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| Caribbean Cultural Committee | |
|---|---|
| Name | Caribbean Cultural Committee |
| Formation | 1978 |
| Type | Regional cultural organization |
| Headquarters | Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago |
| Region served | Caribbean Sea Caribbean |
| Leader title | Chair |
| Leader name | Dr. Alicia Mendes |
| Website | (official) |
Caribbean Cultural Committee
The Caribbean Cultural Committee is a regional coordinating body established to promote preservation, performance, and policy for Caribbean music, Caribbean literature, Caribbean visual arts, and intangible heritage across the West Indies. Founded in 1978 in Port of Spain, the body has served as a convenor linking national cultural institutions such as the National Museum and Art Gallery (Trinidad and Tobago), festivals including Carifesta, and academic centers like the University of the West Indies to ministries and international agencies. It operates through networks of curators, performers, scholars, and community leaders drawn from nations including Jamaica, Barbados, Guyana, Haiti, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Bahamas, and Antigua and Barbuda.
The committee emerged from dialogues among cultural ministers at the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States meetings and artists participating in Carifesta I and Carifesta II. Early patrons included figures associated with Calypso, Reggae, and Soca movements such as Lord Kitchener, Bob Marley, and Mighty Sparrow who intersected with intellectuals from Caribbean Studies programs at the University of the West Indies and archives at the National Library of Jamaica. Cold War-era cultural diplomacy—exemplified by exchanges with institutions like the Smithsonian Institution and the British Council—shaped initial funding and programming priorities. Over time, the committee responded to crises including the Hurricane Gilbert aftermath and the 2010 Haiti earthquake, coordinating heritage salvage with partners like UNESCO and the Pan American Health Organization.
The committee’s stated mission aligns with directives from regional bodies such as the Caribbean Community and the Organization of American States: to safeguard intangible cultural heritage and to foster contemporary creative economies. Objectives include cataloguing oral histories linked to figures like Derek Walcott and Aimé Césaire, promoting touring circuits for ensembles such as the National Dance Theatre Company of Jamaica, supporting publication of works by authors like Edwidge Danticat and V.S. Naipaul, and advocating for cultural rights at summits such as the UNESCO World Conference on Cultural Policies. It also aims to enhance museum conservation practices used at sites like the Brimstone Hill Fortress National Park and archives in Kingston and Bridgetown.
Governance features a rotational board drawn from representatives of national commissions for culture, regional NGOs such as the Caribbean Cultural Foundation, and university centers including the Sir Arthur Lewis Institute of Social and Economic Studies. Operational units comprise departments for Collections and Conservation, Performing Arts Liaison, Research and Publications, and Youth Outreach. Committees coordinate with legacy institutions like the National Gallery of the Bahamas, research centers like the Caribbean Studies Association, and networks such as the Association of Caribbean Historians. Decision-making follows statutes influenced by models from the Commonwealth Foundation and regional treaty frameworks negotiated within the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) architecture.
Programs span long-term initiatives—digitization of archives in collaboration with the Digital Library of the Caribbean and exhibition exchanges with the Museum of Anthropology (UCL)—to annual festivals and residencies. Signature activities include a touring theater program featuring works inspired by playwrights such as Wilson Harris and Errol John, a folklore fieldwork series documenting practices from Trinidad and Tobago Carnival to Rara rituals of Haiti, and a publishing imprint that has produced monographs on painters like Frank Bowling and Wifredo Lam. Training workshops draw conservation expertise from the Getty Conservation Institute and capacity-building modules from the World Intellectual Property Organization focusing on artists’ rights. Emergency response protocols coordinate artifact salvage with the International Council on Monuments and Sites.
Membership comprises national cultural offices from Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Montserrat, and others, plus associate institutional members like the National Cultural Foundation (Barbados), the Haitian Cultural Foundation, and university departments in Curaçao and Puerto Rico. Strategic partnerships include memorandum agreements with UNESCO, the Ford Foundation, the Caribbean Development Bank, and festival partners such as Notting Hill Carnival cultural exchanges. Collaborative research projects have linked the committee with centers at New York University and the University of Havana.
Funding streams combine membership fees, grants from foundations such as the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, project-specific support from agencies like the European Union cultural programs, and in-kind contributions from national ministries of culture. Financial oversight employs audit practices modeled on standards from the International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions and transparency measures advocated by Transparency International affiliates in the region. Governance reviews have been informed by policy reports circulated through the Caribbean Development Bank and evaluations by independent consultants from institutions like the Inter-American Development Bank.
The committee is credited with enhancing visibility for artists who later attained international awards such as the Nobel Prize in Literature (linked to figures from the region), facilitating repatriation negotiations for artifacts connected to Benin and Arawak collections, and strengthening conservation at UNESCO World Heritage sites like Brimstone Hill Fortress National Park. Criticisms include debates over bureaucratic centralization raised by community collectives in Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica, concerns from independent curators about funding allocations that favored urban institutions over rural practitioners, and disputes over intellectual property norms involving diasporic artists in London and Miami. Reform efforts have referenced governance models from the Commonwealth Secretariat and accountability practices promoted by the Open Society Foundations.
Category:Caribbean culture