industries could rightly be regarded as unique because of the perceived ‘unusually risky’ nature of investing in cultural productions. It is difficult, even impossible, to determine the economic value of cultural products, and the process of cultural production in the Caribbean region. Cunningham (2004: 112-13) also concluded that the creative industries were “intrinsically hybrid in their na-

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ture… at once cultural, service based – both wholesale and retail – based and part of the volunteer community sector”.

With this understanding of the term creative industries, the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts (EMCVPA) therefore plays a central role in the development of the creative industries and workforce. The college is guided by its mission statement, “to enrich the aesthetic sensibilities and promote the cultural diversity of the Caribbean through the highest quality education and training in the Visual and Performing Arts” and ten core values incorporating “diversity, service, innovation, transparency, commitment, partnership, lifelong learning, integrity & ethics, truth and respect” (Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts Ordinance, 2002).

The mission and core values positions EMCVPA to play a key role in the development of the creative industry in general, and the visual and performing arts in particular in vast ways. While programmes of the College have been widely accepted and its graduates have proven themselves locally, and internationally, it is important that it leads the charge in informing decision-makers, and the wider public, of the importance of education in the Arts, the importance of the institution to the devel-

opment of the creative industries, and its importance to nation building. The Arts are often viewed only for its entertainment value, or as a part-time income-earner, rather than a profession worthy of the associated respect given to traditionally accepted careers. It therefore begs the question, how can we improve support for the mobility of artists and cultural professionals in the Anglophone Caribbean? I have observed that the creative and cultural industries in more recent times have come in for focused attention. However it requires greater understanding of what this means besides its economic potential, how and what is required to create an environment in which this sector can survive and strive, to fulfil its potential that would enable it to contribute to sustainable development, growth and wealth creation. There is need to provide access to finance, support for training programmes in skills to meet emerging needs or new career paths and to foster partnerships between the cultural sector and other entities to enhance sustainability.

It should be understood that the academy is at the core of cultural imperatives. The academy plays an important part in passing on the best of what has been thought about and documented from one generation to the next, while, at the same time, it plays a key role in providing a fertile and nurturing environment within which the imagination and thought processes of ensuing generations develop. The intellectual pursuits of the various disciplines have, at their core, the generation of new ideas and the articulation and reflection of truths. g

Arts and culture is a common language and The EMCVPA is committed to, and actively involved in, leading the discourse around the importance of the Arts to society and in fact fully respects cultural diversities and shares the ideals of UNESCO’s Declaration concerning the Cultural Decade four points objectives. These are:

1. To acknowledge (and promote) the cultural dimension of development 2. To affirm and enrich cultural identities 3. To broaden participation in cultural life as well as in civil society and 4. To promote international cultural cooperation

Conseptulisation of Chris Walker’s ROUGH DRAFTS highlighting hand written notes.

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and for promoting and preserving our rich Caribbean culture. The college also has the capacity to remain the source for the highest quality education and training in the visual and performing arts in the region. In this regard, it is important that the college focus in a real way on two pertinent areas that have affected the growth of the arts sector, that of research in the arts and the need to keep abreast with current trends and development in the arts.

It is important to create dialogue on the relationship of the Arts and economic development, as it is central to the development of creative industries. Another important factor is our role of arts advocacy incorporating community and stakeholders with educational institutions.

Tableau with Tamara Noel and Paul Newman

One of the ways in which EMCVPA continues to facilitate change in the creative industries is through creating a space to have dialogue about the subject. One such space is the hosting of the biennial Rex Nettleford Arts Conference. In 2011 and 2013, the conference focus was on The Arts: Catalyst for Caribbean Development and The Creative Industries: Sustainability and Social Transformation respectively. The college also each academic year shares, promotes and celebrates research in the arts with the wider public. At a recent senior and middle management retreat it was underscored that the EMCVPA is at a critical stage of its development, as it embraces the present and imminent opportunities and challenges, on the cusp of its second decade of existence under the Ministry of Education. The College is still the only tertiary institution of its kind in the English-Speaking Caribbean and, has a long tradition of excellence in the arts

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A CARICOM unpublished report confirmed that there is significant potential for economic and social development and gains from the development of cultural/creative industries. This potential is however constrained by several factors, including deficiencies in educational offerings within the spheres of early childhood education, secondary education, technical/ vocational studies and entrepreneurship, as well as an absence of purpose-built venues, which limit professionalism and growth. At the same time, interviews with stakeholders located throughout the region revealed that the EMCVPA has significantly impacted the region and their perceptions of the institution as being one that is of high quality in education and training in the arts, through which significant goodwill can be leveraged. This is corroborated by the outstanding performance and contribution of our graduates across the region.

Notwithstanding, the several challenges facing the arts sector I am optimistic that certain opportunities can rise. The challenges persist because of a frail collabora-

tive partnership between arts based institutions and non-government organizations (NGO).

I believe that central to combating the challenges faced in the creative industries are; adequate funding, mentorship, sponsorship, scholarship and partnership. These are necessary pillars that must be incorporated in what we do as a college. The EMCVPA has expert skills and knowledge both in practice and theory that provide a

EDNA M. Chor. Bert Rose Photo: Stuart Reeves

platform to enhance promotion, build human capacity for the creative and culture industries and to attract investment for the creative sector in Jamaica. This is consistent with the overall objective to contribute to the creation of a political, regulatory, institutional and economic environment conducive to the strengthening of the cultural sectors and their actors as a vector for sustainable economic, social and human development. C

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MICHAEL RECKORD

THE ROLE OF THE MEDIA IN DEVELOPING JAMAICA’S CREATIVE INDUSTRY Years ago, while on a career path as a journalist, I encountered this memory gem for those in the profession:

I have six trusty serving men They taught me all I knew Their names are What and Where and When, and How and Why and Who.

The gem points to the essentially questioning role of the media, which traditionally have been radio, television, newspapers and magazines. In the last couple of decades, those media have been joined by the Internet.

The questions proposed by the poem help both reporters and analysts to do their work. After getting answers, the news people will, of course, publish and the commentators will give their opinions on what is going on in the world.

To see how the published matter has been categorised by the media as a

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whole, one could leaf through the sections of our largest newspaper. In a typical Sunday Gleaner are sections devoted to advertising, sports, business, entertainment, the arts, education, careers, and motor vehicles. In addition, there is a section in which columnists discuss topical issues and a magazine, which features fashion and beauty.

Now, I knew that Jamaica’s cultural punch is generally acknowledged to be far more powerful than the island’s size would suggest, but I was surprised by a recent newspaper report that our creative economy comprises at least 13 sectors.

Some of them are the traditional performing arts (dance, drama and music), the traditional visual arts (like photography, painting and sculpture), the media, film, architecture, advertising, animation, other Information Communication Technology-based industries, fashion, sport and cuisine.

Match up the Sunday Gleaner’s sections with the creative economy sectors and you’ll see that all of the former regularly publicise, report on or comment on all of the latter. In other words, the creative economy is a favourite topic of the media.

To illustrate how a journalist might actually use the questions in the gem, I thought of asking them about some important events related to the island’s creative Industry. I didn’t have to search long to find one.

In March, the National Cultural and Creative Industries Commission was launched. Media reports stated that it was mandated to, among other things, create a National Cultural and Creative Industries Policy and a master plan for the sustainable development of Jamaica’s cultural and creative industries.

The newspapers also reported that the prime minister, who launched and will chair the Commission, said in her speech that the global creative economy is valued at US$1.6 trillion.

A little research would have informed the journalist or media analyst who wants to explore this news item that Jamaica’s cultural economy is about five percent of our approximately US$15 billion Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

He or she could then ask any number of questions – of the private sector, of experts in the field, of Government ministers, etc.

