SUNDAY 7 APRIL 2019 – UWI TODAY
13
Gillian Moore is a writer, editor and singer-songwriter.
ARTS-IN-ACTION 25
TH
ANNIVERSARY
necessarily studying the arts,” but through their interaction
“the truth of their passion is revealed to them”.
When asked to intervene in a problematic situation, she
says, first: “we ask, ‘what is the need?’ We research it. We talk
and create an interactive presentation. We speak the truth about
the issue at hand.
“People also come to start up their arts business – because
it is a business,” she says. Their programmes show practitioners
how to turn their passion into sustainable ventures.
It is a lesson AiA learned early. They could not survive
relying on external funding: “We have to see about ourselves
and stand on our own feet.” The organisation, though
sometimes sorely challenged by a lack of financial resource,
is fully self-funded.
“We realised when we reached our 13
th
year, people don’t
normally last this long doing what we do. But we have found a
way. If this is the work you want to do, it is viable.”
Lyndersay stresses that the programmes they create are
tailored to the needs of each client and based on research, “so
that it resonates”.
Lyndersay explains that the work is not about dispensing
solutions, but rather helping clients understand issues and work
out their answers for themselves through the process.
“It has to be interactive. You are responsible for your life.
In figuring out how to help effect change, we sing, write, and
dance about it.”
Lacaille, who joined around the same time as Briggs, feels it
is AiA’s unique Caribbean essence that truly speaks to, engages
and empowers communities, as they are able to see themselves.
“Whether it is Carnival characters or Ramleela, the work
takes the community into account,” he says.
He feels the power of the arts is under-appreciated:
“Theatre does not just play a supporting role inmaking change.
It is the vehicle for transformation.”
Dealing with issues “from the point of view of the
community and through their interactive performance
workshops,” he says, “people find meaning”.
The workshops challenge the audience to seek positive
ways of achieving mindset, attitude and behaviour change.
Unlike “a show where you just look and clap,” Briggs says,
AiA’s productions must involve the audience.
And unlike full productions, AiA takes a minimalistic
approach to sets and costuming, using cubes, boxes, and
symbolic items to represent the reality being examined. “We
ask the audience to use their belief,” Lyndersay says.
And through their belief in their mission, it continues
to grow, in spite of persistent ongoing areas of need. Their
wish-list includes a better-equipped home for their work and
a proper theatre hall at the university, instead of the multi-
purpose halls which do not have proper backstage areas and
other performance-specific requirements.
Lacaille feels the university should take a leading
role in helping the public to value DCFA’s work. “If UWI
demonstrates how the arts should be treated, people will
follow.”
On their 25
th
anniversary, he says “we want to honour
the work that has gone before.”
To celebrate their milestone, AiA has lots in store. From
September 20 to 22, they will host a major symposium at
the DCFA, entitled “Applied Arts in Action”, examining the
educative arts in the region.
They will hold their annual arts-based Discovery Camp
for children five to 13, which staged a full production called
Jumbie Birds
last year. They have also been asked to train
performers by the National Ramleela Council of Trinidad
and Tobago.
Energy company BHP Billiton has commissioned AiA
for an anti-bullying project for North-East and South-East
schools called “Safe Spaces”. They are also working with
the Citizens for Conservation on behalf of “at risk” youth.
And they are hosting AiA Creatives, a series of quarterly
experimental workshops for DCFA students.
And so the work is ongoing, but so are the challenges
– and the inspiration.
“It never stops,” says Lyndersay. “We can’t stand still.”
“That’s the beauty of the arts. It is eternally new.”
More information on Arts-in-Action
is available at artsinaction.org
“Arts-in-Action is a space where
people who have a passion for
finding themselves through the arts,
and reaching out to young people,
can grow in their art form.”
Artistic Director Patrice Briggs
Children taking part in a theatre production of “Jumbie Bird”
for AiA’s Discovery Camp 2018.
PHOTO: QUINCY OSBORNE
Brendon Lacaille, Funding and Business Development Officer of AiA, leads a
Care and Love for the Environment and Nature (CLEAN) tree planting at the
Gandhi Memorial Vedic School in San Juan.
PHOTO: RAYHAAN JOSEPH
Rawle Gibbons, Co-Founder of Arts-in-Action and founding director
of DCFA.
