SUNDAY 5TH JULY, 2015 – UWI TODAY
15
Ministry of Design
A wide range of photos from the event is available at:
Lesley-Ann Noel is a lecturer in Design at UWI and a PhD candidate at the North Carolina State University.
Michael Lee Poy is a part time lecturer, designer, artist and registered and practicing architect in Trinidad and Tobago.
Innovation is the key to competitiveness.
This rhetorical
sounding truism is timelessly relevant for a reason – the fact
that commercially successful products are so because they
have found a way to conceptually and practically reinvent,
sometime repurpose a largely familiar system into new,
cannot-live-without products. Just in this contemporary
time, the nexus of innovation and market brings to mind
smartphones, any portable computer devise, moisture-
repelling fabric, the hybrid car, super-light footwear, action
cameras like the go-pro, wireless devices such as headsets,
keyboards, the computer mouse, and so many more.
However, regardless of genre, all innovative and
competitive products turn on the element of design, which
is then supported by relevant research and development but
it is this key – design that is generally considered to be the
genesis of innovation and competiveness. Research suggests
that design has a significant positive effect on the economies
of countries by making industries more competitive, by
stimulating manufacturing as a tool for social development
and even by addressing issues to improve infrastructure for
health, crime prevention, education and transport systems.
Every Carnival season in an ever increasing number
of ways and for at least the last one hundreds of its years
of history, the nation of Trinidad and Tobago proves to the
world that its capacity for design is incomparable; yet there is
no formally organized institution or system that is aimed at
nurturing and harnessing this socially and economically all
important skill. How can this be addressed?This question is
the one that was taken up by the Department of Creative and
Festival Arts (DCFA) atThe UWI, St. Augustine campus, at
its recent two-day colloquium.
Titled,
Ministry of Design – from cottage industry to
state enterprise
, the colloquium explored the general public
Campaigning for a
Ministry of Design
B y L e s l e y - A n n N o e l a n d M i c h a e l L e e P o y
perception that design relates primarily to fashion, graphic
design and Carnival. Currently, Trinidad and Tobago
has neither design policies nor programmes to incubate
or facilitate design although there is an avowed focus on
innovation and competitiveness. Colloquium chairs Lesley-
Ann Noel and Michael Lee Poy guided the process over the
two days and encouraged debate on the possible outcomes
should the government of Trinidad and Tobago direct
substantial financial investment towards design initiatives
on a national level. The sessions were governed by the
enquiry: How could a ‘Ministry of Design’ encourage and
stimulate design and create awareness of its importance
among individuals, families, educators, business and non-
governmental organisations?
The colloquium was arranged around a hypothetical
existence of the ‘Ministry of Design’, complete with a coat
of arms, designed by Level 2 Visual Arts student Melissa
Miller, andwith amotto in Latin:
cognitans amelior Trinidad
et Tobago
, which translates to ‘designing a better Trinidad
and Tobago. Memorabilia for the ‘Ministry’ was produced
in-house.The co-chairs Noel and Lee Poy then ‘campaigned’
for thisMinistry to political candidates, government officials
and public figures, in a boldmove to create public awareness
about design. See adjacent photos that captured Lee Poy
walking the talk to current names in the political arena.
The colloquium featured speakers from the United
States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Puerto Rico, the
Dominican Republic, Barbados and of course Trinidad
and Tobago. Dr. Maria De Mater O’Neil from Puerto Rico
presented four areas that should be researched in order
to create a Ministry of Design in Trinidad and Tobago:
(1) contemporary local design history with emphasis on
the business aspect (2) current local design education
approaches (3) how people relate and experience culturally
with their mobile technology and (4) current financial
issues among design practitioners and their businesses.
She presented findings from the case of Puerto Rico along
these four factors.
Robert Pulley of the Royal College of Art in London
proposed in his paper that a Ministry of Design in Trinidad
and Tobago could facilitate inspiring collaborations between
students, academics and entrepreneurs, with the Visual
Arts Unit of the DCFA playing a leading role in these
collaborations and in promoting learning through making.
He suggested that an international research centre for
design, education and enterprise as a joint venture of the
UWI and the government of Trinidad and Tobago, as amain
project of launching a Ministry of Design.
Several other valid suggestions on how the Ministry
could function, and what projects it could undertake
were made in other papers and in the Q&A sessions of
the colloquium. Full papers will be available for digital
distribution by the end of June. (Interested persons can
contact
to be added to the MOD mailing
list)
The Ministry of Design colloquium, was just the first
step in a series of initiatives that will be needed to sensitise
both the public and policymakers about the value and
impact of design. The chairs of the colloquium have the
long-term aspiration of developing a Caribbean Design
Research Institute that will produce real time data on the
benefits and impact of design, and support the creation and
implementation of regional design and innovation policies
and action plans.
Lee Poy tells the Opposition Leader,
Dr. Keith Rowley about the Ministry of Design
Lee Poy tells the Minister of Sport, Brent Sancho
about the Ministry of Design
The Ministry of Design
colloquium, was just the
first step in a series of
initiatives that will be
needed to sensitise both the
public and policymakers
about the value and
impact of design.
