Communications specialist Janelle Persaud secures US$10,000 CCF grant for Rupununi project

Nov 16, 2025 News

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(Kaieteur News) – At least two deserving Guyanese have been selected grantees from a sophisticated pool of artistic talents across the Caribbean, under the Caribbean Culture Fund’s (CCF) Cohort three $400,000 project.

One ecstatic CCF awardee is Ms. Janelle Persaud, a Guyanese media/communications specialist whose project ‘Before Us: Capturing Ancestral Wisdom in the Rupununi’ is fixed under the Art for Change theme, in the Multimedia category. She proudly features alongside fellow Guyanese ethnomusicologist Rohan Sagar, who is also in the multimedia bracket, with his work titled ‘Decoding the Baboon Dance’.

The organisation invited creatives and cultural bodies to explore the transformative power of art in shaping the Caribbean they envisioned. With projects that covered  regional aspirations, challenges, and triumphs; they proposed changes they wished to see.

The third call was initiated on June 4, 2025, attracting interest from Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Monsterrat, St. Kitts and Nevis, and Suriname.

The CCF  lends support to individuals and organisations with orientation to culture and creative projects within the Caribbean, disbursing grants based on the stated themes, underlying values and demonstrated qualities, feasibility, and capacity of project leaders.

On November 12, the CCF announced that selected project leaders from the Caribbean who had applied in June will be awarded US$25,000, US$10,000 and US$5,000 for their projects across three broad themes. The projects should thoroughly correspond with specific categories in their themes. Each project should also translate to how practically the changes envisioned could be wrought in the Caribbean by making use of arts and culture. Periodical interactions would be made with the individuals for reviews and updates on their respective ventures.

Providing insight into the engagement, an official from the CCF told The Waterfalls that once the contract is signed and a project satisfies the organisation’s objectives, the individual receives the first tranche. This is on a normal basis 50 per cent of the budget proposed, and the budget should not exceed the amount for awardee, per theme. Should this occur, then individuals would have to provide evidence of partnership and for additional funding.  After another phased review, in which an intermediate report is to be handed over to the organisation, the second tranche is then supplied and the project is completed.

This year, the broad concepts, each from which ten applicants were drawn, are: Art for change (US$10,000), Caribbean Collaboration (US$25,000), and Residencies and Fellowships (US$5,000).

Categories included Multimedia; Pottery, Ceramics and Sculpture; Performing Arts: Theatre, Dance, Festivals; Literature and Publishing, Design; Libraries and Archives.

Subsequent to the announcements, Persaud took to her Facebook page to convey her excitement as she gets set for her major undertaking.

“I’m so honored to have been selected as one of the grantees for the Caribbean Culture Fund to execute a project that is near and dear to my heart. The ‘Before us’ project which I’ll launch soon…this grant that I’ll receive from the Caribbean Culture Fund will allow me to run the pilot for the project which is ‘Before us: Capturing Ancestral Wisdom in the Rupununi.”

She shared too that the grant will allow for her to return home where she will then identify persons from Lethem and other parts of the Rupununi and dialogue with them to compile her work.

Persaud revealed that she was drawn to the project after meeting up with a former primary school headmaster, whose mind still, she noted, was yet sharp notwithstanding he had advanced in age.

The awardee is gearing up to use her project as a contribution towards reversing the disappointing reality of the younger generation knowing very little about their ancestors, family lines, the community, and what shaped it. Such knowledge, she expressed, must be dedicatedly imparted and preserved. Hailing the positives of both old school and modern conventions, Persaud aims to have her work arranged with every digital commodity available for the convenience and preference of those who are more familiar with present day technology, as well as retaining the older format of knowledge and experiences imprinted in physical books.

“I want to be able to use the tools that we have right now. On one hand, I want to sit with the older folks in the communities to capture their stories in a way that we could put short versions online where most of us get our information, but also in a booklet format that could be placed in schools and in the national library and archives and so on.”

With US$10,000 granted to her, this noble ambition is well within her reach, sponsored by the CCF.

Persaud holds over two decades of experience in the arena of communication, having worked with several established agencies across the country in various senior capacities.

Her work, ‘Before Us: Capturing Ancestral Wisdom in the Rupununi’, is a cultural and storytelling project, documenting the voices, knowledge and lived experiences of elders across Guyana’s Rupununi region, beginning with five pilot sub-districts.

Through filmed interviews, writing and digital storytelling, it records traditional knowledge- including histories of the Rupununi Uprising and ancestral healing- to be shared through short videos, a YouTube channel, and a printed compilation for education and archival use.

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• CCF grant, communications specialist, Janelle Persaud, Rupununi

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