Seems there is much to be said re the cultural mood of the island. Even international consultants are not happy. And then there is the Cultural Industries Bill. A Bill that needs to be rolled in and started again. This time with more than just family members working on it? Perhaps the CCCG should be involved. It appears they know what they do.

http://www.barbadostoday.bb/2013/05/13/ncf-a-failure/

DR. THE HONOURABLE@Heads of Government Departments do not respond to letters; Heads of various Government agencies do not respect the opinions of others. These people are a law unto themselves. They do not even hear from their staff members because they hold no staff meetings. Is it a wonder that Public Sector Reform is not happening? The Barbadian Civil Servant/Government worker is one of the worst species in the world, in some respects. Mediocrity ? No ! That is too good a description.
To add insult to injury, you are placing females in position of authority, a sure recipe for disaster. Women are far worst than men and are not fit to be leaders in anything. They need to take their place; they need to know their place actually.@ YOU GET 5 STARS FOR THIS ONE .

It is always the same. Instead of some comments that have soul, we have to have racist crap re skin colour and sex. It never ceases to amaze. I hope the CCCG manage to get heard at last because they are the only ones that seem to be serious. Everyone else must jump in with a whole lot of rhetoric and nonsense that does no one any good at all. No wonder we get nowhere on this island. And no wonder our government looks upon its people with disdain. We have no behaviour and they like it so. Shame.

Corrie Scott says:
“We also believe that the powers that be are trying to present it, again, to parliament in it unfinished state. We also believe that there is a $50 million in funding from overseas that may have a deadline and hence the rush to push the bill through.”

In all my simplicity, i am wondering just where and to whom this expected windfall has already been designated??

Again I ask
Who got de biggest balls

Angelina Jolie is a strange woman
Imagine cutting off those beautiful boobs simply because she has a certain gene.
Couldn’t she wait for scientific work on the gene
What a waste of bubbies (as the bajans call them )

Nothing is achieved without sacrifice

Are our politicians and civil servants literate? Anyone reading the Cultural Industries Bill must wonder.How in view of the accessibility of internet have they failed to do any research? They even seem to be unaware at the enormous benefits which will accrue from nurturing the creative.
Tourism is our number one industry but the Board of Tourism seems to be happily unaware that cultural tourism is number one priority elsewhere. Education ,to give them credit, have set up an excellent programme at BCC but then leave our truly brilliant graduates to flounder without any support for their future development.
We still lack a National Art Gallery . Queens Park has fallen into disrepair so we have lost not only a Gallery but a theatre at a time when, if we are serious about developing a film industry, we need to be training actors. It is no longer the time to drag your friends in front of a camera and pretend they can act.
The proposed bill fails miserably to put in place a proper structure for development yet the politicians happily ignore any attempt to discuss. For 15 months the CCCG has been trying to enter into a serious dialogue. Ample time if the Government were truly serious to go back to the drawing board and give us a Bill which we can be proud of.

Re: Women-Can’t get enough of that funky stuff

Dr. The Honorable………………a word of advice to the wise, get some help, seek out a good therapist for whatever ails you mentally, don’t try to blame it on females, everyone can see right through you. Therapy will help.
Not only Barbados, but world wide you can find females outnumbering males at least 20 to 1 in most universities and colleges, including ivy league level education………in the workforce females have broken through the glass ceiling and are now CEOs, COOs, CFOs etc, etc, the males have screwed up the world, and we are taking it back.

Alvin……………….i did not want to rip into him and thought at some point a real man would…………..mental problems are easily recognizable and treatable if diagnosed early.

This minister promised that NAPSAC and the secondary school version would have been held. Were they to our satisfaction? Off point but speaks to credibility.

Another thing, when one listens to Elombe and to those who followed him at the NCF what is the impression gotten?

David said:

“Do you know 80% of royalties for copyrighted material played on airwaves leave the country? What are we doing?”

Did the Americans not complain recently that the government refuses to pay the money owed for the copyrighted material, if they are not recognizing international debts, exactly what chance do you think the young people have of being recognized and suitably compensated to push them forward short of exposing and shaming this government??

Who will be able to convince these governments that it is the country’s best interest to have these exposures??, when they do not listen to anyone cause they know it all………..

@Dr. the Dis honourable,
I had not intended communicating directly or indirectly with you, but I thought you should be interested in this article that was sent to me. It should educate you in the strengths of women and encourage you to femove some of your biases.

