At this time of the year, our collective thoughts are focused on the Crop Over Festival, almost to the exclusion of everything else. This year, there is a difference. We have as an equal focal point the state of the economy and our resolve to pull together as we seek to diversify.
The cultural industries are our new frontier – where our people and their talents might be exposed to the international arena.
Barbadians must therefore regard this season not only as a time for merriment, but also an opportunity for creating the avenues for the flowering of some of the creative talent which might otherwise lie dormant in our midst.
The island is full of talent in the dramatic and creative arts. Rihanna does not stand alone, although she occupies a stellar place at the apex of those from among us who have ventured onto the international stage.
We congratulate her for the heights she has reached and urge those who follow in her path to set their aim equally high as they set out as ambassadors of our country.
Careful study of the visual and creative arts shows that cultural industries produce some of the highest earners of foreign exchange.
Time was when music and dramatic arts were regarded as the preserve of those who were said not to be academically gifted. We now know better, and as we have become more self-confident and picked our way through the maze of social and economic change, we have come to appreciate that careers in music and drama present opportunities for even the most intellectually gifted of our students.
Whatever else this annual celebration of Emancipation and creativity reminds us of, we must never lose sight of the fact that we are a confident people free to express ourselves creatively and competitively with any other nation or group of people on the planet.
We have famously excelled in cricket and draughts, but we must and can turn our attention to the attainment of excellence in other spheres.Â
Our sister island St Lucia has produced two Nobel laureates in economics and literature, and Trinidad’s V.S. Naipaul has copped that award also for literature. And our own George Lamming has shown us that we can make our mark in literature.
H.A. Vaughan and Frank Collymore have produced poetry of a standard matching any else anywhere.
Our young, energetic and intellectually creative Barbadians must seriously consider the production of plays, books, novels and musicals expressive of our culture at international level.
Crop Over, and to some extent NIFCA, should both be seriously regarded as avenues for the expression, marketing and enhancement of our cultural potential, and our people must not regard the absence of past opportunities as a current barrier to present and future cultural achievement.
Instead, we must treat the entire world as our market, and we must seek to ply the full diversity of our several talents therein.
In this way we should be the better able to celebrate our Emancipation from the past by drawing on the unique aspects of our culture to show the world who and what we are, and to build our economy by the inflow of foreign exchange earnings from these efforts.
We urge full support and responsible enjoyment of this year’s Crop Over and we hope the creative among us seize the moment to promote our national interest.
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