Our eviction from our Pan Theatre this Monday climaxed more than 30 years of requests, pleadings, meetings, third party interventions and all other forms of civil communication aimed at resolving the issue of a secure home base for the organisation’s activities. Over this 30 year period, we have engaged every Minister of Culture and every parliamentary representative for Tunapuna. It seems that the only tangible fruit of our efforts to convince successive political administrations of the benefits of supporting a constructive, self-reliant community service delivery model has been the invasion of the Yard by an army of bailiffs aided by the armed agents of the state at 6 am on Monday. In what passes for political leadership in this country it seems preferable to “chinks”, “breaks” and to make empty promises whenever there is a choice between investing in the youth of this nation at the front end or of spending billions on the police, the army, the prisons and the court systems at the back end. We can see why some commentators falsely herald the failure of the Independence project. We do not agree with this analysis but we cannot help but notice how badly our ruling elites fail to treat with "bottom-up" community-based initiatives.
We at birdsong seek no handouts. Self-sufficiency is at the core of our value system and our resource mobilisation efforts involve limited recourse to state agencies. Our business activities finance our core activities and our special projects have received support from a host of local and international agencies including the UNDP, the IDB, theJB Fernandes Trust, Rockefeller Foundation and United Way. As part of our engagement with these agencies, our programmes routinely come under independent professional scrutiny and we regularly receive strong endorsements for accountability, relevance and the creativity of our approach to empowering the next generation of Trinidad & Tobago’s musicians. Our detractors have accused us of being lazy and complacent. We beg to disagree, the birdsong Pan Theatre has become a major cultural landmark in the Tunapuna area with a year-round programme of activities including:
- An August vacation music camp which has provided more than 1,200 young people with exposure to an integrated curriculum of music theory, practical skills, history of the steel pan and life skills.
- Year-round music theory classes which have so far provided the opportunity to more than 300 youths to obtain certification from the Royal School of Music. A cadre of the country’s most experienced professional musicians comprises the teaching faculty for this programme.
- Practice facilities for our steel orchestra which has performed at every National Panorama competition since 1974 and toured the Caribbean, Venezuela and the United Kingdom.
- Our landscaping, construction services and agricultural enterprises which employ more than 60 persons on a full-time basis.
- The birdsong international programme through which about 50 music students from universities in North America and Europe participate in the panorama competition while earning credits towards completion of their respective degrees and diplomas.
We’ve also made our premises regularly available to the community for christenings, weddings, funerals, community functions and even party political events. The birdsong model of community service delivery has been documented, analysed and acclaimed by several international consultants and academic institutions.
In 2010, we signed an agreement to purchase a lot of land from a defunct Friendly Society not too far from our original Pan Theatre. We've already paid 10% of the purchase price, negotiated a mortgage with the Trinidad and Tobago Building and Loans Association, have the required approvals of Town and Country, pre-paid more than one year's installments. Unfortunately, we were stymied by bureaucratic bungling and infighting between the Ministry of Labour and the CPO's office who have failed to appoint a Registrar of Friendly Societies. The legislation is drafted in such a way that this person must be a legal signatory to validate the agreements. This is making it impossible for us to take legal possession of our land and begin the work to necessary realise our dream of a modern multi-story Pan Theatre. Remember that this situation has been going on since 2010!
Now What?
We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope - Martin Luther King, Jr..
Ensuring the Continuity of the Academy Programmes
We’ve received a lot of support from senior staff at the University of the West Indies figures including the well-known figures such as Principal Professor Brian Copeland and Professor Rhoda Reddock. It is agreed to it is critical to combine heads to ensure the continuity of the initiatives of the Academy especially the After School and Saturday Programmes. We’ve already held discussions with The Faculty of Humanities & Education and expect to be able to use (on a temporary basis) facilities located in the St. Augustine area to resume 2016-2017 Academy programme. Our plan in to start taking registrations at the new facility on Saturday, September 10, 2016.
Music
We are happy to report that there was no substantial damage to our instruments and electronics. The Academy (Orchestra, Steelband, Academy Voices, Small Ensemble and Big Band) continues to practice at various venues including the Exodus Pan Theatre, Eastern Main Road. There continues to be high demand for their services as even in this week of destruction they managed to perform at a number of functions including the funeral of artist and author Valerie Belgrave
Social Enterprises
birdsong Enterprises (bEnt) is our community-based, social enterprise. bEnt participates in the Community-Based Environmental Protection and Enhancement Programme (CPEP) and provides full-time employment to about 60 community members. bEnt continues to operate at a facility near the Old Pan Theatre and is able to fulfill all its obligations.
Our Journey to True Independence
So as we reflect on Independence Day 2016, we are undaunted! We continue to dream big dreams, we do not hesitate to explore beyond the vistas of our current circumstances. They are those in the establishment that find us intimidating, uncompromising in many ways hostile to their lack of vision and integrity. As we celebrate Independence 2016, we are not discouraged by the occurrences of the past week. We feel that it is our duty to continue re-imagining and reinventing the relation between the Steelband and the community. Indeed, we look upon the events of the past week as transitional and they may well signal a new dawning for birdsong. We are inspired by the sentiments expressed in our national song Our Nation's Dawning by G. Carlton Sampson
Illumine our thanksgiving
Of this great day each heart can say
This is our Nation's Dawning!
