Cultural Coordinator, Cultural Department, Herman ‘Cupid’ Francis
Numerous attempts over the years to create and implement a National Cultural Policy may finally be realised before the end of this year. Early next month a resource group on behalf of the Government is set to commence a series of consultations with the public to get inputs and feedbacks on what they would like to see in the new Policy.
Cultural Coordinator within the Cultural Department, Mr. Herman ‘Cupid’ Francis said, “Prior to the volcano the first attempt was made to establish and implement a national policy and then again in 1999, however the draft did not make it to parliament for approval.”
He proposed that consultation for this new policy is expected to be completed by the end of July and make its way to parliament for approval before the end of 2012.
According to the Coordinator, a qualified team of experts will facilitate the process. They include, Sir Howard Fergus, former Acting Governor, Former UWI Resident Tutor and author of number cultural literature, as the consultant leading the process along with, Dr. Clarice Barnes author and historic researcher, Ms. Ann Marie Dewar, Musical Director of Voices, poet and historic researcher, Mr. Alric Taylor as costume designer and maker and contributor in the organization of the year-end festival, key resource persons, and Mr. Francis as the Technical representative on the team from the Ministry of Culture.
The Premier’s Office and the Montserrat Tourist Board (MTB) will work in collaboration with the team and provide policy guidance in the process. On completion of the draft, the policy would be presented to the Government of Montserrat for final approval.
The consultant and supporting resource persons were retained to perform an assessment of the state of culture on Montserrat and formulate a National Cultural Policy that will set the framework for development and planning of culture on Montserrat for the next ten years. To develop a National Cultural Policy that is relevant to the current economic and social situation but also a policy that is sufficiently robust to accommodate the changing Montserrat environment. The development of a new cultural policy is therefore necessary and has been a main priority for the Government of Montserrat for the past 2-3 year. This objective is included in the Strategic plans of the Government of Montserrat and is now included in the set of reforms to be done in 2012.
According to the Cultural department, the Objective of a National Cultural Policy is to:
- Provide an assessment and insight into the current situation and state of culture on Montserrat and context for cultural development which is coherent, as well as allows for planning and decision making about culture.
- To raise awareness at the local level of the importance of both tangible and intangible culture heritage.
- It also allows for review and recommendations for any changes to the existing relevant legislation and recommends development of any other legislation as it is related to the cultural policy and which facilitate the implementation of the cultural policy.
Recommendations of Institutional arrangements which would facilitate the implementation of the cultural policy, as well as recommendations of possible sources of resources or initiatives which would provide resources to implement the National Cultural Policy Broad based mechanisms which would be required for the implementation of the National Policy.
