Among the most memorable features of Carifesta X in Guyana were the interventions of the major writers, and, generally, that is how it should be. These were critical contributions that allow an assessment of the failings and achievements of Carifesta as an institution and of Guyana’s decision to host it in 2008 in less than half the normal preparation time. Immediately the evaluation may begin with the very presence and participation of these major artists, but it also draws critical attention to the fact that so many more were absent.
Now that the revels have ended, the fireworks have faded and the hundreds of symbolic balloons released by the children have sailed away and disappeared into the distance signalling the end at the closing ceremony, there is time for reflection on the gains and losses. Several questions will arise. Among them are issues concerning the value of the festival itself and the wisdom of Guyana playing host at this time; the huge expenditure against the national returns, the popular interests and benefits; the gains for tourism and the economy; was it a success; has it made any contribution to the arts, to the region and to the people? Was Carifesta X worth the effort and the expense?
The newspaper headlines thrived on the extended exchange between world leading author Derek Walcott and Guyana’s President Bharrat Jagdeo at the Grand Opening Symposium of Carifesta. Other foremost artists and intellectuals had more to say in the other symposia, including Distinguished Guest Speaker Rex Nettleford at the Closing Symposium, novelist and playwright Earl Lovelace, theatre designer/director Henry Muttoo, poet and critic Edward Baugh, novelist, poet and critic David Dabydeen and historian and critic Tony Martin.
Indeed, the Carifesta symposia provided the meeting-place for artists, critics and the general public, very critical fora for companion discourse, analysis, evaluation and the articulation of experience. The fact that fireworks were generated, the head of state was drawn into direct debate and useful criticisms were voiced may indicate the success of the symposia, which can be said to have performed their purpose, but what relates more to an assessment of the festival’s success or failure is what these speakers had to say.
Walcott repeated the criticisms he made as much as 20 years ago about Caribbean governments and the wastefulness of Carifesta. As he has done several times in the past, he attacked the regional governments for not spending and investing in the arts. He argued that these politicians keep the artists in poverty, the arts underfunded and undeveloped and then celebrate it at Carifesta. The artists are feted in a grand festival and then return home to nothing. This prompted a response from Guyana’s President who pointed out some of the support to the arts given by the Government of Guyana, but offered the reminder that the leaders of poor countries face difficult choices when they have to meet the competing demands of cultural development and the immediate material needs of the people. His illustration that more than half the people would choose the short-term benefit of the provision of a good road over the long-term value of the building of a theatre drew a rejoinder from the playwright. Walcott said that while that is the old, old argument of politicians, he is advocating not one or the other, but both the road and the theatre.
Lovelace remarked on the absence of several of the Caribbean’s best writers from the proceedings in Georgetown. He asked why Eddie Kamau Brathwaite, George Lamming and a number of others who actually live right here in the Caribbean were not present and involved, arguing that Carifesta is about the leading artists and every effort should be made to bring them in. It was obvious that several were missing; Eddy Grant, Stanley Greaves and Fred D’Aguiar among the Guyanese, for example. Among those present, however, were three other Commonwealth Prize Winners (in addition to Lovelace himself), Austin ‘Tom’ Clarke, Pauline Melville, and Karen King Aribisala (who originally came on a private visit), as well as others among the most accomplished including Oliver Samuels, Rawle Gibbons, Henk Tjon and Dave Martins.
While these questions challenged both the Guyana organisers and the Caricom authorities, it is to be said that the inclusion of the best and the most promising artists is as much the responsibility of the other participating nations as it is that of the host country. The participating nations are expected to include their leading icons in their delegations.
Nettleford was always upbeat about Carifesta, charging it with the duty to “assert our Caribbeanness,” and “mirror the Caribbean persona,” a creative multi-cultural, multi-lingual diversity showing that “the people of the Caribbean have learnt to live together rather than simply side by side.” Yet, these very critical questions may be used to gauge the achievements of Carifesta.
And while the media feasted on Walcott’s repeat of his old position, little attention was paid to his new one. Walcott argued that while he has not abandoned that old quarrel, he has made an important shift. Despite his reservations, he decided to come to Guyana for Carifesta X because in re-examining the situation and circumstances that informed his old position, he is now very much convinced of the necessity of Carifesta. It provides a reminder to governments about the state of the arts and an opportunity for greater awareness.
What is more, Walcott’s amended point of view was very practically borne out by some of the outcomes of the presence of himself and other leading artists at the festival in Guyana. Material was provided by which Carifesta X, and indeed the necessity of all Carifestas, may be evaluated. The exchange at the symposium between the literary genius and the President, rather than set them apart as antagonists, actually drew them together for the general good. There were other willing allies in Dabydeen, especially, but also Lovelace, Baugh and Clarke, and further discussions led to developments that ought to contribute significantly to the development of the arts in between Carifestas, improve the local infrastructure and help to emphasise the necessity of the festival.
A number of important projects have been agreed upon. Lovelace is to be brought in to Guyana to conduct workshops. Walcott is to be the main tutor in a training programme for writers to be held in Guyana in June 2009, and he will bring with him and persuade to come to this country for developmental visits, one or two of the world’s leading writers with whom he has close personal relations. The Irish poet and winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, Seamus Heaney, is foremost among those.
The encounter at the symposia, the issues raised there and the dialogue that followed prompted President Jagdeo to commit his government to another major investment in his decision to put some $20 million into the development of a Caribbean publishing house located in Guyana. Details of how this is to work were agreed on by Jagdeo, Dabydeen and Walcott. Dabydeen in the Opening Symposium had revealed that there is a decline in the publishing opportunities provided for West Indian writers by the leading houses in the UK. Both Heinemann and Macmillan have closed their Caribbean series, the Macmillan-Warwick series is coming to an end and most of the other large houses focus on sales and the promise of sales. This new publisher will help to fill a huge vacancy in the opportunities for Guyanese and West Indian authors.
In another area of the proceedings of Carifesta X, there were at least three workshops/master classes of note. Rex Nettleford, UWI’s Vice-Chancellor Emeritus, famous author, researcher, academic and the Caribbean’s most accomplished, celebrated and distinguished dancer and choreographer, conducted a class in dance. Walcott and Dabydeen conducted a class in creative writing at Castellani House and Rawle Gibbons, playwright/director and UWI academic, conducted another in the theatre arts for CXC.
Such weighty activities will add up favourably on the credit side of the Carifesta balance sheet. If all the promises are kept – and even the fact that discussion and agreement caused them to be made in the first place – it should make many skeptics more convinced of the necessity of Carifesta. Surely Walcott will feel absolved by these developments, that his participation had meaning, that the festival was worth it. But yet, there still remain many more questions to be addressed and more evaluation to be done given the major failings and achievements during the festival that returned to the land of its nativity in August 2008.
