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December 2015 |
UWI Art gets a State of the Art homeThe Department of Creative and Festival Arts Building’s Sod Turning UWI Art was Peter Minshall’s suggestion for the name of the new Department of Creative and Festival Arts (DCFA) building at the sod-turning ceremony on November 30. The renowned masman declared the event “no small thing” as he encouraged everyone in attendance to “stand proud” among the world’s leading art schools such as the Royal College of Art in London. The Caribbean, he said, finds itself at the tip of the spear that leads into the future. DCFA alumni, staff, students and members of the arts community were joined by Mr Josh Rudder, CEO of the Copyright Organisation of Trinidad and Tobago (COTT) and Mr Adrian Winter, Senior Advisor who represented the Honourable Minister of Tourism, to witness this historic event. From its humble beginnings in 1986 as the Centre for Creative and Festival Arts, then fast-forward 20 years later to its recognition as a Department – finding a suitable home to accommodate the acoustic and performance needs of the DCFA has been a long time in the making. Head of the Department, Mr Jessel Murray credited Campus Principal and Pro Vice-Chancellor Professor Clement Sankat and corporate sponsor Republic Bank for bringing this project to fruition. He spoke about the three phases of the construction plan with the sod-turning as the first one. The vision of the second phase, to create an auditorium and a library, has not yet attracted funding from the private sector and so the work still has some way to go. The final phase will be when the dream comes true for the DCFA to be the first ranked place for Arts in the Caribbean, said Mr Murray. Dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Education, Dr Heather Cateau stressed the importance of finding a home for creative and festival arts not just for The UWI community, but also the nation. The significance of the arts was echoed throughout all the speeches at the event, including that of Mr Derwin Howell, Executive Director of Republic Bank Limited and double alum of The UWI – who emphasised that the “essence of nationhood is rooted in culture” and that Republic Bank hopes to help produce a nation – a region, of holistically educated individuals and urged other corporate organisations to take that up as well. Professor Sankat underscored the need for the private sector to be much more engaged in the tertiary sector; noting that the new DCFA building would not have been possible without the partnership and philanthropic gift from Republic Bank Ltd. The event ended with the unveiling of the DCFA building’s foundation stone by Mr Howell and Professor Sankat before they turned the sod at the Cheeseman Avenue site.
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