Monday, February 18, 2013

Guyana being prepped to ratify heritage convention — Guyana Times

Guyana being prepped to ratify heritage convention

February 12, 2013 By admin

To prepare Guyana for the ratifying of the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, a two-day national stakeholders’ awareness workshop was on Tuesday launched at the Umana Yana.

Participants at the stakeholders’ workshop at the Umana Yana

The workshop is being coordinated by the Culture Ministry in collaboration with the UNESCO Kingston cluster office for the Caribbean and the national commission for UNESCO Guyana.

UNESCO consultant and workshop facilitator Dr Kris Rampersad, who delivered the feature address, disclosed that over the two days, the workshop will examine the seven UNESCO conventions, their inter-relationship among each other and what they hold in store for Guyana to be part of the international community engaged with the conventions.

Dr Rampersad said it is important the Caribbean makes representation at the conventions since it has a lot to offer the world. She reiterated that the Caribbean is in the core of global modern cultural development, noting that it can lead the world in directions of culture.

“When it comes to culture in the global space, the Caribbean is second to none… it is one arena I think very strongly we can share and actively contribute… we can share our best practices, our own experiences of diversity with so many cultures and groups that we have.”

Rampersad said one of the Caribbean’s major strengths is its mixture of persons from five different continents from around the world.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Samuel Hinds who declared the workshop opened stated that the government of Guyana recognises that culture is important to the world. He said the world is rapidly coming together as one, but there is the realisation that as it does, some cultures may be dropped as the world merges, thus this may be fueling some sensitivity.

“I support the sensitisation because I think we need to know the history of cultures that may have been created over thousands of years in different corners of the world… I think it is a good thing to make us more aware of them.”

Caricom Human and Social Development Officer Myrna Bernard highlighted that a number of Caricom member states have actively engaged in the process that led to the adoption of several UNESCO conventions related to heritage.

However, she said despite the significant rich cultural heritage, tangible and intangible, some member states are yet to ratify some of these agreements.

The 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage entered into force in 2006, and to date has been adopted by 149 member states as of January 2013.

The convention has four primary goals: To safeguard intangible cultural heritage; to ensure respect for the intangible cultural heritage of the communities, groups and individuals concerned; to raise awareness and appreciation of the importance of the intangible cultural heritage at local, national and international levels; and to provide for international cooperation and assistance.

Stakeholders’ workshop seeks to raise awareness of intangible cultural heritage

Written by GINA

Wednesday, 13 February 2013 20:48

THE Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport, in collaboration with the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation’s (UNESCO’s) Kingston office for the Caribbean, Jamaica and the National Commission for UNESCO, Guyana, on Tuesday launched a two-day stakeholders’ workshop to raise awareness on the 2003 convention for the safeguarding of the intangible cultural heritage.
This workshop was held at the Umana Yana and was part of this year’s Mashramani activities.
The convention is one of seven held in the field of culture and is intended to ensure respect for intangible cultural heritage of communities, groups and individuals, to raise awareness and appreciation of the importance of such heritage and to provide for international cooperation and assistance.
Prime Minister Samuel Hinds, who declared the workshop open, said that intangible things are of great importance in today’s society, and that the world today is truly coming together rapidly as one. “This is a good thing, this is something that many have been calling for all along, but there is the realisation that different cultures and languages may be dropped as the world becomes one,” the Prime Minister said.
The Caribbean, with its four to 500 years of turbulent history around slavery and indentured labourers, has created a small area where the world has been coming together.
PM Hinds said government realises that culture is an important aspect of nation building, and lauded the Culture Ministry for its effort to make cultural activities relevant to the country.
Facilitator Dr. Kris Rampersad, said the workshop will explore the interrelation between and among the conventions, particularly, what these conventions have in store for the people of Guyana, and work towards implementing them.
She explained that participants will have a chance to learn how these conventions could strengthen policies, infrastructure, legislation, and the policy framework.
“We have the knowledge and the experiences that we can share with the rest of the world and we can use these mechanisms that UNESCO offers to do that,” she said.
This programme started in 2006, and the domains covered by the convention include: oral expression and tradition; the performing arts; rituals and festive events; knowledge and practices concerning nature and the universe and traditional craftsmanship. At present, 149 countries have ratified this convention and 65 persons have been trained as facilitators.
“If you know what tangible culture is and how important it is, then you become more committed to it,” said Director of Culture Dr. James Rose. He encouraged persons to participate in this edifying workshop which will be of great benefit to them.
The workshop is being held under the theme, ‘Safeguarding our human treasure from generation to generation’.

