Cultural Industries as a Motor for Development: Arts-in-Action as Testimony

presented at the IDB Cultural Centre in Wshington, DC – February 2005

Dubbed “the greatest show on earth”, the Trinidad and Tobago Carnival earns a 482% Return On In-

vestment (ROI). In St. Lucia there is a Jazz Festival that realises a 692% ROI. Across the Caribbean

and its Diasporas, existing and new festivals are being developed, as Caribbean Governments and

the corporate citizenry attempt to capitalise on the revenue earning potential of these events. As a

result, in Jamaica, there is a Trinidad-style Carnival and three Jazz Festivals, in addition to its tradi-

tional Reggae festival. Dominica hosts a Creole Music Festival; Barbados hosts a Carnival known

as Crop Over and its own Jazz Festival, as does Grenada among other islands. There is a Caribbean

Carnival in Miami, New York, Washington, Toronto and London1. An while there is an argument put

forward by some cultural economists: that the region tends to undervalue festival tourism as a

strategy in their development policy, the growth of these events are testimony to these economies’

recognition of the significant role that cultural tourism can play in development.

I have come today, however, to give a different testimony. Within the context of this panel’s discus-

sions on the “Cultural Industries as a Motor for Development”, I wish to focus on social

development and the work of Arts-in-Action in Trinidad and Tobago in this regard.

The mission of the Centre for Creative and Festival Arts at the University of the West Indies, St. Au-

gustine, for which Arts-in-Action functions as the Theatre-in-Education Outreach Unit, reads almost

as a tag line for this panel. It states:

The Centre for Creative and Festival Arts is committed to the exploration of the Indigenous Arts and
Culture of the Caribbean as a basis for education, training and practice of the Arts in ways that are
rewarding to the artist, beneficial to society, and render the region internationally competitive.

1 Nurse, Dr. Keith. “Bringing Culture into Tourism: Festival Tourism and Reggae Sunsplash in Jamaica”. P.127

© Marvin George 2005 1

 Cultural Industries as a Motor for Development: Arts-in-Action as Testimony

presented at the IDB Cultural Centre in Wshington, DC – February 2005

Our existence is prefaced by this mission. Operating as a self funded not-for-profit entity within arts

and cultural industry of Trinidad and Tobago, Arts-in-Action is guided by the philosophy that the

arts must play a critical role in personal and social development.

Methodologically, the work of Arts-in-Action is informed by the theory and practice of the Brazilian

educator-activist, Augusto Boal and his “Theatre of the Oppressed”. For Boal theatre is activism.

His theatre is a forum for the exploration of pertinent social issues, dialogue, exchange of ideas and

information and ultimately community empowerment. In this ‘Forum Theatre’, actors recreate

scenes that represent a social challenge with which its target audience is familiar. The audience

comes to this theatre understanding that it is not in fact a spectator, but according to Boal, ‘spec-

actor’, as they accept their role in replaying these possible positive outcomes for these situations.

Essentially, their role-play in the theatre challenge is their rehearsal for the life challenge.

With this method applied, Arts-in-Action has managed over the past eleven years to situate its un-

ique style of Forum Theatre, called interactive performance workshops not only in primary and

secondary schools, but in communities, street corners, rum-shops, churches, worksites, corporate

board-rooms and a host of other non-arts settings. Method notwithstanding, these workshops, gi-

ven the Centre’s mission, draw upon our rich Caribbean culture: festival performances, rituals,

folklore, music, dance and beliefs etc. for its text, aesthetic and ethos. This is what makes it unique.

Arts-in-Action is reputed to have mounted some of the most memorable, culturally and education-

ally relevant social development, edutainment programmes. From its genesis in 1994, the unit

developed Dolly Mois: A Cry Against Violence, which was a response to the disturbing frequency

© Marvin George 2005 2

 Cultural Industries as a Motor for Development: Arts-in-Action as Testimony

presented at the IDB Cultural Centre in Wshington, DC – February 2005

with which reports of battered women and instances of domestic violence had reached the news

headlines.

In C.L.E.A.N., (an acronym which stands for Care and Love for the Environment And Nature), Arts-

in-Action used its theatre to rejuvenate some of our folklore characters; two of these characters for

example, Papa Bois (the Father of the Forest) and Mama D’leau (Mother of the Water) would teach

primary school aged students concepts such as ‘Deforestation’, ‘Land and Water Pollution’ and

‘Biodegradable’, in this revolutionary award winning environmental literacy project. A similar regen-

eration occurs in Carnival Legacy, now Legacy Theatre. A group of extinct and endangered

traditional carnival masks come to life to tell their stories. Given the inextricability of the discourse

on the Trinidad Carnival from Trinidad history itself, a hidden History curriculum is delivered in the

process.

Our Story Telling for Early childhood Parenting and Support Project (S.T.E.P.S.) proposes to offer

training in the usages of Storytelling-in-Education to parents and early childhood educators and

caregivers. In another project called L.I.F.E. (Liberating Imagination for Expression), funded by the

IDB, the Carnival Arts are used as rehabilitative and skills development tools, as training is offered

in this areas to ex-offenders.

