Dear Editor,
Three letters on the presidential inauguration in Stabroek News, Thursday May 27, 2015 piqued my interest.
The first one by David Dewar was interesting from the point of view that it raised matters still plaguing the Creative Industries Sector in Guyana. Dewar points to the logistical arrangements for performers who are often lumped in with the rest of them, the spectators, trying to get in the venue. David dealt with the locking of the gates (a dangerous practice in a one road area) and rain (in a country known for its rainforest) among other issues. The problem of logistics must be managed by any event coordinator and the traffic department for such a grand event.
Another point raised by Dewar, the lack of Dressing Rooms has been raised so often that one gets the impression that it is deliberately being ignored. Guyana, this is 2015 for crying out loud a back toilet is not a dressing room worse yet a press box at a stadium. The location of the dressing room relative to the performance area must be worked out in Guyana’s humid conditions in an open air setting.
Dewar’s parting shot was on the meals provided. Oh for some forward planning. Every theatre space that I have visited has a food court or food concessionaire offering properly prepared and stored food.
Now to the second letter by Felicia Persaud on the issue of a “Disaster”. In her correspondence Felicia alludes to the broadcast. It is clear that once an event of that magnitude is planned the broadcasters/reporters/cameramen et al must know what is being done. Any event like that is not just for the spectators but for the “viewers across the nation and around the world” who need to enjoy the action. It is therefore a Television Event for jumbo, large, medium, small and smart screens.
On the broadcasters too, it has been my mantra, “it is better for people to wonder why you did not speak than for them to wonder why you did”. If you have not scripted it, rehearsed it, in short if you have prepared nothing to say, then say nothing, let the pictures tell the story.
Felicia’s last point was on what I like to call the B.A. culture, the “Been Away” culture, those persons who “been away” and return with all the fine ideas without connecting with the local on-the-ground reality. It is interesting that at least two of the main shakers and movers came from the Diaspora. No matter how you think you know the territory you do not plunge in, pluck up a few people here and there and call it ‘show time’, it shows!
Then there was a letter by J Campbell addressing the issue of sound planning and execution. Campbell highlights the fact that Guyana has allowed mediocrity to subsist for so long that it has become acceptable.
Of course there was the issue of Sound. Bad Sound on the ground, Bad Sound on the air, Bad Sound everywhere. These events are held not just to educate, inform or entertain for the present. They become part of the record, the future. If we do not get it right, history will be unkind to us.
Thursday May 26th 2016 will not change from now to then. It is a leap year as the country celebrates 50 years of Independence. Let us make a leap in the Creative Industries Sector and prove that we are no longer B.G (Backward Guyana).
Yours faithfully,
Enrico Woolford