– based on the interrogatives of the poem about facts not revealed at the launch. It would obviously be a good idea to seek answers that would benefit the tens, perhaps hundreds, of thousands of Jamaicans who benefit directly or indirectly from our creative economy.

first?” “Why is a brand new policy now being created when a massive National Cultural Policy of Jamaica: Towards Jamaica The Cultural Superstate (2003), which took years in the making, already exists?” and “Who will be the members of the technical group working with the prime minister to administer the Commission?”

Those acquainted with the media – that’s practically every adult in Jamaica – know that hardly a day goes by without some branch of the media touching on the creative economy. Apart from the news, the media gives us lots of opinions – from editorials, from columnists, from cartoonists, from letter writers to the editor, and from callers to radio and television talk shows.

Because of the media’s attention to the creative economy, the worker in it can get information, opinion and entertainment.

In a phrase, it can help him enjoy his life.

Governments, too, get news, guidance and inspiration from the media’s coverage of the creative economy. So it can better plan the nation’s business.

Without the media, I venture to state, the creative economy would grow weekly, at best. Now since, as both a creative writer and a media practitioner, I have a double stake in Jamaica’s creative economy, I want to use the last interrogative for a final question.

“How do I enlarge that stake?” I know the media can help. C

(Incidentally, the Government will benefit when it helps tens of thousands of Jamaicans. They vote.)

Examples of questions to be asked are: “When will the Commission begin working?” “What area or areas will it focus on

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NDTC Singers (l-r) Dulcie Bogues, Leighton Jones, Kamala Nicholson-Johnson, Fabian Sanchez, Sophia McKain (dancer), Kaydene Gordon, Conrod Hall, Carole Reid, Helen Christian, Kemar Lee, Faith Livingstone, Howard Phillips Photo: Stuart Reeves

CREATIVE INDUSTRIES AND INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LAW, A LONELY DUO OR THE MAGIC POTION? EWAN SIMPSON Those of us who deal in the products of the creative imagination, tend not to realize that we are part of an industry worth Billions of US dollars, because we are often left feeling like beggars or peddlers when we endeavor to secure funding for our creative processes, from conceptualization to creation, from presentation to preservation. We tend to feel alone in an impoverished corner of our studios and workshops, hoping that a recurrent cycle of benevolence from someone whose cup overflows, will throw us a lifeline. The irony is, that we are in fact a part of a lifeline industry worth at least 6.1% of the world’s economy was projected at 2.2 trillion (not billion) dollars in 2012.

This global industry, comprised of a collection of endeavors, referred to as the creative industries, is also called in more recent time: “The Orange Economy”. In their book of the same name ( The Orange Economy), which is a must read for all in the region with an interest in the business of Creative Endeavor , Felipe Restrepo and Ivan Marquez demystify the seemingly complex concepts that have dogged the Caribbean and Latin America , and help us to see, that ignorance of the immense and endless renewable cultural resources reposed in our peoples , coupled with an insistence on ancient concepts of, and approaches to business and theories of development, are central to the stunting effect being experienced in the economies of the Region. Our current situation is that we have a lonely duo, traveling together yet alone, in a hostile, ignorant crowd.

The truth is, it should be a ‘no brainier’ for us as a people to hop the train that has long been

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running in the first world and often not only sounds a distant horn, but has tracks running through our own cities, towns, villages and homes. The stories of Disney, Hollywood, Bollywood, Silicon Valley, Broadway, West End London, and countless global examples of private enterprise making a business from the products of the creative imagination, are hidden in plain view. We, however, prefer to be beneficiaries of the ‘crumbs that fall from the master’s table’ and speak of these examples in theory, while the fortunate (often misguided) ones among us use our first hand exposure to these products as symbols of social status and cultural ‘arrival’. Smarter we would be, to control our own manufacturing and assembly line of creative products, marketing and distributing them through our own channels of modern and traditional media and technology, benefiting as a region from the lucrative backward and forward linkages attendant to these products, thus making us global players in an industry for which we are more than qualified as a major producer of raw material.

This Creative Revolution (which is what it needs to be) will not begin, until it becomes clear to policy makers and governments, or other non members of the creative community, as well as players in the creative sphere that there exists an inseparable connection between the business potential attached to creative products, and the Law of Intellectual Property (IP). Until we realize, what I like to call, the ‘tangible Manifestation of the Creative Imagination’, is a practical and functional definition of IP that can be valued mone-

tarily, and so qualifies as intellectual capital which is more flexible, even more lucrative and more durable than real estate. Until we recognize its ability to multiply, its capacity for housing, clothing, feeding, engaging and entertaining millions simultaneously, its lack of geographical restriction, its transferable character spatially and temporally as well as the fact that we can all be small manufacturers and distributors sharing a piece of the massive global pie if we speak the same business language, we will continue to smile and wave in ignorance as the train passes by while we lean against our own wheel barrows waiting for our lucky day.

What then is the nexus between Creative Industries and IP? There is not a lack of rhetoric or documentation surrounding this.

The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), places the Creative Industries ‘ at the core of the creative economy’ and defines Creative Industries as ‘cycles of production of goods and services, that use creativity and intellectual capital as the main input.’

The United Nations Education, Science and Culture Organization ( UNESCO), also defines the Cultural and Creative Industries as ‘ those that combine the creation, production and commercialization of creative contents that are tangible and of a cultural nature. These contents are usually protected by Copyright and can take the form of a good or service .’

If we are still not satisfied with the documentation of the simple answer in rhetoric or definitions by those who have ‘been there and done that’, The Department of Culture, Media and Sports of the United Kingdom ( DCMS) declares that ‘the Creative Industries are those activities based on creativity, individual talent and skill, and that have the potential to create jobs and wealth through the generation and exploitation of Intellectual Property.’

Clearly those who have a global view realize that the two comprise a magic potion ( if not a scientifically proven formula) and as such, we would be wise to come to a thoughtful yet timely and strategic position with respect to the understanding of the two concepts and their intersection, in government , creative endeavor and business conversation. This position requires not only the input of the creative caucus of creators, performers and inventors, but also of IP Attorneys, business executives and planners, who can bring their individual areas of expertise together for a collective good.

In simple language, the poet and the musician can create together a song for the play which becomes a movie in which performers , producers, costume and set designers, sound and lighting engineers as well as property and business managers depend on marketing executives and attorneys to craft strategies and operating systems resulting in a well oiled income stream from live and recorded performances and the gate receipts as well as royalties therefrom. Not only do all of the above earn, but the cleaners, farmers, supermarkets and food vendors as well as clothing stores, nannies and helpers providing support for them as well as the thousands in your audiences will enjoy the products in your theaters or onscreen. The transport sector and energy sector benefits as do solid waste management, security, banking and hospitality industries simultaneously. Copyright, Trademark, patent and their associated forms of IP become engaged to ensure that the ‘user pays while the artist plays’ and the taxes collected by government folds back into an increasing common pool....No Brainer!!!