Yet, none of Arts-in-Action’s projects have been as ambitious or as inspiring as our Jus’ Once pro-

ject. Jus’ Once was initiated in 1998 as a forum for dealing with the myths, misinformation and

stigmas that are associated with HIV/AIDS prevention, care and support. Citing HIV/AIDS as one of

the Caribbean’s more critical developmental challenges, an immediate, relevant and effective re-

© Marvin George 2005 3

 Cultural Industries as a Motor for Development: Arts-in-Action as Testimony

presented at the IDB Cultural Centre in Wshington, DC – February 2005

sponse was required. Three years later the project would find favour with the Canadian High

Commission. With some funding from this agency, Arts-in-Action set out to prove the efficacy of

the Jus’ Once model in raising awareness about HIV/AIDS.

Two researchers were hired to assess the impact of the project. There were six actor-teacher-facili-

tators, each taking on a role that personified one of the myths that plagued our ‘knowledge’ of the

disease. Through monologues they told their stories, which captured also the points of views of

persons situated at different points on the ‘at risk’ spectrum. From the HIV negative promiscuous

gym instructor, to the faithful teenaged school girl, whose boyfriend is reputed to have multiple

partners, to the HIV positive young lady who had had intercourse jus’ once, they tell their experi-

ences and our misconceptions: that AIDS is a homosexual disease, healthy people don’t get AIDS,

people with the disease look sick and that balloons and plastic wrap are as effective as condoms in

prevention. These myths were interspersed and complimented with original music, children’s

games and factual ‘unmasked’ statistics.

In the post-performance workshop, participants would engage in discussions with the facilitators,

one of them in role. The audiences would test what they know against what they’ve learnt through

their questioning and interview with one of the characters from the performance. They would share

information on best practices for prevention and how to treat with persons living with the disease.

According to Arts-in-Action founder, Dr. Dani Lyndersay:

This is achieved… through an agreed conspiracy with our participating audiences: to replay situa-
tions based on true-to life scenarios which respect the dignity of every person and allow the
audience members to become both consumers and producers of knowledge.2

2 Lyndersay, Dr. Dani. “Joining the Action: an Agreed Conspiracy Interactive theatre dealing with youth issues of conflict, abuse and sexuality ©
2004. p.3.

© Marvin George 2005 4

 Cultural Industries as a Motor for Development: Arts-in-Action as Testimony

presented at the IDB Cultural Centre in Wshington, DC – February 2005

In 100% of the cases, participants left the workshops with more information on the disease than

when they had entered. In the secondary schools representatives of the participating audience were

identified and designated “Jus’ Once Ambassadors”. They would now serve as a point of contact

for further support programmes and interventions, be it Arts-in-Action or otherwise. A follow-up

workshop would be created to test how much information was retained, as well as, what new infor-

mation and positive behaviours were now being perpetuated. At the primary school level, students

would sing what they’ve learnt into their consciousness: “You can’t get sick from hugging

somebody with HIV… They need love; they need love just like you and me, Oh! You can’t get sick

from having a friend with HIV”. Teachers and community workers were now requesting training in

Drama and Theatre-in-Education techniques to support the work that they were doing. In light of

this new projects were developed. Jus’ Once was a success.

With the funding for the project now exhausted, the unit uses every opportunity or additional fund-

ing that it has attracted to re-iterate the Jus’ Once message and spread the ‘gospel’ of the use of

arts and culture in education and development.

Now in our 11th year we are a multiple award winning company. As the outreach unit of the Centre

we continuously seek to engage the inputs of our students, graduates, and participants from the

community, all youth, in the creation and implementation of our programmes. What started off as a

part-time social activist group, has now matured into a full fledged arts consultancy. To our knowl-

edge we are the 2nd of but two programmes in the world to be formally incorporated into its parent

University’s administrative framework. There are now nine full time salaried positions in Arts-in-

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 Cultural Industries as a Motor for Development: Arts-in-Action as Testimony

presented at the IDB Cultural Centre in Wshington, DC – February 2005

Action, one full-time sub project which employs an additional two persons and a resource pool of

fifteen persons.

In 2004 the Jus’ Once project was identified by the UNAIDS/UNITAR (United Nations Institute for

Training and Research) AIDS Competence Programme3 as one of the top ten “Techniques and Prac-

tices for Local Responses to HIV/AIDS”. Two other youth lead programmes from Trinidad and

Tobago, “The Condom Krew” and “De Living Room”, would also make it to this top 10 list4.

Yet, in spite of these achievements, there is still much work to be done, and there are still many

challenges that we face; these we accept and persist with our work. If nothing else it is this unyield-

ing commitment to our mandate: to use the arts and culture in social development, and to involve

our youth in this process that remains our grandest accomplishment to date. This is the testimony

that I bring. I thank you.

3 Programme to develop the human capacity to respond to HIV/AIDS with the aim of developing AIDS Competent societies. AIDS Competence means
that we as people in families, communities, in organisations and policy making: acknowledge the reality of HIV and AIDS, act from strength to build
our capacity to respond, reduce vulnerability and risks, learn and share with others and live out our full potential. See http://www.unitar.org/acp

4 Refer http://www.unitar.org/acp/documents/Practices.EN.pdf

© Marvin George 2005 6