A centre for the cultural and performing arts will not be enough to help many local artistes and may be just as costly to rent as the Wildey Gymnasium, says veteran cultural commentator and administrator Sach Moore.
Reacting to last week’s announcement by Minister of Finance Chris Sinckler in his Budget presentation that a state-of-the-art centre to be built by the Chinese government was on stream, Moore said it would make more sense to build two or three small centres to hold 2 500 patrons at most and rent them for about $5 000 per event.
“A few big promotional outfits like FAS (Entertainment), the NCF (National Cultural Foundation), Timeless Barbados Inc. and Gilbert Rowe may find the minister’s proposal somewhat entertaining, but I don’t,” he said.
“Why? Because I believe that the first beneficiaries of any arts centre by the Government should be the local performers who need the exposure and the money.”
Read the full story in today’s SATURDAY SUN.