I wish it were that simple in reality. However, if we begin one concept at a time, one artiste at a time, one creative artiste and creative technician at a time, one technocrat at a time and the right number of IP Lawyers, the possibilities of the magic potion are amazingly endless. C

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NDTC Musicians (l-r) Henry Miller, Steve Golding, Ewan Simpson (Musical Director) Tafane Buschaecab, Nicolas Groskopf, Jerome Carby, Kamau Khalfani, Jesse Golding, Ivana Kenny Photo: Stuart Reeves

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SIMONE HARRIS

TECHNOLOGY: POWERING THE WAY WE MANAGE THE ARTS

Kerry-Ann Henry and Marlon Simms in LABESS Chor. David Brown Photo: Stuart Reeves

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“Whatever the circumstances, the success or failure of an artistic endeavor will be related to how well the functions of management are fulfilled” Robert Byrne Behind every creative endeavor is the underlying concept of management; the organization and coordination of activities to achieve particular goals. Since the beginning of the modern era, it is technology that has been the driving force behind developments in the way we approach management tasks and in today’s ever developing digital generation this tradition continues. Technology is more about the application of scientific knowledge for practical purposes and much less about the fancy gadgets promoted by tech companies. From a business perspective, technology has provided today’s managers with a wide array of technical resources that improve their ability to meet goals and objectives while fulfilling the core functions of management, which are planning, organising, leading, monitoring and controlling. In the creative industries, management and administration functions are no different from other industries and here too, technology is revolutionising the way arts managers can fulfill their roles and core management functions.

Generally, the Jamaican arts industry has been slow to adapt to the utilisation of technology from a management perspective, when compared to our North American neighbours. Despite access to computers, the Internet, and mobile devices, few local arts managers make use of software or hardware that can enhance their productivity while developing and promoting their artistic products. But how does technology intercept with management of the arts?

Management technology includes hardware and software solutions created to enhance a manager’s performance in their core functions. In the arts industry, platforms designed specifically for data analytics, audience engagement and engineering, communication, marketing and PR, distribution and collections management are quite accessible and in some instances low cost. Differences exist across the visual and performing arts in terms of management needs but what remains constant is that these platforms serve the primary purpose of helping management fulfill functions more efficiently.

As an arts manager, knowing how to choose the appropriate technology for the task at hand is critical, because clearly, funds spent on inappropriate technology is money wasted. By understanding how technology can enhance each management function is key to using technology effectively to gain competitive advantages such as increasing paying audiences, and benefiting from the personalised marketing made possible by social networking.

To understand the impact of technology on management in the arts, it is important to dissect the core management functions to determine what type of information comes into play and how technological tools can lead to effective management decision making. g

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Planning is a key management function because it involves determining in advance, what should be accomplished, when, by whom, how, and at what cost. At the planning stage the arts managers are involved in projecting, setting goals, deciding on a course of action and developing methods for evaluation. The most important effect of technology on management planning is the availability of vast amounts of raw data.

Technology can improve the accuracy of planning in management by providing the data managers need to make effective decisions. Solutions such as Music Metric, a web based music analytics application allows its users to track, compare and contextualise specific types of online data on music artists. This software gives its users the ability to know where their fans and potential fans are online, what people are saying about them and where they are getting good reviews. This raw data can help the artist manager do more to navigate and monetize the industry while allowing for informed planning, thus adding meaning to the phrase, ‘if you don’t know where you are going, then you won’t know when you have arrived’!

Organising follows planning and in a general sense means systematic arrangement of activities. It involves identifying and grouping tasks to be performed, delegating, and forming relationships to allow their team to work together effectively while accomplishing objectives. This may sound like a process that belongs outside of the arts realm but it is indeed alive and keeps artistic endeavors afloat. In preliminary conversations with arts managers in Jamaica’s music and dance sector, the more popular tools for keeping organized include: Google docs, calendar and contacts, Dropbox and a few other cloud based platforms such as WeTransfer, and Box.be. There is an indication that to stay organized our managers have been utilising a range of online platforms (as well as pen and paper) with the Google platform being the most popular.

However, a number of project management software such as Wrike exist which offer all-in-one options.

NDTC Singers in performance

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From a theatre arts perspective, Stage managers organise and control the running of stage productions, from organising rehearsals right through to live performances.

They make sure that all technical aspects work and that everyone is in the right place at the right time, a tedious process that includes documenting staging positions. The Stage Write software has been tailored to make this function more manageable. The user only has to enter the stage dimensions once, create the actor(s) icon(s) once, and then drag these icons into the desired positions. This saves thousands of hours of time and the final product is printable and easy to share with team members. I’m sure this benefit would be welcomed by any artistic director, stage manager or choreographer.

In terms of pricing, Wrike is available as a free trial for Apple and Android devices with premium versions priced from as low as US$49 to a high of US$199 per year depending on the number of users. Stage Write is currently only available for the Apple platform as a free trial with premium versions available at a cost.

The third function of management is leading. This requires the arts manager to get everyone to work together. Communication technology, such as video conferencing software, messaging and email platforms allow managers to communicate quickly via phone, and also meet “face-to-face” when they are not in the same geographic space.

In many instances, a manager may need to connect with their team members quickly or broker opportunities with overseas talent buyers and these platforms easily facilitate communication in real time.

Finally, arts managers must keep their projects on track by utilizing tools that allow for monitoring and controlling. Through monitoring technology, arts managers can use a range of control-focused software to make changes, and solve problems that may arise. For example, in the visual arts field, professionals have been utilising Collections Management Systems (CMS). The National Gallery currently uses the PastPerfect CMS, a software present in over 8500 museums and galleries around the world. Starting at US$696 per license, it is considered the least expensive of the available commercial software programmes for basic archives management. Having capabilities to manage diverse collections means that PastPerfect is more complex than some other programmes but makes up for this with an interface that includes buttons, graphics, and commands that are easy to understand.

Note well that many of the software being developed have web-based components that utilise cloud technology which allows for fast and easy access from anywhere; and with enhancements in technology every year, software will soon be available across any type of device and update regardless of where changes are made. This is a real plus for arts managers who are constantly on the move!

Arts managers and by extension their projects and arts organisations stand to benefit in a big way if they strategically employ technology to fulfill their core management functions. Managers outside of the arts realm are currently employing as much technology as possible to do this – arts managers are not different from them. There is no question that technology is powering the way that we can manage the arts and it is my hope that the arts managers in Jamaica will see the importance of using tech to achieve their objectives, thereby working smarter and not harder. C

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NDTC - COMMENTARIES - NEWS - REVIEWS - SEASON OF DANCE - SPECIAL PERFO fREX NETTLEFORD FOUNDATION The University Singers and the NDTC shared a programme for the annual concert hosted by the Rex Nettleford foundation. The event was held at the Little Theatre on Tuesday, February 11, 2014 to capacity audience mainly from the University of the West Indies and in particular the Rex Nettleford Hall. Featured on the programme were works choreographed by Marlon Simms (Chromosome X), Jamie Thompson (Don’t Leave Me), Bert Rose (Steal Away), Rex Nettleford (Awakening) staged by Kevin Moore and Verman Thomas.

UTECH CULTURAL SHOWCASE i The Centre for the Arts and Calvin McKain Library at the University of Technology celebrated Jamaica’s dance landscape in an evening called “Jamaica’s Evolving Dance Heritage: Step by Step” on Thursday, March 20, 2014. Organizations and Individuals involved in Dance Theatre and Education were honoured following a performance by the NDTC and other companies. Members of the company who were honoured included Barry Moncrieffe, Marlon Simms, Kerry-Ann Henry, Partick Earle and NDTC alum – Tony Wilson, Neila Ebanks and Oniel Pryce. NDTC Principal Dancer Marisa Benain in her official capacity as Director of Culture and Policy presented the honourees with the awards and a copy of the citation on behalf of the University and the Minister of Youth and Culture, Lisa Hanna, who was unavoidably absent.

SPORTSMAN & SPORTSWOMAN AWARDS Mark Phinn and Kerry-Ann Henry performed an excerpt of “Dimensions” choreographed by Arsenio Andrade-Calderon at the 53rd RJR National Sportsman and Sportswoman of the Year Awards for Performances in 2013. The event was held at the Jamaica Pegasus on Friday, January 10, 2014.