175 Years of Resistance: Gaiutra Bahadur on Indo-Caribbeans, Women Rights, and Resistance
by ivetteromero
In “175 Years of Resistance” (5 May 2013) Gaiutra Bahadur writes about Indians in the Caribbean, women rights in the face of violence, and resistance. This beautifully-written piece merits careful reading, but we can only choose a few excerpts; I highly recommend checking out the full text on the Coolie Woman blog.
One hundred seventy-five years ago today, on May 5, 1838, the first group of Indians in the Caribbean landed in British Guiana. There were almost 400, assigned to plantations along the colony’s marshy coast. Since indenture was an experiment in slavery’s wake, feared to be a revival of slavery in all but name, we actually know a great deal about these first “bound coolies,” as indentured Indians were called. [. . .] We know that, during their crossing to a new world, a cholera outbreak aboard The Hesperus claimed the lives of ten emigrants, who died in feverish fits, their tongues blackened, lips desperately dry, bowels contorted. We know that their new world was blood-stained at its beginning with the rape of an eight-year old girl. We even know her name: Nunneedy. Much has been documented about the suffering of this first group: the 25 percent mortality rate; the floggings made worse by rubbing salty pork pickle into the wounds; the toes eaten away by chigoes, sand fleas that burrowed in their flesh.
[. . .] In a way, their stories of exploitation and longing are not a revelation to Indians from the Caribbean or Indians in the Caribbean; their emotional texture is as familiar as our own skin. The sense of persecution, the thwarted desire for India, is as palpable to many of us as it was to those first “coolies.” The theme embedded in their tale that intrigues me more, that strikes me as a richer one for determining our futures, is the theme of resistance. By the end of January 1843, there were no ships for India anywhere in sight, to send them home, as the planters had promised they would be, after their contracts were served. As a result, the indentured struck work. And as a group, the ones on Plantation Anna Regina refused their rations of rice and saltfish. They stopped eating for days. Then, when they could refuse no longer, they insisted on paying for food. Clearly, they feared that accepting rations would leave them in debt and further indentured to the planters. On an affadavit that they hand-delivered to Guiana Governor Henry Light, ten men marked X next to their names, to demand that: “We want to be sent immediately to our country, according to our agreement when we left home.” Their resistance (ultimately successful) set a powerful example of protest – one that took various and sometimes unsettling forms through eight decades of indenture. There are some who argue that the hundreds of men and women who threw themselves into the dark waters, during the crossing from India, were resisting the colonial machinery that sought to estrange them from their country and kin.
[. . .] The women, too, resisted when they could. They participated in strikes against illegally low wages. And they occasionally formed self-protective circles, to fend off the sexual assaults of overseers. The media reports have focused on their pluck, their novelty, but there appears to be precedent for their resistance, in the history of indenture. The written and oral records point to similar strategies by “coolie” women more than a hundred years ago. In an interview in the 1980s, the indentured man Bharath recalled the punishment meted out to a driver (plantation foreman) who made sexual advances against a woman in Trinidad: “he want to do something/ ‘oman nuh like it/ so one day going five ‘oman/ beat e… / chap an ting.”
[. . .] Oral histories with ex-indentured weren’t conducted in Guyana, as they were in Trinidad and Fiji, which is probably why no stories of similar group resistance in colonial Guiana have emerged. I did, however, come across an archival reference to a woman who physically attacked an overseer who tried to rape her in 1914, on Plantation Wales. She inflicted two wounds with a cutlass. Her charge of rape was dismissed, and she was jailed for five years. Nonetheless, she did resist the advance, as did many other indentured women in British Guiana and elsewhere. And that, to me, is the most potent lesson offered by the indentured, in a story of private and political tyrannies – of exploitation by the colonial state and by men of all races that began 175 years ago but still continues, in governments and families inherited by their descendants.
For full post, see http://cooliewoman.com/about/

As the consultant Andrew Senior pointed out in his report, we are years behind in terms of where we should be, stifled by miles of red tape and conflicts of interest in all forms at all corners. As time has shown, our music and art disciplines have reached international standard on a larger scale than many of the other creative areas. Others are growing quickly, but need capital investment, professional input, and educational development. The talent is there and it is waiting to explode. The young creative practitioners who send me their works and ideas daily, fascinate me with the angles and slants they are coming from and their vision of where they would like to go. This Bill must address the needs of future generations or our future is doomed.

@Dr THE HONORABLE….. Do not knock the ladies. Up to the mid 60’s the entrepreneurial spirit was alive and well in Barbados , in the form of some very successful black businessmen-in Bridgetown,and further afield. But alas, as those pioneers were about to make their exit , they passed on their empires mostly to their sons,and like many other empires before ,they came crashing down. History will show that those businesses which were passed on to daughters, survived much longer. A latter day classic example is Montrose Supermarket in Christ Church.

Well Well | May 14, 2013 at 9:28 PM |
John has been in the field long enough to recognize talent when he sees it…………
—————————————————————————–
Why you think so? Richard Stoute has been in the field longer with a proud and huge input into our entertainment culture. I prefer to hear what Stoute has to say. There is the assumption by a small minority who think they know everything and worse thinks that the majority of people are with them. Look although I have not read the bill when I hear certain people criticising a red flag goes up. I immediately think its likely a bill to help the majority of cultural practicioners thats why the predictable tiny group is critical. Does Elombe Mottley support any idea that is not his? A resounding NO!. I dont know who this Roett boy is but he sounding like Elombe. Frankly I dont trust Elombe, Roett types. I dont trust all politicians either but the Minister of Culture sounds honest and sincere as it pertains to the advancement of entertainers. Let me hear his views and draw my own conclusions. I will not be jumping on any CCCG bandwagon and I’m a musician.

John

Not following your last comment. Several countries (developed countries) around thw world are successful in attracting this piece of business. Why should Barbados not build into the Bill the capacity to deal with all aspects of the cultural industries, of course we are at a nascent stage but the legislation must accomadate what is possible now and the future to be competitive now. Why allow Bahamas and St.Lucia et al to take advantage? Designing a Bill which is targeted at paying the bills of government from funding agencies is a cop out.

@Amused. You are right on the count of the film production. The CCCG knows that film needs to be seen as a huge revenue earner and not as a partnership with a Bajan company because that will never happen. Right now the mediocre film and actually no, really bad films being made (you will have a chance to see one coming to God only knows which screen in London – Chrissy – please do not cry, I was told that people were in tears here over this riveting movie and its story line, I was in tears having to watch it) will go nowhere except to encourage a Barbados Film Awards with red carpet and people dressed to the hilt arriving in stretch limousines to the glory of a bunch of photographers who will have the usual 7 hours of show to shoot (with cameras, not with guns!) following in the footsteps of the Music Awards given to friends and family. A proper Bill would have seen this and attended to it first and foremost. ‘Directors’ and ‘Producers’ would have seen to this if they cared to look at the big picture and not just at their own ‘greatness’ in the field. So enthused and in love with themselves they settled for anything just to get piece of the monies that ‘might’ become available because ‘might’ is the only word people around here have come to know and expect when it comes to funding.

But you are wrong that the CCCG do not want to see big fish in a big pond. The CCCG are going after a Bill that seeks to encompass all the creatives of the island and not just a chosen few. They see the bigger picture and want the Bill to open up to this bigger picture.

Perhaps you are the one that requires open eyes and a better disposition to what the CCCG is trying to do. At least they have stuck to their guns and done all possible to work together with government and it would not have mattered which government either as there is not a partisan bone in any of the members of the CCCG. Bet that is different. Bet that does not ring a bell. A group that only cares to see an excellent Bill that will augur well for Barbados – both creatives and government – and will encourage the rest of the world to see this island as full of investment possibilities not just in one discipline of the creative arts but in all. Now that is a mouthful for anyone to understand…the words ‘not a partisan bone’ and ‘investment possibilities for all disciplines of the creative arts’.

Why would any government not want what the CCCG is offering? Which is simply nothing more but to make a Bill good for all. The Bill has some good parts but mostly it is flawed, so why not fix it? Showing the arrogance of not wanting to fix it to suit all is tantamount to showing there is a reason that is not being told, and that the promised transparency is once again not being adhered to.

@Guitarist when you say “Look although I have not read the bill when I hear certain people criticising a red flag goes up.”