Stakeholders’ workshop seeks to raise awareness of intangible cultural heritage

FEBRUARY 13, 2013 BY EDITOR

Stakeholders’ workshop seeks to raise awareness of intangible cultural heritage

Georgetown, GINA, February 12, 2013

The Ministry of Culture Youth and Sport in collaboration with the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation’s (UNESCO’s) Kingston office for the Caribbean, Jamaica and the National Commission for UNESCO Guyana, today launched a two-day stakeholders’ workshop to raise awareness on the 2003 convention for the safeguarding of the intangible cultural heritage.

This workshop which is being held at the Umana Yana is part of this year’s Mashramani activities held under the theme, “Reflecting Creativity, Embracing Diversity”.

Books on display about Guyana’s history at the stakeholders’ workshop at the Umana Yana

The convention is one of seven held in the field of culture and is intended to ensure respect for intangible cultural heritage of communities, groups and individuals, to raise awareness and appreciation of the importance of such heritage and to provide for international cooperation and assistance.

Prime Minister Samuel Hinds who declared the workshop open said that intangible things are of great importance in today’s society, and that the world today is truly coming together rapidly as one. “This is a good thing, this is something that many have been calling for all along, but there is the realisation that different cultures and languages may be dropped as the world becomes one,” the Prime Minister said.

The Caribbean with its four to five hundred years of turbulent history around slavery and indentured labourers has created a small area where the world has been coming together.

Prime Minister, Samuel Hinds delivering remarks at the launch of the stakeholders’ workshop at the Umana Yana

PM Hinds highlighted that Government realises that culture is an important aspect of nation building, and lauded the Culture Ministry for its effort to make cultural activities relevant to the country.

Facilitator Dr. Kris Rampersad said that the workshop will explore the interrelation between and among the conventions, particularly, what these conventions have in store for the people of Guyana, and work towards implementing them.

She explained that participants will have a chance to learn how these conventions could strengthen policies, infrastructure, legislations, and the policy framework.

“We have the knowledge and the experiences that we can share with the rest of the world and we can use these mechanisms that UNESCO offers to do that,” she said.

Prime Minister, Samuel Hinds receives a copy of a book on intangible culture

This programme started in 2006, and the domains covered by the convention include, oral expression and tradition, performing arts, rituals and festive events, knowledge and practices concerning nature and the universe and traditional craftsmanship. At present, 149 countries have ratified this convention and 65 persons have been trained as facilitators.

“If you know what tangible culture is and how important it is, then you become more committed to it,” said Director of Culture Dr. James Rose. He encouraged persons to participate in this edifying workshop which will be of great benefit to them.

The work shop is being held under the theme, “Safeguarding our human treasure from generation to generation”.

LiTTscapes reading to feature at Moray House this week — Guyana Times

LiTTscapes reading to feature at Moray House this week

February 11, 2013 By admin

The Guyana Prize for Literature, in association with the Moray House Trust and the Culture Ministry, will host readings from the book LiTTscapes – Landscapes of Fiction from Trinidad and Tobago by Dr Kris Rampersad.

Dr Kris Rampersad will be reading from her book LiTTscapes – Landscapes of Fiction at Moray House this week

The event, LiTTribute II – LiTTurgy to the Mainland, will be held on February 15, at Moray House, the historic heritage building located at Camp and Quamina streets, Georgetown.

