Dear Editor,
The Guyana United Artists (GUA) would like to congratulate the Guyana Visual Arts Committee for another successful Guyana Visual Arts Competition (GVAC) 2019.
Since the resuscitation of the GVAC under the PPP Minister of Culture Dr Frank Anthony, a lot of new, talented young artists have emerged but Dr Anthony’s patronage of party loyalists in the artists’ community is what brought him in disrepute in the eyes of grassroots artists who had to really struggle to produce creative works and put food on the table for their families and send their children to school.
But nothing changed under the APNU+AFC coalition government that promised the good life for all Guyanese. Rather, things have gotten worse for senior artists who have given more than four decades of distinguished service to our native land, serving at local and international forums where our works came in for high praise.
The coalition does not respect senior artists; we have to line up with up and coming artists. GYD$20 million was allocated in the budget for the arts but nothing was given to senior artists to help subsidise their creativity. What transpired is that the Culture Vultures, greedy and selfish as in other government ministries, swallowed it all up.
As a producing artist working on two large purpleheart sculptures for over one year and Linden Jemmott with a collection of over 100 small sculptures, no ministry official has ever visited us to see how we are doing and how they can help. The late Dr Denis Williams of the Department of Culture used to visit the homes of artists and acquire their works as gifts for foreign dignitaries.
In my personal capacity, I have received the Guyana Cultural Association Brooklyn Award for promoting nationwide unity, peace, justice and universal harmony. I am due to leave Guyana shortly at the invitation of the diaspora as part of the “Columbus to Castro” Retrospective and discussion in New York and New Jersey, USA and a Peace Assembly at the UN Headquarters.
The PPP and the PNC have to start respecting Guyanese; they don’t own this country. No one party, no one race, can rule this country or should be allowed to do so. We are all Guyanese and after 60 years, we need to reject race politics and come together.
I, Linden Jemmott and other senior members of the GUA have engaged the grassroots to form the Movement for People’s Power (MFPP) to improve the lives of Guyanese and to alleviate the plight of the teachers, nurses, vendors and the thousands of sugar workers who have been driven into destitution. We need to have a place at the table as stakeholders and are prepared to work with the small parties. No longer can we await the crumbs that fall off the tables of the vicious post-colonial leaders who have replaced the colonial masters.
Yours faithfully,
Desmond Alli
General Secretary
Guyana United Artists
