Chatting with an artist friend resident across the ocean:
Friend: What do you know of the museum that is being built?
Me: Nothing. A museum is being built?
Friend: Yes, I heard this from a couple of sources, more than once. […] Money, I heard, is already set aside for this.
Me: (in disbelief)…for fine art?
Friend: Yes.
Me: Well, I heard the same thing a few years ago when [a different government] came into office. Then there was talk about transforming the area between Hadfield Street and Homestretch Avenue into a complex of dedicated arts buildings, but nothing came of that.
Our conversation continued. I wondered then, and I wonder now, what is the likelihood that the arts of Guyana could be heavily invested in with multiple state-of-the-art fit-for-purpose buildings?
While the renovations to the National Gallery of Art, Castellani House (which began in early 2020) have made the space within and outside more attractive and functional, a wooden building ventilated by the naturally occurring northeast winds cannot suffice. Thus, the rumoured museum – should it materialise and is properly designed and constructed – would be just the structure needed. With the renovations, we have a building that is more suitable for its function, although not ideal. We have more floor-to-ceiling walls to add to the two which had to be built a few years before the recent renovations to accommodate a particular artist’s work. The artist was notorious for not being straightforward in how their work should be displayed. Nonetheless, the artist’s needs did not surpass the provisions of a fit-for-purpose contemporary gallery and perhaps underscored the need for a more appropriate display space.
Since then there are now more walls that are floor-to-ceiling in height, and artists are no longer forced to limit the scale of their work to fit within the four-foot spans of the walls that existed before. But, can the lovely polished wooden floors be covered with sand, paint, or similar material to satisfy the intentions of the artist? A more appropriate contemporary space would be flexible in allowing the ceilings, walls, and floors to be manipulated for the sake of the art and its presentation requirements. A nail in the wall? No problem. New wall colour? No problem. Puddles of paint on the floor? No problem. Black gooey odorous oil on the floor? No problem.
But let’s think big about what is really needed. And let’s do so from the best-case scenario rather than the reverse of limits and confinement of thoughts and ideas. More than one grand complex of edifices in Georgetown or its immediate environs dedicated to the arts is needed. Arts complexes that work collaboratively with each other are needed across the length and breadth of this country. Thus, a theatrical presentation staged in Georgetown can be taken to Linden, to New Amsterdam, etc, and find comparative amenities so that the staging will be optimal for all. Likewise, an art exhibition hosted in Georgetown can be hosted in Lethem or Bartica. Similarly, the National Art Collection can move around the country and be accessible to far more than at present at its AK-47-guarded, gated, and high-fenced Georgetown location.
Thus, young and aspiring artists not based in Georgetown will have the opportunity to study the canvases, sculptures, ceramics, etc, which are exemplars within the National Collection without the potential modifications that can occur when seen on a printed page after mediation by a camera. Such centres can also offer an outlet to deter the frequenting of the neighbourhood rum shop; therefore, something to do outside of knocking a few beers with the chaps. And since we love to dress up, somewhere to go when prettily and dandily dressed.
As a result of these centres of the arts, training of greater numbers of practitioners will be necessary and in some instances, the training may be done at the locations in recognition that not everyone with an inclination to the arts can travel to Georgetown to train. Such centres will necessitate increased entrepreneurial activity in their environs – places to eat, souvenir shops, places to rest for travelling performers, places to buy materials and equipment to support the centres, etc. And of course, the centres themselves will necessitate both skilled and unskilled workers. In my simple way of thinking, centres for the arts can become important drivers of economic growth from the initial construction to maintenance, to the skilled and unskilled/specialised and unspecialised labour force necessary for maximum functionality of the spaces.
According to the UK’s Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), the creative industries sector (of which the arts are part) contributed £109 billion in 2021 to the economy or approximately 5.6%. The DCMS defines cultural industries as those which “… have their origin in individual creativity, skill and talent and … have a potential for wealth creation through the generation of intellectual property”. Among the 13 areas of activity listed are architecture, the arts, crafts, designer fashion, film, music, and the performing arts. And while the monthly gross value added (GVA) in the creative industries fell by 6.6% between January 2020 and January 2021, the sector performed well in comparison to the 11% decline for the UK economy as a whole. The sector’s performance is laudable despite closures and contractions due to the COVID-19 pandemic and a general shrinking of the economy.
Thinking of Guyana, if well developed, our arts centres can stimulate internal tourism. Something to do in Mabaruma should one travel there without the intention to work, visit family or friends, or if lacking a penchant for nature in its abundance. Even the most enthusiastic nature lover may appreciate a gallery visit, a theatre show, a dance presentation, etc. Needless to say, the creative sector needs to be placed more substantially on our economic agenda and our roadmap to economic prosperity.
Roads, roads, and more roads! Narrow roads. Wider roads. More cars driven by folk with disposable income and still few options for where to spend it. Some, “fly out”. Thus, the money that should remain in circulation locally does not. Let these roads take us somewhere outside of our homes, jobs, and necessary and leisure shopping.
As I think about a fine art museum (I hope is not only rumoured), I pause on the words of the late John Robert Lewis, the American politician and civil rights activist: “Without the arts, without music, without dance, without drama, without photography, the civil rights movement would have been like a bird without wings.” Therefore, the arts are necessary.
To be continued