It will feature dramatised readings, performances and tributes to Caribbean writers by Rampersad, the Guyana Theatre Guild, and other icons. LiTTurgy to the Mainland follows the recent LiTTribute to the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, hosted by the First Lady of Trinidad and Tobago, Dr Jean Ramjohn Richards and Dr Rampersad in September 2012 at the 19th century Knowsley Building in Trinidad’s capital and the August 2012 launch of LiTTscapes at White Hall – one of Trinidad and Tobago’s Magnificent Seven buildings. Both were part of the commemorative 50th anniversary of independence celebrations of Trinidad and Tobago in 2012.

“I am thrilled that the Guyana Prize for Literature and the Moray House Trust have initiated this as it meshes with the vision and energies that forged LiTTscapes to connect the Caribbean and stimulate appreciation of heritage and culture through literary and related arts,” said Dr Rampersad. “LiTTurgy to the Mainland will emphasise the umbilical links our creative writers have long recognised between the continent and our islands. These links predate colonialism by eons and the involvement of these institutions in Guyana underscores the shared vision for the region among our peoples and meshes with our endeavours through LiTTscapes, LiTTributes, LiTTevents, and LiTTours as we work together with all partners to enhance appreciation for the arts and strengthen our regional identity.”

Dr Rampersad, who is a journalist and educator on Caribbean culture and heritage, said: “We will do so by projecting representations and reach of the oral and literary arts through readings and performances, as well as by highlighting the importance of appreciation of our built, natural and cultural heritage of Guyana as the Moray House, and the Guyana Prize represent.”

LiTTscapes has been acclaimed as a groundbreaking encyclopaedic yet coffee-table style compendium of the lifestyles, landscapes, architecture, cultures, festivals, and institutions of Trinidad and Tobago as represented in more than 100 fictional works by some 60 writers. It is available at local bookshops

Development agenda

For more than two decades, Dr Rampersad has been actively involved in analysing, assessing, critiquing, and defining the development agenda for Caribbean societies. She holds a PhD in literatures from the University of the West Indies and a diploma in mass communication from the Indian Institute of Mass Communication at the Jawarharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, India. She also completed fellowships as a professional fellow of the Association of Commonwealth Universities in the UK, at Wolfson College and Cambridge University, and the Foreign Press Centre of Japan. She has participated in numerous professional development seminars, courses and workshops on management, journalism, communications and media, gender, culture, economics, agriculture, education, civic participation, among others.

She is a media, culture and literary consultant; print and television journalist; editor; producer; and researcher, author and lecturer on development issues of culture, media, literature and gender of the Caribbean at international, regional and national levels. Dr Rampersad is also the author of Through the Political Glass Ceiling – Race to Prime Ministership by Trinidad and Tobago’s First Female Kamala Persad-Bissessar and Finding A Place.

LiTTribute II – LiTTurgy to the Mainland evokes and pays tribute to the primordial connections between the American continent and the islands of Trinidad and Tobago. LiTTributes are specially produced events that highlight the linkages between the natural, physical, built and cultural landscapes and heritage and synergies between them in print, music, dance, drama, art, cuisine and other lifestyle, graphic and other audio-visual forms of expressions.

Friday, February 8, 2013

State of Heritage measured in $

Revolution through reading /saving the magnificent seven We as citizens who pass by the Magnificent Seven everyday; we have even have stopped noticing them, or their magnificence, because they conjure up only a lament – not just the painful past of colonialism, but the sad testimony of the state – or lack thereof, of our development; to disguise our pain that we have allowed them to deteriorate into oblivion. But are we not all responsible in some way for this – it’s not just someone elses’ fault. It has to start with what am I not doing? Excerpt from speech at launch of LiTTscapes:

So ... giving us a chance to show what can be done if we open up these buildings to the public to capture the creative synergies they can exude, so our people can appreciate them as part of the public patrimony; as part of the inheritance of the blood, sweat and tears of history, and of our spirit of survivalism that neither slavery nor indentureship nor alien rule could defeat....

