A SECOND READING, NEWSDAY ARTICLE - DCFA: UWI ENGINE ROOM...

A SECOND READING,

NEWSDAY ARTICLE – DCFA: UWI’s engine room.
21 July 2015

The Newsday article -Sunday19 July 2015, Picture is of the President of the Creative Arts Students Association (CASA), Robert Noel

DESIGNING YOUR FUTURE..

In the Sunday July 19, Newsday Section A, page 43, there was the article DFCA (I think they meant DCFA): UWI’S engine room.

I will pull out some extracts from the article –

“Gibbons, in his article, he explained that “in 1998, after comprehensive consultation

with all users, a plan was developed by faculty for what we has re-named the Festival Centre for Creative Arts”. This plan informed the “first phase” construction of the buildings on Gordon Street and Funds “leftover” from an Inter – American Development Bank loan to UWI, (TT$3.8million) were used to construct “a partial, if custom made facility”, opened in 2000 as Centre for Creative and Festival Arts. This facility housed the Music and Visual Arts Units, while Theatre, Dance, Carnival Studies and the Festival Library and Documentation Centre remained at the Agostini Street centre until a future “second phase” would see it move. This second phase never happened and the units remained apart.”

For all late comers or alyuh culture people who sleeping under rock and ting, there will be a new building to be built up on Gordon Street, West of the present Visual Art and Music Unit, this facility will hold Theatre and Dance Unit.

 

“Phase one of the project will see a the two storey building that will house:

a 70-seater lecture room; two smaller seminar rooms; two full size dance studios; and office spaces. Murray said that everything now available at the Agostini Street building, “plus a little extra” will be set up at Gordon Street. In Phase two, construction will see a 200-seater theatre, library and technical theatre space.

Murray said the Gordon Street building will house classrooms, larger offices spaces and dance studios that will be a major improvement over what currently obtain at Agostini Street. The entire project is projected to cost $40 million”

 

Lots of money, lots of development, needed and worthy. But while the Visual Art and Music Units sit on lands that belong to Continuing Studies Unit, and I’m told they really don’t want to depart with the Gordon Street Facility. This was what I thought we would have seen, the Continuing Studies Building, on Gordon Street would have become the Department of Creative and Festival Arts, you would have expanded the facilities to comprehend the needs of the national community.

As it is now there is a whole new building that is being proposed on a whole new site excluding the Visual Arts, Graphic Design, Carnival Studies, Sculpture facilities – Ceramics, Foundry, Mould Making, Music and Documentation. The estimated $40million is being disposed on two units Dance and Theatre, at the dispense of the majority of units.

I’m thinking; here is an opportunity to build a visionary statement in art education, a building that will illuminate the direction of art and design in the development discourse of the national community and inclusion of all units, but what is happening is an upgrade in two and the squatting of others, at $40million.

Here you get an idea of how you can take small spaces and make bigger statements.

This just didn’t happen, this was happening since 1998, which is 17 years Bro! 17 years to prepare for this moment of a one sided development. The question, what it would have taken to raise the required amount of money which would have seen a building belonging to the Department of Creative and Festival Art, inclusive of all units. As a past student of Ontario College of Art and Design University, OCADU, which was settled in the heart of Toronto City, first their building was an amazing example of small space with big impact, holding almost all the visual arts, design components, there was another building which contained the film and animation; their expansion was done by an amazing design, which must have taken serious planning design and implementation. I feel that this move being done is just another spurt development project typical to Trinidad and Tobago, and some time further down the line, DCFA management will be looking for more money to deal with the other. I will feel much more comfortable if there was a serious look at our community needs, a consultation, a plan, and a trajectory towards those goals

The original OCADU, is at the bottom, it was four floors, in the basement, there was foundry, mould making, a presentation room, plastics, a spray room, woodwork, metal work and shop, first floor there was admin, second floor, design and other units, top floor visual arts and other units. But it is a fine example of expanding in small cramped spaces,

 

GOALS

 

·         Art – Painting studios, gallery/reception area*, studio classes, foundry*, mould* rooms

·         Design – 3d development studio*, computer rooms

·         Carnival Studies* – 3D development Studio space, rooms

·          Library/Documentation – video, editing studio

·         Theatre – lighting, set development, event management etc

·         Dance – choreography, physical, etc

·         Sculpture*

*there will be overlapping and synergy between

 

Another look at expansion and how you can.

I will quote Sunity Mharaj’s, article, 14 Sunday July 2015, STILL SEARCHING FOR THE SECOND FORCE, if we consider that art and design being that second or third force...

“With independence, it fell to the PNM to master the institutional apparatus left behind by the colonial power. Right from the beginning, however, it became clear that this would not be enough for a people desperate for a nation of their own. Independence has arrived with its own imperatives for dismantling the colonial infrastructure and re-configuring the society on a new basis that would give everyone a place in the sun. Reflecting this was the series of challenges to the Williams administration – from workers, Black Power, Tobago and Indo-Trinidad.”

 

So here we sit, at least at the beginning of our independence there was art, artists was part of the dialog...somewhere along the way art died in the vocabulary of development...now, 2015 when there will be serious expansion to the Department of Creative and Visual Arts, DCFA, I would have
thought the conversation would have been seriously considered, now! in the 21^st century, here in Trinidad and Tobago and the Caribbean, for the first time in a long time there is a conversation of diversification, innovation and creative industry going on in the politics, and the politics of art and culture, $40million is a serious investment, to not consider overall inclusion of all units and their importance to the national and international discourse, with more and more Caribbean artists blowing up in galleries and intervening in the international art scene, it will be inevitable that we will have artists based here and operating on an international level one day. The economist are telling us it will not be getting easier, we’re spending more than innovating, The University is attempting to become more financially independent and in charge of raising their own funds. This will mean that the management of the DCFA, will have to also become more creative in their own fund raising; they can accomplish this by building synergy with partners here and internationally... Art is the second force. You have to be able to make a 5cent do 10cent work. Whatever is the politics playing in the department, they have missed an opportunity to be a light in art education institution in the Caribbean.....hffff $40million.....

 

Well it seem that the dye has been cast and its happening, let’s see where this all ends up.