Arts on Sunday

This is an edited text of the Keynote Address by Al Creighton delivered at the Opening of the School of Drama and Theatre Arts on January 29, 2013.

This discourse on the power and social responsibility of theatre-goers by Desryn Jones-Collins was written in response to the ‘Arts on Sunday’  feature ‘A Season of Theatre’ published in Sunday Stabroek on January 13, 2013. 

    Nanny My womb was sealed with molten wax of killer bees for nothing should enter nothing should leave the state of perpetual siege the condition of the warrior.

Today is celebrated as the Chinese New Year which ushers in ‘the year of the snake,’ a year in which Guyana commemorates the 160th anniversary of the arrival of Chinese in Guyana. 

Guyana’s National Dance Company presented Suites for its Dance Season 2012 in late November. 

This season is known for theatre in the Caribbean. Curiously, this theatre exists and has sprung from two different traditions: one that takes place on the formal (western) stage, and another belonging to the traditional theatre of the folk. 

There is no human experience that has not been dealt with in literature. 

By Alim Hosein Alim Hosein is a linguist, lecturing in the Department of Language and Cultural Studies in the School of Education and Humanities at the University of Guyana. 

A few thousand members of Guyana’s theatre audience were entertained by a variety of dramatic performances in the recently concluded 2012 National Drama Festival. 

Edgar Mittelholzer (1909-1965) is a major Guyanese writer.  Not only is he one of the most recognized Guyanese writers, but the nation accords him a most distinguished place in its literature and heritage. 

Guyana’s second National Drama Festival (NDF) was held in September-October 2012 at the National Cultural Centre in Georgetown and Lichas Hall, Linden.

What is art?  It is an expression, an illusion, a love. 

We have on a number of occasions analysed the state of dance in Guyana, the factors contributing to the way it has developed over the past 35 years, the pre-Independence traditions, the element of formal training, and the notable rise of schools, companies and dance theatre productions.

We have been commenting on the state of training in the performing arts in Guyana.

The Theatre Guild of Guyana has a history of functioning as a nursery for the production of new theatre talent.

Wheel And Come Again – An Anthology of Reggae Poetry was published by Peepal Tree Press in the UK in 1998 and edited by Kwame Dawes. 

Everything on earth is changing – bit by bit – right now – in front of our very eyes.

If one were to look at the heritage of Amerindian arts and culture in Guyana from the perspective of records and treatment in the colonial period one will find mixed attitudes and treatments – from serious study to superficiality, stereotyping and romanticism; from thorough and valuable documentation to disapproval and scepticism. 

. . . Seven days now this womb of sacred waters Has made its marriage with oblivion Over the sounding cliff of rock and I Amalivaca in this tiny wedge Driven between the witness centuries, Have drowned my mind within the moving flood, Married my human to watery particles Searching the smoothness secret of its power.

By Alim Hosein Guyana has a long history of visual art competitions, going back to the colonial days.