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ORMANCES - APPOINTMENTS - PROMOTIONS - AWARDS - HIGHLIGHTS - OBITUARY MORNING OF MOVEMENT g The Morning of Movement and Music was held on Sunday, April 20, 2014 at 6 am. The event, which was held at the Little Theatre, was dedicated to the late Co-Founding Artistic Director Eddy Thomas who passed on Thursday, April 10, 2014 The programme included old favourites “Cry of the Spirit” by Gene Carson, “Steal Away” by Bert Rose and Milton Sterling’s “He Watcheth”. Keita-Marie Chamberlain remounted “Unconditional Love” and new choreographers Patrick Earle and Neisha-yen Jones created “Turning Point” and “Stagnant Change” respectively.

fRELAY FOR LIFE Relay for Life, hosted by the Jamaica Cancer Society and held over two days, June 14-15, 2014, culminated in an event at the Police Officers’ Club. The Company paid tribute to cancer survivors through Gene Carson’s “Cry of the Spirit” performed by Neisha-yen Jones.

fDANCE UMBRELLA The Company was invited to perform on Dance Umbrella, an annual dance festival held at the Philip Sherlock Centre for the Creative Arts, University of the West Indies. The event was held March 7-9, 2014. The main Company performed Rex Nettleford’s “Dis Poem” and Jamie Thompson’s “Don’t Leave Me” while the trainees performed Marlon Simms’ “The Chase” and Milton Sterling’s “He Watcheth” on the concert for juniors called the Junior Dance Umbrella.

SERVICE OF ADMISSION The Diocese of Jamaica and the Cayman Island admitted the Rev. Father Garfield Campbell as the 27th Rector of the Cure of Souls and Ecclesiastical Parish of Falmouth on Sunday, February 23, 2014. The event, which was held at the newly refurbished Falmouth Anglican Church, provided the ideal space for a solo tribute performance from Marlon Simms on behalf of the Company.

Prior to the commencement of the festival NDTC Stalwarts Patsy Ricketts and Clive Thompson were honoured by the Dance Umbrella organization for their contrition to Dance in Jamaica. In tribute, the Company performed an excerpt of “The Rope and the Cross” danced by Keita-Marie Chamberlain and Tamara Noel. Ms. Ricketts was the original cast member of the work. Mr. Thompson’s

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NDTC - COMMENTARIES - NEWS - REVIEWS - SEASON OF DANCE - SPECIAL PERFO DANCE UMBRELLA CONT. ig tribute was an excerpt of his work “Ode” performed by Stefanie Thomas.

The honorees were presented with citations following glowing tributes from Iyun Harrison who was recipient of the Clive Thompson Scholarship to the School of Dance in the early 90’s when he (Harrison) was enrolled as a student.

52nd SEASON OF DANCE g The 52nd Season of Dance received rave reviews following the staging of new and remounted works. “Dialogue for Three” choreographed in 1963 by Rex Nettleford was an obvious crowd favourite followed by Chris Walker’s “Rough Drafts” and “Mountain Women”. Other works which found favour with the audience were Oniel Pryce’s contemporary work “Traversing: More Than Just Speed Bumps” and Patrick Earle’s “Aboriginal Mix (aka Didgeridoo)”. The audience also enjoyed old favourites such as Rex Nettleford’s “Gerrehbenta”, Gene Carson’s “Cry of the Spirit” and the male solos “Sweet in the Morning” and “Don’t Leave Me” choreographed by Leni Wylliams and Jamie Thompson respectively.

ORMANCES - APPOINTMENTS - PROMOTIONS - AWARDS - HIGHLIGHTS - OBITUARY fASSOCIATE PROFESSOR New Generation Choreographer and NDTC Alumna Chris Walker received tenure and promotion to Associate Professor of Dance at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. There at the university he continues his work as the Artistic Director of the First Wave Hip Hop Theater Ensemble and artistic director of NuMoRune Collaborative. Walker has taken First Wave, which received the Governor’s Arts Award (2010) on national U.S.A. and international tours including showing at the 2012 Cultural Olympiad in London and the Contact Theatre Festal in Manchester, England. His creative research on diasporic performance is realized through concert dance choreography and performance and supported by grants and commissions. Walker‘s international profile include the creation and presentation of works in the Americas, Europe and Asia.

With scholarships and support from the National Dance Theatre Company and the Government of Jamaica, Walker received his MFA and BFA in Choreography and Performance from the SUNY College at Brockport through articulation from the Edna Manley College in Kingston, Jamaica.

NDTC PROMOTIONS Members who exemplified commitment and growth in artistic skills were promoted to supporting dancers in time for the 2014 Season of Dance. Jodi-Ann Smith, Sade Thaxter, Kemar Francis, Gillian Edwards and Mishka Williams moved up the ranks from Trainees to Supporting Members. Philip Earle was promoted to Provisional Member while Terry-Ann Dennison, Maia Pereira, Jillian Samms, Paul Newman and Sophia McKain became Full Members. Additionally, Conrod Hall was promoted to Full Member for the 52nd Season of Dance.

ORDER OF DISTICTION NDTC Stalwarts Patsy Ricketts and Judith Wedderburn have been awarded the Order of Distinction, Commander Class. Ms. Wedderburn has been recognized for her invaluable contribution as a Gender Development Specialist in Jamaica and the Caribbean while Miss Ricketts has been honoured for her sterling contribution to the Creative Arts in the area of Dance. They were officially conferred with the award from the Governor General of Jamaica, Sir Patrick Allen, at a function held on the lawns of Kings House on Heroes Day, Friday, October 24, 2014.

ASSOCIATE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR h Principal dancer, choreographer and former Dance Captain Marlon Simms was promoted to Associate Artistic Director in May 2014. Simms succeeds in the role once held by the present Artistic Director Barry Moncrieffe.

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NDTC - COMMENTARIES - NEWS - REVIEWS - SEASON OF DANCE - SPECIAL PERFO (JNGI) REX NETTLEFORD SCHOLARSHIP NDTC Trainee Juett Carty was the 2014 recipient of the (JNGI) Rex Nettleford Scholarship.

Miss Juett received the award to complete her studies at the School of Dance at the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts as point of the joint programme with the University of the West Indies where she majored in Computer Science. In May 2014 when Miss Jones was featured in the Jamaica Gleaner following the official handing over of the scholarship she was recognized as the first student to pursue a Computer Science and Dance programme simultaneously.

DISNEY MUSICAL LION KING g NDTC alum Benton Morris has been the latest success story in joining the cast of Lion King, England. He follows in the footsteps of other Company dancers Kerry-Ann Henry, David Blake, Candice Morris, Tovah-Marie Bembridge, Shelley-Ann Maxwell, Jermaine Rowe and Debroah Powell in landing a role in one of Disney’s most successful and longest running musical.

fCSEC & CAPE PASSES Supporting Dancers Gillian Steele, Nadani Dixon, Gillian Edwards, Michael Small, Mishka Williams and Trainees Dominic Saunders and DeVaughn Allen achieved excellent passes in their CSEC exams in August 2014. CAPE students Mishka Williams and Sade Thaxter were equally successful passing five and four subjects respectively. All dancers hail from the Campion Dance Society and within a year of showing artistic growth and commitment within the Company’s Trainee Programme were to promoted to Supporting Dancers.