Trinidad and Tobago's Newsday : newsday.co.tt :

Millions to fix ‘Magnificent Nine’

By Miranda La Rose Thursday, February 7 2013

click on pic to zoom in

HUNDREDS of millions of dollars are needed to preserve the historical “Magnificent Nine” and other architectural heritage in Port-of-Spain, and a sustainable way has to be found for their restoration and maintenance.

Of particular interest, following Monday’s announcement by Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar of Justice Anthony Carmona as the Government’s nominee to be this country’s fifth President, will be the repairs which need to be done on President’s House in St Ann’s.

Incumbent President George Maxwell Richards, who demits office on March 17, has lived in the nearby Presidential Cottage and not President’s House. Shortly after the People’s Partnership Government assumed office in May 2010, then Works and Transport (now National Security) Minister Jack Warner promised to repair President’s House so Richards might reside there before his term expired this year. Persad-Bissessar even offered the Diplomatic Centre in St Ann’s as a possible residence for Richards but the President declined that offer.

“This will have to involve Government, and private partnerships including the churches. The State alone, will not be able to bear the costs,” Minister of Tourism Stephen Cadiz said during a tour of the century-old Magnificent Nine buildings that faces the Queen’s Park Savannah (QPS) on last Wednesday.

“Restoration is not just only about tourism. It is about the country’s history and heritage. For too long we have overlooked that. We have allowed a number of heritage buildings - whether it was old residences, or, Government buildings like the Red House to go into a serious state of disrepair.” When the buildings are restored, Cadiz said, “they must be part of a museum infrastructure.”

Initially only seven of the buildings Stollmeyer’s House also known as “Killarney”, Whitehall, Archbishop’s House, Ambard’s House also called “Roomer”, Mille Fleurs also known as “Prada House”, Hayes Court and Queen’s Royal College were referred to as the “Magnificent Seven” of Port-of-Spain. In recent years the National Trust added the President’s House also found in the vicinity of the QPS and Red House — the official seat of Government in downtown Port–of-Spain to the list of magnificent buildings referring to the nine as the “Magnificent Nine of Port-of-Spain.”

With the exception of President’s House, originally known as Government House built in 1844, and Red House - the foundation of which was laid in 1844, the others were built in or around 1904. They are all European-designed with distinct works of art that include stained windows, imported materials including limestone, marble and wood from Barbados, Europe and Guyana blended with local materials that have braved the elements over the years.

While Knowsley Building, and Boissierre House (also called the Gingerbread House) are found in close proximity to the Magnificent Seven, and are not listed among the Magnificent Buildings, the National Trust has listed them as important architectural heritage. Knowsley building is State-owned and is one of the better kept buildings, however, Boissiere is privately-owned and is currently in a state of disrepair. According to the National Trust the first Prime Minister Dr Eric Williams’ grandmother, worked with the Boissiere family. The National Trust has identified a total of 341 heritage buildings countrywide for preservation.

Of the Magnificent Buildings, Cadiz said, “These are high maintenance buildings, designed and built since 1904. There is going to be constant work and funds required in keeping them up.”

At Queen’s Royal College, Principal Lennard Hinkson said that a unique way has been found to assist in the preservation of the oldest part of the school complex..

“The first formers were placed on the ground floor of this building deliberately,” he said, “because they are the most innocent and they will take care of it. The sixth formers are the most matured and they too will take care of it.” The forms in between are placed in newer parts of the school buildings.

Though the oldest block looks well kept, Hinkson said that it was in need of repairs.

“Sadly, my many letters and phone calls to the Ministry of Works,” he said have not been responded to.

Hayes Court is owned by the Anglican Church. It is the official residence of the Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of TT, but Bishop Claude Berkeley does not live there because it is in a state of disrepair.

During the tour Berkeley appealed to the touring team (that included representatives from the Ministries of Tourism, Works, Arts and Multiculturalism, and the National Trust) to make representation on his behalf for assistance from the State to have Hayes Court restored to its former glory. In 2009, a structural survey revealed that some $25 million was needed for its restoration.

