The familiar saying, “In unity there is strength’ is beginning to take root among Guyanese entertainers and promoters who are in a push to form what would be called the Guyana Entertainers Association (GEA).
The idea to establish such a body came from Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport Steve Ninvalle, who has since managed to persuade a group of promoters to get themselves organized. “It can only be to their benefit,” Ninvalle, who believes that the entertainment industry in Guyana is disorganised, asserted. He noted that there were too many clashes of personality in the industry and because the players were disorganised they could hardly interface with the authorities on certain issues.
A number of prominent promoters including Jonathan Beepat of Wildfire Promotions, football promoter Kashif Mohamed and Proprietor of Kross Kolor Records Burchmore Simon are part of a steering committee which is making all the background plans for the launching of the body.
Ninvalle, in an interview with The Scene, said he recently met a group of promoters who he encouraged to get involved. According to Ninvalle, many of the promoters have real problems especially as regards the way they conduct business.
Simon told The Scene that he had long pushed for such a grouping, but all his previous efforts failed. He said he was willing to give this effort a try and was calling on his fellow colleagues in the industry to come onboard.
Simon said that after the discussions they had with Ninvalle a number of persons were identified and a meeting was held. He said at that meeting they discussed rules for the association, a name for it and also selected a few persons to push ahead with the plans. While commitment from some of the players has been cited as one of the challenges that affected a much earlier launching of the body, Simon said there were a faithful few who he would work along with to get it off the ground before the end of the year. “I am conscious that some people have other commitments, but we will work with those who are available until we can get things off,” Simon, who is also a music director, said.
He said that at present the entertainment industry in Guyana was in a crisis, noting that although shows were being held and new singers were emerging, there was no unity among the promoters and things were usually done in an ad hoc manner.
Ninvalle alluded to this, saying that there have been cases in the past where two events of the same nature were staged in proximity to each other creating problems. “These are problems which the ministry will not deal with, but the promoters themselves can thrash them out,” Ninvalle said.
He explained that whenever a show was being held, the promoters would seek permission from the ministry after which they would have to get clearance from the police. “We do not regulate whether two shows are being held in the same area we only give permits,” he said.
He pointed to recently when the Jamzone Summer Break was on at Splashmin’s Fun Park and another show was held not too far away on the same day. At the latter show, admission was free and certain beverages were being sold at very low prices. This caused some amount of fall out among the respective promoters and one of them had raised the issue with Ninvalle.
Simon said the absence of an entertainers’ association has resulted in them losing out on a lot of things. He cited copyright legislation in Guyana, which he believes the body could lobby the government to have expedited.
In addition, Simon said, the body could help fix rates for certain events and also lobby government to give tax holidays to those in the music industry to bring in musical equipment. “We are losing out big time and I hope this thing can come off quickly,” Simon said.
Ninvalle said the ministry was fully in support of the body and will be working with the promoters to have it formed.