ORMANCES - APPOINTMENTS - PROMOTIONS - AWARDS - HIGHLIGHTS - OBITUARY WHITSUN ALBERT McDONALD

DORRITT ANNETTE BENT

In support of veteran lighting technician Michael “Rufus” McDonald the NDTC Singers performed at the funeral service of his father Mr. Whitsun Albert McDonald C.D., J.P. on Friday, February 28, 2014. Mr. McDonald died after a brief illness on Monday, February 10, 2014.

Long-time friend of the Company Dorritt Annette Bent O.D. J.P. passed on Thursday, February 6, 2014. In tribute to her commitment to the Company Marlon Simms and Kerry-Ann Henry performed Bert Rose’s “Ave Verum” from his master-work “Edna M”.

CLYDE CUNNINGHAM The Company mourned the passing of Clyde Cunningham following his passing on Wednesday, July 23, 2014. Mr. Cunningham who had served the Company for over thirty years as Sound Technician was laid to rest after a funeral service on Wednesday, July 30, 2014 at the Sts. Peter and Paul Church where NDTC Singers and Musicians paid tribute in song.

EDDY THOMAS g On Thursday, April 10, 2014 the Company lost the creative genius of its Co-Founder and Co-Artistic Director Eddy Thomas. He died after a long illness at his home in Montego Bay, St. James. Following his funeral and the dedication of Morning of Movement and Music in his memory, the Company hosted a special evening of reflection and celebration in dance and music. The event was held on Friday, April 25, 2014 at the Studios of the NDTC. Tributes were read by long-time friends and former dancers Rev. John Scott, Weston Haughton, Barbara Requa and Alma MockYen.

NDTC JOURNAL is published by the National Dance Theatre Company of Jamaica 4 Tom Redcam Avenue, Kingston 5, Jamaica WI (876) 631-5879, (876) 886-5148, (876) 631-5849 ndtc_jamaica@yahoo.com

EDITOR Barbara Requa DESIGN & PRODUCTION Christopher Walker, Mark Phinn, Marlon Simms, and Danielle Requa-Bañuelos.

All Photographs are by Stuart Reeves except for the black and white photographs of Mrs. Barbara Requa (pg.3) and Mr. Eddy Thomas (pg.65) which are by Maria LaYacona. ©Copyright 2014

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NDTC SATISFIED WITH TRAINEES

by Michael Reckord, Gleaner Writer Published: February 14, 2014 Remembering Rex, Tuesday night’s poignant production at the Little Theatre, Tom Redcam Avenue, was in commemoration of late cultural icon, Rex Nettleford, who died four years ago.

It featured presentations by the two internationally acclaimed performing arts groups with which Nettleford worked for decades. They were the National Dance Theatre Company (NDTC), of which he was co-founder and artistic director, and the University Singers, for whom Nettleford choreographed movement for concerts.

Dancing along with the NDTC were five trainees, part of a group of aspiring dancers who have been participating in a special training programme for more than a year. When the trainees were showcased at the

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NDTC studio (beside the Little Theatre) on January 28, the audience of dance aficionados responded with delight. As conversations after the show assured me, many spectators believed that among the two dozen or so dancers on the studio floor were some future NDTC stars.

THE DANCES As they took on the challenge of eight dances, the performers, who ranged in age from the mid-teens to the early 20s, demonstrated that they were well on their way to achieving mastery of the terpsichorean skills.

Three of the dances, He Watcheth (choreographed by Milton Sterling) and excerpts from Islands and Blood Canticles by Nettleford, were established works. The other five were brand new.

Some of the dances – if not all – will reappear in expanded forms and will be performed by NDTC professionals. But the trainees will forever be able to boast that they danced in

the works’ world premieres. Giving the trainees that sense of ownership was, I heard later, one of the choreographers’ intentions.

Broken (choreographed by Marlon Simms) featured a graceful, controlled solo by Jodi-Ann Smith in a flowing white dress. Bands A Gathering (Kevin Moore) was danced by the full cast in colourful revival costumes to a recorded medley of revival songs by the NDTC Singers.

With Closer (Simms) we saw a duet by 14 year-old Lauryn Rickman of Immaculate Conception High School and 16 year-old Michael Small of Campion College, looking elegant and sophisticated as they got closer and closer together. By the end of the dance, her head was in his lap.

STORYLINE The 45-minute show ended excitingly with Simms’ The Chase. Its simple but amusingly suspenseful storyline shows a sophisticated uptown girl being musically seduced to join a group of dancehall performers. Try as she might, she can’t resist the driving rhythms and ends up dancing with the others.

Also among the 2014 dances was Kerry-Ann Henry’s Voice of Thrones, which featured the cast led by Gillian Steele. A couple of days later, across the road in the Edna Manley College’s School of Dance, which Henry heads, I spoke to her about the work. It was inspired by previous pieces she had choreographed, Henry said, and was primarily about feelings and emotions. Of the lead dancer, Henry said, “That person is representative of a lot of the emotions I go through, navigating not only the space of dance, but the space of life.”

She added, “It didn’t carry a specific message.” and Voice of Thrones is

not a dance drama – as yet. It might be one when next seen by the public, she said.

“As a choreographer, I like to tell stories,” Henry said, elaborating on the process of the dance’s creation.

“But I realise it’s okay to make the story come out of emotion. Then the audience doesn’t have to struggle to follow a storyline, but can sit back and enjoy the feeling.”

THANKSGIVING JOURNEY Henry continued: “I wanted to take people on this journey of thanksgiving and searching, for this is something we (the teachers and trainees) have been going through.”

From Henry and NDTC artistic director Barry Moncrieffe, whom I also interviewed that morning, I learnt more about the training programme.

The audition for the first batch was held not long before Nettleford died, but it has been in the past year that Henry and Simms, the principal teachers, have put a firm structure in place. Classes are now held twice a week, on Tuesdays and Fridays, and the students are taught a variety of dance forms. These include ballet, Caribbean folk, modern, and the NDTC’s unique dance theatre style which Nettleford developed.

Occasionally, Moncrieffe or others will conduct a master class, and once a month, the trainees have a class with the company. The young dancers are a ‘feeder’ group for the NDTC, and both Moncrieffe and Henry are confident that they will live up to the NDTC’s high standard. In fact, Henry stated, “Professor (Nettleford) would have been so proud of them.” He would have been particularly delighted, as Henry is, with the fact that there are so many trainees.g

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THE TRAINEES This is just as well for, as Moncrieffe admitted, “We (the company) won’t get all of them.” Many – perhaps most – of them will pursue other interests, he said, and mentioned one young man who may be migrating soon. In the meantime, Moncrieffe said he intended to put some of the trainees in the NDTC’s annual Easter Morning concert at the Little Theatre.

An enthusiastic Henry said that in addition to the trainees’ having “passion and dedication”, they have the talent and physical capabilities to present what she called “a total performance package.” She explained: “They have the ability to do folk, modern technique and ballet-based choreography. The signature of the company is dance drama, and they are able to do that, too”.

With confidence, Henry declared “The Company’s future is assured with them.” C

REMEMBERING REX NETTLEFORD

by Marcia Rowe, Gleaner Writer Published: February 17, 2014 Four years after the passing of Rex Nettleford, his memory still lingers in the hearts of many Jamaicans, but none more than those who are associated with the University of the West Indies (UWI) and the members of National Dance Theatre Company (NDTC).

Both institutions are now symbols of his creativity and intellectual power.

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At an event, organised by the Nettleford Foundation on Nettleford’s birthday (February 3), the two institutions, along with other well-wishers, came together to honour his memory.

Through song and dance they remembered him. This was intensified by the choice of venue (The Little Theatre) that was arguably the most used canvas by the Professor.

Titled Remembering Rex, the two-part programme began with a powerful opening, Chromosome X, choreographed by NDTC’s heir apparent Marlon Simms.