In the past, he said the church had been told that it was private property.

At present, Berkeley said that a dilapidation survey was being done to determine the priority needs, and a committee was in place seeking funds to begin restoration works. Berkeley has a home in Tobago and has to commute regularly to Trinidad. “We hope to correct that in the not too distant future to continue the work begun here over 200 hundred years ago,” he said.

Mille Fleurs is among the most dilapidated of the buildings around the QPS. “It has been left without repairs for too long,” Cadiz said noting that “Udecott (Urban Development Corporation of Trinidad and Tobago) will conduct a structural survey of Mille Fleurs, then we will know what to do. It can be salvaged and in the short space of time we will see Mille Fleurs return to its original magnificence.”

Ambard’s House is privately-owned by the Roodals family and is also in dire need of repairs.

Stollmeyers Castle, now owned by the State is under repairs. Work began in March 2010 and is due for completion in March this year once funding is released on time Udecott officials on site told Newsday. Once restoration is complete it will be handed over to the Ministry of Works.

Tenders to contractors for the restoration of the nearby Whitehall, first official office of Prime Minister Eric Williams are due for advertising during the first quarter of this year. Some work had been done on it in recent years, but according to a Udecott official that work “was compromised.”

The Archbishop’s House, residence of the Head of the Roman Catholic Diocese of TT, is fairly well kept. In 1968, $147,000 was raised to carry out major repairs on the buildings. It is currently the home of Archbishop Joseph Harris.

The President’s House is also due for restorative works. In May 2010 a section of the roof of the President’s House caved in 2010. During this fiscal year’s budget debate in October 2012, Works Minister Emmanuel George announced that funding was allocated for the repairs to the President’s residence. Construction is yet to begin.

Applauding the tour, Michelle Celestine, spokesperson of Save the Magnificent Seven, a sub-group of the Citizens for Conservation (CC) told Newsday it was time that Government pay some interest in the buildings. “Government after government have sat by and let them fall into disrepair. It is a disgrace that in (TT) we have tourists seeing the buildings - works of art and beauty, constructed by skilled nationals, falling apart.”

Once restored, she said, “they could be put to meaningful purposes, as art galleries, and museums. They will create jobs and places of interest in our capital city.”

Wednesday, February 6, 2013

On Anniversary of Raleigh's sailing to TT

Dear Lizzie,

My polished sword reflects the glint of glory my face will wear when I return from this discoverie for which I now depart with honour and glory for Queen and country....
The Grand unfolding of the great Ra-LIE-gh in LettertoLizzie....release soon....
https://sites.google.com/site/krisrampersadglobalLettersToLizzie

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Alas Poor King Richard's Bones LetterstoLizzie

Dear Lizzie,

Is that what happens when we pave paradise, or over a Grey Friar's Church, to put in a parking lot?

Monarchs and men beware, the scribes and bards like Shakespeare continue to reign the imagination, while kings are interred with kingdoms and churches. The dastardly fiction of our lives will live on...Letters to Lizzie release soon...meanwhile read about skeletons and more bones at

www.kris-rampersad.blogspot.com https://sites.google.com/site/krisrampersadglobal

King Richard III's Bones Found Under English Parking Lot

http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2013-02/dna-confirmation-bones-found-beneath-english-parking-lot-belonged-hated-king-richard-iii

King Richard III Bones Found, Scientists Say

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/13/130204-king-richard-iii-skeleton-bones-science-archeology-world/

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Guyana hosts readings by local author

The Guyana Prize for Literature in association with the historic Moray House Trust and the Ministry of Culture/ Government of Guyana will host readings from the book LiTTscapes—Landscapes of Fiction from Trinidad and Tobago by local author Dr Kris Rampersad.

