Producers have voiced grave concern over the proposed steep hike in rates for the rental of the National Cultural Centre and one has accused Minister of Culture Charles Ramson Jr of micromanaging the sector and not recognising the importance of creatives.
Ramson Jr has come in for strong criticism from the creative sector after reports of a more than 600% hike in some rental fees for the Cultural Centre – Guyana’s premier theatre location.
Earlier this week, Signature Production Company which produces the popular “Nothing to Laugh About” production, posted a section of a letter quoting the recommended increases to access the 1975-seats National Cultural Centre. The letter informed that the increases are “recommended”.
Based on the recommended rates, rental of the entire theatre would be pegged at $500,000 per event (an increase from $80,000), the lower auditorium is now $250,000 (it was approximately $50,000), and the 500 seats recital hall $175,000. Additionally, persons would have to pay $50,000 per day for rehearsals along with a 20% service charge on all ticket sales plus 14% VAT.
Efforts to confirm the application of the rates with Minister Ramson have proved futile.
Veteran performer and producer Simone Dowding has also been vocal about the recommended rates along with what she said has been the Minister’s micromanagement of the creative sector and unresponsiveness. She said that she was recently denied access to the Cultural Centre without any reason provided.
“This year for my Mother’s Day show I wasn’t given permission to use the Cultural Centre for whatever reason I don’t know. As a person who contributed to the performing arts in Guyana for over 38 years, it did affect me because no explanation was given as to why I wasn’t given permission to use the Cultural Centre. It was just a plain blank no from the Minister.
“I moved on and I found another venue which was Police Officers’ Mess [Eve Leary] but this micromanagement is something that we have never seen with the former Ministers of Culture. Right now there are three ministers that used to be responsible for Culture in the current government and I think they should show the current Minister of Culture how to run his ministry because he does not know,” Dowding asserted.
Dowding added that she visited the office of Minister Ramson in an effort to secure a meeting to glean answers as to why access was denied to her but that was unsuccessful.
“I went to his office and I was sitting there and he didn’t come out to talk to me. He was there and he didn’t come out and talk with me or he did not invite me in to have a word on why I was there. I sat there for 45 minutes and then his Secretary said he was going in a meeting.
“I am calling on the former Ministers of Culture especially Dr Frank Anthony, Minister Priya Manickchand [and] Minister Gail (Teixeira) to help our current Minister understand how to handle his ministry because I don’t think he knows how to because if he was culturally oriented he would not have done something like that. Any human being that comes to your office to see you, you come out and listen even if you are busy,” she said.
This is not the first time that the creative industry is calling out Ramson over access to the Cultural Centre.
In a letter published in the April 13, 2022 edition of the Stabroek News, Gem Madhoo of GEMS Theatre Productions said that she wrote to Ramson on March 10 seeking dates for late May/June for The Link Show 36 but received no reply.
“As has always been the practice, producers wrote to the Administrative Manager of the National Cultural Centre (NCC) to apply for dates for scheduling their shows. It appears now that the use of the NCC is subject to the sole discretion of the Minister,” she had said while informing that the Administrative Manager of the National Cultural Centre advised that all correspondence be sent to the Minister.
At that time Ramson, when questioned by Stabroek News, skirted around the issue without directly addressing the decision to change the way in which access to the NCC is being granted.
“I did not know what was the process but anything to do with our [NCC], because we are doing a whole bunch of work and upgrades so we have to be careful,” he had said.
Ramson did acknowledge seeing Madhoo’s letter but not an application for use of the NCC.
“I don’t have a problem with Gem. I did see that she wrote a letter that something occurred [at NCC] and it made its way to the newspaper. It is strange that no one brought that part of their interest to host a show [at NCC] to me but in the newspapers,” Ramson said while promising to check up on the matter.
Last year, the NCC was upgraded with 1,214 new seats in the main auditorium. The project was pegged at $84 million.
Irrational
Meanwhile, Dowding said if the recommended rates are implemented then it puts an added burden on the creative sector which is one of the hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“A country like ours with the resources, our minister should have thought about the creatives in Guyana. What are these people [Ministry of Culture] really thinking and I can guarantee you that Guyana is the only country who will do that to their people because no other country would see their people out of a pandemic and foist that price on to them to pay to use a creative space. It is irrational and I think our president should look into it. It seems like our minister is micromanaging the Culture Centre now,” she said.
Dowding added “taking into consideration the genre of shows I do because I target the mature audiences, I don’t use the entire Cultural Centre. I normally use the auditorium which is now $250,000 from $40,000 so how do you want your people to keep the culture going? Culture is what makes your country.”
She argued that more theatres should be constructed to promote the arts rather than the implementation of hefty fees.
“The current Minister of Culture is clearly not culturally oriented,” she lamented.
Nothing to Laugh About producer Maria Edwards said that with the recommended rates, it is now a “long shot” to put out a successful production.
“You got to make sure that your show sell off and it is not a guarantee that you can sell off your show. I know people out there are saying Nothing to Laugh About does always sell out so why we got issues but that’s not guaranteed, you never know what can happen and when. Also, what about the smaller promoters that don’t sell out?
“Even if you cut down and you do a smaller portion it’s still hard to make a profit … To promote a show of this nature, we invest heavily in costuming, props, we do backdrops and there is marketing. It is a lot that goes into a show of this nature. Yes, we do get sponsorship but sponsorship will not cover the expenses by no stretch of our imagination. We do depend heavily on revenues from the gate to cover expenses and make a profit because it is a business,” she explained.
She added that they also compensate their artists fairly well as well as attempt to keep ticket prices low. Edwards said that the cheapest ticket is usually offered at $1000 and with the current structure, for every ticket sold at that price they would be required to pay NCC $200 as a service charge and then $140 to the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) for VAT.
“It is not feasible and that is why we have not announced any live shows as yet,” she said.
Efforts by the Sunday Stabroek to contact Ramson to offer some clarity were unsuccessful.