The 2012 choreography was a haunting display of non-stop images of bodies in perpetual motion, walking, running, and leaping, all to the sound of steady breathing that reinforced the strength of the various movements.

Clad in short black dresses with red underlining, the dancers explored various degrees of levels, but what was most interesting was the web of fast-paced exits and entrances they wove. The dance was originally dedicated to the women on the Jamaican Olympic team. It ended with all the dancers falling on to the stage, exhausted.

It was followed by bare-chested Mark Phinn. Wearing a pair of tight-fitted shorts, Phinn gave a dazzling display of controlled body extensions, tugging at the heart as he executed Jamie J. Thompson’s 2013 piece, Don’t Leave Me. The nostalgic dance also served as a translation of Nina Simone’s cover of Jacques Brel’s Ne Me Quitte Pas. The sombre, reflective mood of Part One of the programme was to be repeated in Bert Rose’s 1997 piece, Steal Away.g

Rose’s creativity was brought to life

by Kerry-Ann Henry, Alicia Glasgow, Terry-Ann Dennison, Mark Phinn and Marlon Simms.

Part Two took a walk down memory lane with two of Nettleford’s works, Dis Poem and excerpts from Renewal.

Joined by the NDTC Singers, the dance was a celebration of revivalism. It was captivating and colourful and brought the full company of dancers to the stage.

Dis Poem was just as colourful. The costumes, designed by Pansy Hassan, Bert Rose and Nettleford, seemed to represent various causes.

The UWI Singers, performing between the dances, maintained the mood and tone of each segment.

The group’s first set of performances where they did Hosanna, In Excelsis,

and This Little Light of Mine were reflective, the final of the trio performed by Alecia Forbes.

The UWI Singers second appearance in Part Two took the form of a visit to a wake. Abandoning more formal looking attire, the group delivered a sombre Nine Night Suite.

In the second section of the programme, wearing costumes made from African print, the UWI Singers also gave an entertaining rendition of Survivor.

There was also a medley of songs such as We Shall Overcome and I Will Survive, which showcased not only great vocals but also varied and intricate formations.

A Nettleford fan, Natoya Grant, concurred. She thought the concert was very rich.C

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NDTC CONTINUES LEGACY

by Richard Johnson, Observer Senior Reporter Published: April 21, 2014

Choreographer Bert Rose’s 1997 work Steal Away, was among the works to hold centre stage at the annual Morning of Music and Movement organised by the National Dance Theatre Company (NDTC) at the Little Theatre in St Andrew, yesterday.

The work – performed in tribute to Eddy Thomas, the co-founder of the NDTC who died just over a week ago at the age of 82 – featured ballet mistress Kerry-Ann Henry in the lead role and supported by Marlon Simms, Mark Phinn, Stefanie Thomas and Terry-Ann Dennison. Not only was it choreographed by one of the founding members of the company (Rose), it also featured the strong fusion of dance styles which Thomas was known for.

On the occasion of the 33rd staging of the Easter Sunday showcase, the NDTC pulled from the repertoire as well as works by dancer/choreographers from within the company.

These included Marlon Simms’ Legacy, a spirited work set to African drumming; Patrick Earle’s Turning Point – a piece befitting for the Easter season featuring a trio of male dancers. Keita-Marie Chamberlain’s Unconditional Love was appreciated by the audience thanks to the interpretation by Tamara Noel and Patrick Earle and the highly emotive accompanying music. Renowned choreographer Clive Thompson’s reflective solo The Question was delivered in fine style by Kevin Moore.

However, the morning’s real standout was a performance by soloist Samantha Thompson.

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Her robust, gutsy vocals provided accompaniment for Neisha-yen Jones’ Stagnant Change. So gripping was Thompson’s performance that many were more taken by her, rather than the dancers. An extended applause at the end of the piece showed the audience’s appreciation.

It was also a morning of music and the NDTC Singers under the direction of Ewan Simpson did their part to keep the patrons entertained. From the opening note – Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus accompanied by steel pan – things only got better. The interactive nature of the presentationg

of Oh Happy Day with soloist Conrad Hall, brought the performance to the people, as the singers lined the aisles of the theatre and greeted members of the audience. There were clear references to Pharrell Williams’ current feel good hit track Happy in this performance.

As is customary, Noel Dexter’s arrangement of Psalm 150 was a fitting climax to the one and a half hours of solid, sacred entertainment. C

NDTC PAYS TRIBUTE WITH SPIRITUAL EASTER CONCERT

by Michael Reckord, Gleaner Writer Published: April 23, 2014 As the National Dance Theatre Company (NDTC) did four years ago when one co-founder, Rex Nettleford, died, the company has again dedicated an Easter Morning of Movement and Music to the memory of a recently deceased co-founder, this time, Eddy Thomas.

Sunday’s concert at The Little Theatre, which featured the company’s dancers and the NDTC Singers and Orchestra, was in tribute to Thomas as well as, in the words of the printed programme, “in recognition of the 33rd anniversary of Morning of Movement and Music (1981-2014)”. g

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The observer on the road got a hint that something special was happening at the theatre from the number of motor vehicles parked on the sidewalks around the building. Many were parked right over the sidewalk’s yellow ‘no parking’ line, with their drivers no doubt hoping that at 6 o’clock in the morning, the traffic police would give them a ‘bly’.

Bianca Welds on tenor pan and Orane Shaw on double seconds pan.

Not surprisingly, considering the crammed car park and the overflow onto the street, the theatre was full to capacity.

The reading of Esther Lombardi’s poem, An Easter Ode, by well-known actress, Barbara McCalla, was another first.

The concert began powerfully, with the NDTC Singers’ rendition of the most popular piece from the most popular oratorio, the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel’s Messiah, respectively.

It was followed by a dance, Marlon Simms’ 2014 work, Legacy. Featuring all the dancers of the company dressed in black leotards and tights, showing off modern dance’s basic movement repertoire, the work was performed to African music by tribal drums.

Beautifully rendered, the poem gave this “consoling truth”: “Mortal man shall rise again.”

School of Drama student Samantha Thompson was another much-applauded soloist. In a Mahalia Jackson singing style, Thompson delivered the spiritual Change Is Gonna Come with amazing power.

The opening two pieces set the pattern for a dance to follow a song for the remainder of most of the show.

On occasion, however, dancers and singers did appear together on stage.

As has been the practice over the years, the items followed one another in rapid succession. In fact, they virtually flowed into each other, with each succeeding item almost cutting off the applause – and there was plenty – that the appreciative audience was giving to the piece just ended.

There were some new features to applaud this year.

One was the addition to the NDTC Orchestra of a trio of guest steel panists – Gay Magnus on guitar pan,

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Among other things, the steel band provided music for the singing of the hymn And Can It Be That I Should Gain by both the audience and the full company. That singing added another layer to the morning’s already strong ethos of spirituality.

This was during the performance of an excerpt by Neisha-Yen Jones’ new dance, Stagnant Change. Jones is a junior member of the NDTC. Hers was one of no less than five new dances premiered on Sunday. The number is surprising in that with the company’s annual season of dance coming up in the summer (July-August), one would expect new works to be held until then.

On the other hand, just as Broadway-bound shows get trial runs in out-of-New York towns and cities so that they can get reworked if necessary, so, too, some (or all) of these new dances will probably be refined before the public sees them again.

OTHER DANCES The other four 2014 dances presented on Sunday were the aforementioned

Legacy, Patrick Earle’s Turning Point (danced by Mark Phinn, Alatunje Connell and Simms), Clive Thompson’s The Question (a solo by Kevin Moore), and Simms’ He Lives! (danced

by Kerry-Ann Henry, Tamara Noel, Terry-Ann Dennison, Moore, Connell and Earle).

Bert Rose’s 1997 work, Steal Away, was the special item performed in tribute to Eddy Thomas. The generally slow, sorrowful dance (to the great Kathleen Battle singing in that mood) was performed by Henry, Dennison, Phinn, Simms and Stefanie Thomas.

Henry wore a bright-red head tie and an ankle-length black dress with a red hem. Another dancer was in full black, three others in full white.

The question of the symbolism of the colours might have been raised in the audience’s mind. Could they have represented blood, purity and sin?

If so, did black represent sin? If it did, why?

In all, 18 items were packed into the concert’s one hour and 20 minutes. Each item was of high quality, for the dancers were in good form and the singers in good voice.

The promise of the first two items was fulfilled right up to the last one. It was, as usual, Psalm 150 put to music by Noel Dexter.

Featuring the company’s dancers, singers and orchestra, the joy-filled work provided a fitting end to a satisfying concert. C

Reviews (p 56-63) NDTC Members in captured in Morning of Movement and Music Performance.

Photos: Stuart Reeves

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ALMA MOCKYEN, CD

TRIBUTE TO EDDY THOMAS

How do you say “FAREWELL” to abundant talent? We try, but I really don’t think we can. The creative spirit lingers as Eddy Thomas will always linger with us. Eddy was an unusually gifted man. Looking at him you would never guess the number of skills his lithe, compact body hid. He was a lead dancer, and a distinguished choreographer. His signature work, “Legend of Lover’s Leap”, encapsulated a sliver of Jamaican history in wordless but compelling movement. His friend, Jackie Guy MBE, remembers Thomas’ subtle treatment of the bible story in “Return to Eden”. Eddy himself described that dance as: “Another look at man and woman, as it could have been in the Garden, with the birds, free, peaceful, happy until the Anaconda, with her art of deception, makes it Paradise lost.”

The twist in the tail of what Eddy did with the well-known story is that Eddy’s Anaconda, was NOT a snake, but a bird, favourite food of young Anacondas.

This gave him great flexibility in his choreography, while retaining the image of the dreaded snake in the name ‘Anaconda’. The Anaconda, as you will know, is the largest constrictor reptile found in the South American rain forest and wetlands. The music Thomas chose was Ravel’s ‘Spanish Rhapsody’, the Iberian quality of which totally identifies with the music of South America.

That Eddy Thomas was a clever one.

He was not only a dance tutor of note, but he founded more than one dance organization: The Eddy Thomas Workshop in the late 1950s; The National Dance Theatre Company (NDTC) with Rex Nettleford in 1962; and The Jamaica Dance Company in 1979.

He was a sets and costumes designer, a fashion designer, a drummer, pianist, singer, swimmer, fan of Barbara Streisand and of classical music. He was a comic, and a composer…and it is in this last aspect that I came to recognize and respect deeply his genius and immeasurable creativity.

Born October 6, 1932 under the sign of Libra, he embodied the Libran characteristics of striving for harmony, achieving balance, and preferring peace.

When troubled, he would simply move away. He was fun-loving and amiable.

He was well-liked and socially much in demand. g

Former NDTC Co-Director/Founding Member Eddy Thomas Photo: Maria LaYacona

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In 1979, when his Company was launched, he wrote:

“I like beauty and theatre and escapism, and any form of expression that stimulates the human experience making ugly, pretty …bad, good…and cynics moved” I first met Eddy Thomas on the top floor of the wooden two-storey building situated near the centre of the busy Cross Roads area of Kingston, where the late, great Ivy Baxter, set up her FORERUNNER dance studio, from which so many exciting tributaries have flowed enriching Jamaica’s internationally recognized terpsichorean brand.

Eddy lived on the same premises in a cottage downstairs, which he decorated in fine style. His little house was furnished, with ‘objects d’art’ meticulously arranged with unusual colour combinations that spoke of his keen eye for beauty and form.

Eddy and I were not close friends, but for the first quarter of 1960 we were closer than lovers. We came together in a creative enterprise that gave birth to unforgettable theatre magic, several original melodies, and Jamaica’s first integrated musical. It began as an idea tossed out by Ivy that her Ivy Baxter Dance Group (the IBDG) needed something special to celebrate its 10th anniversary.

In a flash, Eddy’s lively mind plucked vibes from the atmosphere in the empty studio where we were standing. He turned to me and said, “I’ll write the music, if you write the libretto” and he giggled mischievously. But it wasn’t a joke.

From Ivy’s idea, and his quick thinking, came the concept for a major musical.

By the time I reached the house I lived in then, I had formulated what my title would be. From my hobby of keeping on my verandah, large glass bowls, full of gently swaying green fresh-water weed with brightly coloured aquarium fish darting in and out, I was inspired to call my libretto, “Once Upon a Seaweed”.

As fast as I wrote, Eddy composed. We spent long evenings together, just he, I, and the piano, as he sang my lyrics to the new music he had made up, tweaking here and there to let music and lyrics match. For us time stood still in those happily creative moments, enthralled at the outcome of our fertile minds.

“Seaweed” was the story of a boy, cut off in infancy from his family, miraculously finding an Uncle and a cousin when they visited the island as tourists, and saw him, hustling as a shoe-shine, on the wharf where their ship had docked.

Mainly, however, it was the story of his hallucinations after he suffered a bad fall when cruel boys, gang-members who idled on the pier, pushed him over the sea-wall. He hit his head on the rocks and was ‘knocked out’.

During his unconscious condition, the characters who impacted his life returned as dream-creatures with matching accounts of the challenges they too had faced.

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Forgive me for dwelling on ‘Seaweed’ so much, but it’s all connected. Barry Moncrieffe will tell you that when he saw the show (as a teen-ager) he was so enthralled by it, he asked his parents to allow him to study dancing. Today he is Head of the NDTC. The songs and music composed by Eddy, were orchestrated by the late Mapletoft Poulle. There was dancing by classically trained students from local ballet schools representing Dunn’s River’s naiads. Modern contemporary dancers from Ivy’s own IBDG represented the creatures of the Caribbean Sea; a welcome if unusual departure from that which tends to keep local dance groups separated and aloof from each other.

The all-male Frats Quintet (of blessed memory) harmonized as only they could, and “Seaweed” was professionally produced by the late Noel Vaz at the historic Ward Theatre, where it opened on the 30th day of April in 1960.

What a wonderful time they must all be having now in some parallel universe, as we speak?

Did I mention Eddy’s personal foible? Did you know that he would go ballistic if you spelled his name E-D-D-I-E? (laugh) I can think of no better way to summon our beloved E-D-D-Y back to join us, than by playing two of the songs he wrote for “Seaweed”.

Looking back at it, I think that “Once Upon a Seaweed”, was a sort of cultural CARICOM of its time. The theme-song was sung by Marina Archibald-Critchlow, of Trinidad. The romantic “What is To Be” was sung by Rosamunde Cools-Lartigue, of St. Lucia. “Seaweed’s” other principals included the late Slade Hopkinson of Guyana, and the irrepressible Buddy Pouyatt and Easton Lee of Jamaica. Clive Thompson, who was about to leave Jamaica to study overseas with Martha Graham, danced more than one solo, while Garth Fagan, danced in the background as a sea-horse. BUT what a LION of a name he has made for himself since?

And would it be of any interest if I mention that another stalwart of our Musical culture, the late Dr. Olive Lewin died on the tenth day of April – 2013, while Eddy died on the tenth day of April – 2014, slipping quietly away in his sleep.