The event dubbed LiTTribute II—LiTTurgy to the Mainland takes place on February 15, at Moray House, the heritage building in Georgetown, Guyana. It’s a popular venue for many of Georgetown’s cultural activities. The event will feature dramatised readings and performances and tributes to Caribbean writers from the Guyana Theatre Guild and other icons.

LiTTurgy to the Mainland follows on the recent LiTTribute to the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, hosted by Dr Jean Ramjohn Richards, the wife of T&T’s President George Maxwell Richards and Dr Rampersad at the 19th century-styled Knowsley Building, Port-of-Spain, in September.

Asked about the imminent reading, Rampersad, a journalist and educator in Caribbean culture, said, “I am thrilled the Guyana Prize for Literature and the Moray House Trust have initiated this as it meshes with the vision and energies that forged LiTTscapes to connect the Caribbean and stimulate appreciation of heritage and culture through literary and related arts.”

https://sites.google.com/site/krisrampersadglobal/home/about-me/blogs-news

http://guardian.co.tt/entertainment/2013-01-27/guyana-hosts-readings-local-author

Opening UNESCO Caribbean Education Planning Workshop

Welcome Remarks

Dr Kris Rampersad, Chair, Trinidad and Tobago National Commission for UNESCO

At Capacity Development in Education Planning and Management in the Caribbean

14 January 2013 - A UNESCO/IIEP, CDB, UNICEF Capacity Building Workshop

Salutations!

It is with great pleasure that the Trinidad and Tobago National Commission for UNESCO welcomes you this weeklong process that will contribute to the development of human resource capacity of the region as we reposition ourselves meet the challenges of the coming decades in addressing the educational needs of the next generation.

We at the National Commission are in fact delivering on our mandate to facilitate regional collaboration alongside developing local capacity in the UNESCO programme areas of education, culture, science and human and social sciences, communication and technology.

Indeed, in recent times, we have played host to some significant regional fora, including the regional meetings of Ministers and other stakeholders of Social Transformation, the regional Memory of the World Committee, and soon we will also be hosting regional participants as we prepare to develop a national bioethics committee.

In these efforts we advocate the deepening and expansion of integration of not only us in the region - - and I am advised that we have here representatives from Antigua and Barbuda, Anguilla, Barbados, Belize, The Bahamas, British Virgin Islands, Curacao, The Commonwealth of Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, St. Lucia, St. Kitts and Nevis, Montserrat, Suriname, St. Maarten, Cayman Islands, and Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos; we are also looking towards integration between and among these fields and sectors and in this, workshops like these have a pivotal role to play.

As educators, we know that challenges the fast pace of change, new technologies and breakthroughs in new knowledge impose on us.

As we prepare the next generation to meet and face these challenges, we are required to both establish sound systems and structures and formulae, while at the same time ensure that they are flexible enough to meet the changing times.

This you will address in the coming week as you help build the regional foundation in:

- Strengthening your skills in drafting strategic plans for education;

- Reviewing the existing education plans;

- Improving existing and future plans;

- Improving implementation and monitoring;

- Identifying education planning needs and developing an action plan and network for strengthening the institutional capacities in the Caribbean;

Indeed, we believe that you are in the right place and the right environment for this exercise in futuring and mentoring planning - and at the right time too in the midst of our pre-Lenten festival of creativity.

We hope that within your deliberations, you will find time to experience some of the weeks of satellite activities that contribute to the Greatest Show On Earth, which, has for decades been an incubator of our innovative energies, and a catalyst for the exemplary multiculturalism and seamless integration of our peoples who can trace origins to here in the Americas as well as Europe, Africa and Asia. I refer to our Carnival of course.

Some of you may know that the processes and creative elements from our Carnival are already being used in education systems across the globe as problem-solving tools; as mechanisms to harness creative energies and to stimulate creative thinking in preschoolers to advanced tertiary systems. So please consider this too as part of your workshop activities.

On behalf of the Trinidad and Tobago National Commission for UNESCO, welcome all, and I wish you a Happy New Year, a happy Carnival and fruitful deliberations at this workshop.

Kris Rampersad

All Events | United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization