Pan Trinbago Platform Plan
The Panman is an artist in the musical genre of
the four main disciplines of art including
dance, theatre and visual arts. Artists are not
politicians. History and experience have shown
that if we do not speak for ourselves, no one
will speak for us. However, in T&T, each arts
group has been forced to represent itself in and
to the government. As a result, what is a most
personal passion for art has become a political
environment. This situation almost always
presents itself as an adversarial relationship.
In some instances, different arts groups are
forced to compete with each other for funding.
The cultural life of this country in music,
dance, drama and art (and the events which
combine them) is being held hostage by forced
into apolitical arena.
It is my proposal that the cultural monies
available in Trinidad & Tobago be overseen by a
separate entity which for the sake of clarity in
this instance I will call “an Arts Commission”.
This group would receive a budget from the
government. These monies would be distributed by
the “Arts Commission” to the representative
groups of the artists. This way, the artists are
not put in the position of being politicians,
constantly lobbying for financial support.
Guidelines and standards should be established
for distribution of the money within each group.
Let me use a good idea gone awry as an example
of what I mean by this. It was decided recently
that the national instrument of Trinidad &
Tobago should be made available in every school
in the nation, an indication of pan’s acceptance
as a legitimate instrument and equal to a
string, woodwind, brass or other percussion
instrument. Schools would be encouraged to
purchase a pan just as a trumpet, violin,
saxophone or snare drum.
A 16piece inventory of pans was to be made
available to each school. Pan Trinbago agreed to
supervise this project. Details of the project
were hammered out. Qualified pan tuners (those
who Pan Trinbago knows to do quality work) were
called together. Barrels were ordered. However,
suggestions were not followed to use the
particular tuners that were not recommended by
Pan Trinbago. This resulted in complaints of
inferior work. Had the schools followed the
guidelines and used recommended artists, this
problem would have been avoided.
To prevent this problem in the future and to
present the misuse of funds, parameters should
be established for artists in order to be
included. The participant should undergo an
audition with regards to their discipline in
order to determine that their skill is of a
level and standard that s/he could be
recommended without reservation. Once an artist
is qualified s/he would be included in some sort
of list of approved artists. This may take the
form of a national registry of artists which
could be distributed to interested parties.
The proposed “Arts Commission” may or may not
provide a complete budget for any particular
project. Matching funds may be required. Each
group may have to raise additional funds on
their own. To take away this option is to
further condemn the health of the complete
culture of this nation.
Patrick Arnold
President
Pan Trinbago Inc. T.C.
From the news desk of Pan
Trinbago
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