Coincidence? Perhaps … But I digress…

I give you now, two songs from “Once Upon A Seaweed” original music by the late, much-loved and respected Edward Augustus Thomas, whom I like to think will be given appropriate recognition when the National Honours ceremony comes around this year, in time for Eddy’s birthdate in October.

Enjoy the songs – and at the end I ask you to stand and applaud the singers and the composer, Eddy Thomas. C

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ARTICLE REFERENCES

Dance Theatre as Catalyst for the Development of Jamaica’s Creative Industries

by Dr. Sabine Sörgel Gibson, Chris (2012) Creativity in Peripheral Places. London: Routledge.

Hartley, John, Ed. (2005) Creative Industries. Malden: Blackwell Publishing.

Henry, Collete, Ed. (2007) Entrepreneurship in the Creative Industries. An International Perspective. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.

Nettleford, Rex (2009) Dance Jamaica. Renewal and Continuity. The National Dance Theatre Company of Jamaica 1962-2008. Kingston: Ian Randle. ______ (2003) Caribbean Cultural Identity. Kingston: Ian Randle. ______ (1985) Dance Jamaica. Cultural Definition and Artistic Discovery. The National Dance Theatre Company of Jamaica 1962-1983. New York: Grove Press. ______ (1969) Roots and Rhythms. Jamaica’s National Dance Theatre. London: Andre Deutsch. ______ (1968) “The Dance as an Art Form – Its Place in the West Indies.” Caribbean Quarterly 14.1/2. pp. 127-135.

Sherlock, Philip and Hazel Bennett (1998) The Story of the Jamaican People. Kingston: Ian Randle.

Ryman, Cheryl (1980) ‘The Jamaican Heritage in Dance: Developing a Traditional Typology.’

Jamaica Journal 44. pp. 2-14.

Sörgel, S. (2007) Dancing Postcolonialism. The National Dance Theatre Company of Jamaica.

Bielefeld: Transcript.

The Role of Universities in the Advancement of Creative Industries

by Dr. Janice Lindsay BOOKS AND ARTICLES

ECLAC Sub Regional Headquarters for the Caribbean (2012) Caribbean Industries in the Caribbean: A New road for diversification and export growth. Studies and Perspective Series, No. 19 Lindsay, J. (2012) The Paradox of Island Heritage in Nation Building: Examining the ‘Diablemblem’ gripping Jamaica’s Heritage Industry. Deutschland: LAP Lambert Academic Publishing.

Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ) (2009) ‘Vision 2030 Jamaica: National Development Plan’.

Jamaica: Pear Tree Press Limited Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ) (2014) Cultural and Creative Industries and Medium-Term Economic Programme. Presentation made by to Jamaica Music Museum (JaMM) Symposium March 29, 2014.

O’Connor, J (2010) The Cultural and Creative Industries Review: A Literature Review.

Available at www.creativitycultureeducation.org/research-impact/literature-reviews/

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Musee du quai Branly (2007) Concept document, A Bridge Museum: A Museographic, scientific and cultural institution dedicated to the dialogue between cultures and civlizations. Musee du quai Branly, Paris France.

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The Role of Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts in the Development of Jamaica’s Creative Industry in the 21st Century

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CONTRIBUTORS

Dance Theatre as Catalyst for the Development of Jamaica’s Creative Industries Dr. Sabine Sörgel is a Senior Lecturer in Dance and Theatre at the University of Surrey, Guildford. She received her PhD in Performance and Media Studies from Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Germany where she taught theory and history of theatre and dance until 2008. In 2003 she was visiting scholar at the University of the West Indies and conducted field research with the National Dance Theatre Company of Jamaica. Her book Dancing Postcolonialism on the NDTC was published in 2007.

“Lest we perish” – A Vision for Cultural Enterprise and the Creative Industries in Jamaica Michael Holgate is a Caribbean Creative Arts professional with a solid body of work as a Director and Producer in various artistic disciplines. He is a choreographer; playwright; theatre director; Video-Filmmaker; songwriter and novelist. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature and a Master of Philosophy degree in Cultural Studies from the University of the West Indies. His novel NIGHT OF THE INDIGO was published by Macmillan Caribbean.

Holgate is the founding director of the Jamaica Dance Umbrella festival and co-founding director of Gungo Walk World-Alternative Music and Arts festival. He is the Tutor Coordinator at the Philip Sherlock Centre for the Creative Arts (University of the West Indies) where he mentors numerous creative minds and directs festivals and productions annually.

The Role of Universities in the Advancement of Creative Industries Dr. Janice Lindsay is Director, Arts and Culture, Centre for the Arts (CFA) at the University of Technology, Jamaica. She is responsible for the administration and management of CFA which coordinates and teaches the University’s creative arts programmes. She completed a Ph.D. in World Cultural Heritage Studies at the University of Tsukuba in Japan and holds a Master of Arts in Heritage Studies and a Bachelor of Arts in Media and Communication from the University of the West Indies, Mona. Dr. Lindsay was recently named as one of two representatives from Jamaica to serve on UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee.

The Role of the Media in Developing Jamaica’s Creative Industry Michael Reckord is a minister of religion, educator, creative writer and Gleaner columnist/reviewer. He has been involved with Jamaican culture all his life.

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The Role of Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts in the Development of Jamaica’s Creative Industry in the 21st Century Carol “Annie” Hamilton is the Vice Principal for Academics and Technical Studies, and has played a major role in Visual Arts education, both locally and regionally for over thirty years and has had a long association with the College. In the over thirty years since she joined the faculty she has contributed significantly to the development of academic programmes at the institution.

Since 2007, as Vice Principal she successfully marshalled the submission of the performing arts and arts management degree programmes for accreditation as well as the accreditation of the School of Visual Arts approved degrees. In 2009 she conceptualized the College’s first international Rex Nettleford Arts Conference and co-chaired the planning committee, overseeing its successful implementation in 2011.

Technology: Powering the way we manage the arts Simone Harris is an Entertainment Business Consultant and Lecturer in Arts Management at Edna Manley College. She has worked with a number of artists in areas of management, marketing and business development and publishing. She holds a Masters in Music Business Administration from Florida Atlantic University, MBA from Everest University, a BSc in Psychology from the University of the West Indies, and a certificate in The Business of Music from Berklee College of Music.

Creative Industries and Intellectual Property Law, a lonely duo or the magic potion?

Ewan D.A.Simpson, Musical Director of the NDTC, is an Attorney at Law and Entertainment Consultant who holds a Master of laws in Intellectual Property (IP) as well as an International Certificate in IP for SMEs.

The NDTC Journal is produced by members of the National Dance Theatre Company (NDTC) of Jamaica on a biannual basis. The publication, which began in 1968 as the NDTC Newsletter, serves as an invaluable source of information for Members (past and present), patrons (potential and current) and associates of the NDTC. The wider artistic community also benefits from the Journal as it shares matters relating to the Arts, Education and Dance Theatre in Jamaica, the Caribbean and wider Diaspora. This edition, Issue #5, 2014 addresses – “Creative Industries in Jamaica: Opportunities for Growth and Protection” as highlighted by above noted contributors.

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NATIONAL DANCE THEATRE COMPANY OF JAMAICA 4 Tom Redcam Avenue, Kingston 5, Jamaica WI (876) 631-5879, (876) 886-5148, (876) 631-5849 ONLINE: www.ndtcjamaica.org EMAIL: ndtc_jamaica@yahoo.com or ndtcjamaica@gmail.com INSTAGRAM & TWITTER: @ndtcjamaica FACEBOOK: facebook.com/NDTCJamaica TUMBLR: ndtcjamaica.tumblr.com

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