Guyana to have National Cultural Policy before year end – Advisor promises

Aug 01, 2016 News

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By: Kiana Wilburg

Due to the complex nature of a National Cultural policy, completion and implementation can take approximately five to 10 years. Therefore, what will be in place in the interim to ensure that some amount of meaningful changes take place in the Culture and Arts sector?

According, to Cultural Advisor, Ruel Johnson, there are a series of planned interventions. In an exclusive interview, Johnson said that the most concrete of these is Copyright legislation which will precede an actual policy tabled in National Assembly. Johnson said that he has put together a stakeholder working group to guide the process over the next three months.

Johnson said that he hopes to have the National Cultural Policy tabled in the National Assembly around the end of November, but certainly before the end of the year.

To bring context to the history and importance of a National Cultural Policy, Johnson shared that Guyana has only ever published one such policy. He said that one came out of a process supervised by AJ Seymour via support by UNESCO.

He noted that there have been two subsequent drafts, one put together by then Education and Culture Minister Dale Bisnauth, which he has not seen and one put together in 2009 by then Chairman on the National Trust and now Director of Culture, Dr. James Rose.

Johnson said that there are those who insist that the latter document, which has never been published and which was produced without any significant consultation, constitutes the de facto National Cultural Policy. He said that no explanation has been offered for why it is not in the public domain.

The Cultural Advisor said, “The answer of course is that it is primarily inadequate as a modern cultural policy and those areas that it did get right, the then Ministry of Culture under Dr. Frank Anthony, who commissioned the policy, did nothing to advance it…”

Johnson said that his Caribbean counterparts involved in cultural policy planning have spoken about processes that indeed have lasted several years, and even ones with existing policies are in the process of being redesigned.

The Cultural Advisor said that now is actually the best time to begin the creation of national cultural policies since there is greater global support for cultural policy formulation both in terms of financing and technical support.

Because of the absence of a proper policy and the general lack of competence in the Department of Culture, Johnson said that Guyana in 2013 missed its first statutory Quadrennial Periodic Report under the 2005 Convention.

Given the new thrust in policy development in accordance with contemporary international policy direction and best practices, Johnson said that he was able to give a preliminary report on the new government’s progress. He said that the comment from the UNESCO Secretary to the Convention, Danielle Cliche was that Guyana’s presentation was the only one structured in the format that is necessary for the next actual report scheduled for 2017.

As for strategy being put in place for meaningful change, Johnson said it goes to how he has structured the policy process.  He said that the first level is the abstractions and in a month or so he can finish refining those since what he has been doing is matching local priorities with international frameworks, such as UNESCO CELAC’s 2016-2021 Work Plan on Culture.

The next level he said is a 10-year plan made up of two five year cycles which speaks to more specifics, particularly when it comes to mainstreaming culture in development.  The third level he said is five two year action plans that set out concrete projects in keeping with set indicators coming out of the two other levels.

“For example, within the 2016-2017 cycle, there will be the ICA infrastructural development and accreditation project which will fall into priorities established under the first five years of the 10 year process.”

“My original work plan as of September of last year saw the general policy at levels one and two plus a level three action plan for 2016-2017 being tabled, after about four months of consultation and two months of review, to the National Assembly, which would have been around this time.”

Johnson said what he failed to take into account was the size and scope of the Jubilee celebrations that not only took up the attention of the Ministry of Education but also other ministries that are necessary for collaboration.

He said that planned engagements with Ministers Cathy Hughes and Dominic Gaskin to develop functional cooperation ties were only possible in the past month. He still has to engage about nine other government agencies to inform of what his general plans are and their roles in these plans.

In keeping with integrating plans into a larger government framework, Johnson said that the greatest progress has been with the Ministry of Social Cohesion. He said that this Ministry will be the Culture Department’s key partner in crafting government’s programme under the ‘Mainstreaming Culture in Development, Citizenship agenda’ of the policy.

The Cultural Advisor said that he initially met with Social Cohesion Minister Amna Ally earlier in the year and currently sits on the Ministry’s Inter-Ministerial Steering Committee on Social Cohesion.

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