President David Granger on Thursday reaffirmed his commitment to the development of the arts in Guyana and assured the visual arts community of the Government’s full support. A Ministry of the Presidency press release said that the Head of State, who is patron of the Guyana Visual Art Competition and Exhibition, told those gathered at the National Art Gallery at Castellani House for the 2017 Visual Arts Exhibition that his commitment to promoting Guyana’s art is demonstrated by what he calls ‘art diplomacy’. He referred to several donations of Guyanese art that he had made to various countries.
Prior to the opening of the exhibition, the release said that the President attended the award ceremony for the Guyana Visual Arts Competition which was held at the National Cultural Centre. This competition saw over 200 entries from artists from as far as Port Kaituma in the Barima-Waini Region to East Berbice-Corentyne. The competition was judged in six categories including, painting, drawing, photography, sculpture, ceramics and fine craft. The winners in these categories are Stanley Greaves (painting), Nikhil Ramkarran (photography), Compton Babb (photography), Oswald Hussein (sculpture), Michael Khan (fine craft) and Vandyke David (ceramics).