Why does a red flag go up? You have not even read the Bill. This for instance smacks of what the biggest problem Barbados has. Not being informed but bellowing loudly. You say you do not even know the boy Roett but already know that someone else has more time in the industry. Yes. You are right. Stoute may have more time in the industry and yes Stoute is one of many creatives that are stalwarts in what they do. Does not mean because of this, his word is the only one? Elombe Mottley is another one who is so misunderstood. Because a man knows what he is talking about, does not mean it is all bout him. Mottley has been part of, seen and worked in culture for so long it is ingrained in his blood. Why should many not listen to him when he has Barbados in his heart. He lives in Jamaica because he married a Jamaica but he continues to hold Barbados up high in everything he does. His recent 15 books – Chronicles of 20th Century Barbados – a journey of discovery – recently launched here, speak for themselves and his selfless ways for as I understand it they are being given to Barbados, yes given.

John Roett is not THE CCCG. He is the spokesperson for the CCCG. Every group needs ONE not thousands because then they are called rabble. The CCCG is made up of many people – intelligent people and believe it or not intelligent creatives – OF ALL AGES – A GROUP that took the time to read, dissect, get information on, write findings to numerous bodies better informed worldwide (and yes Barbados is not the know all of everything) for assistance, read through other culture Bills, listened to many many who also had done all of the above – in fact did extensive work for 15 months in detail, for no remuneration whatsoever, fighting silently and respectfully with all the negatives that trying to do something good for this country comes with, and always having one goal in mind and that is to help whichever government come up with a Bill that will be respected by the rest of the world, one that seeks to help both government and all creatives. Nothing more. Nothing less.

Before putting foot on fast pedal Guitarist, try putting brain and mouth in gear. READ AND UNDERSTAND the Bill for starters.

One really has to love people who do not inform themselves but know it all. So unfortunately is how the majority of this island operate. One more thing Guitarist. Just a reminder for yourself and Amused. The real reason why Barbados gets nowhere fast? It is called Crabs in a Barrel Syndrome. One crab get to the top and got a good idea, study it all, understand it fully and then got something good to do for the country? Put he down instant because ‘we’ (meaning everyone in every rum shop and in every discipline across the board of anything that goes on in the country) does always know bettah even when ‘we’ ent really know what we talking ’bout as long as we can spout good, all is honky dory.

Erica Smith said it best on FIREWORKS last week – the creative people are fragmented hence the manipulation by the jokers in suites.

David can you please delete the discriminatory off topic nonsense that is being posted here? People are trying to debate and find a way forward here.

This isnt a hunt for talent this is a witch hunt for revenue. That is what this Bill is about. I fail to see how you can brag about concession but cultural projects for concessions need to be approved by a Minister. Which part of that is sincere? When someone decides to buy a keyboard, drumset or camera for their son or daughter at 7 will the minister entertain that as a cultural project? There seems to be no room for either formal or informal Education in this Bill. What this bill seeks to acquire is the already low hanging fruit. So after all the investment from 7 – 17 in the child then he or she is invited to register as a cultural practitioner. Makes no sense. Why should they. That is as silly as the Rihanna should pay taxes in Barbados argument. Horse already bolted.

On the matter of the fiasco of inter school sports I believe that the minister has been over worked. He held 5 portfolios in the last administration and I believe he has 3 now. I have long said that creative industries and sports should be separated because they are two lucrative areas and should have a dedicated minister. At the very least given the situation in the lower house they should have ministers of state in those two areas. I fail to see how you can want a Creative industry off the ground and one man has his hands in so many things. Meanwhile we continue the death march of failure on to Rio 2016 where we will probably have a support staff which is 4 times the size of the number of athletes. Anyhow, while wanna doin wanna shoppin please bring back ah berimbau for mah.

Totally agree with Ezra and with you David. This is a group undertaking. A much larger group undertaking than just the CCCG. It is an undertaking that as many Barbadians who can should study, learn, get involved in. We must certainly hold hands all the way on the important issues so that we as a country can grow and not fall by the wayside as has been happening of recent.

@ Guitarist

If I was John Roett, a man whose baldness, and gray facial hair, denotes his years, I would be happy to be called a boy. But not if it was meant in a derogatory fashion for John Roett is a man who has contributed enormously to the music industry of the island. Not knowing who he is denotes who Guitarist must be. And I certainly mean no disrespect to one with such a name because I can only assume that it means the person (man or woman) plays the guitar more than well, hence the title.