"Inward Stretch: Outward Reach."

Celebrating Our Ancestors: Inspiring Our Youth

The second Caribbean Educative Arts Festival is scheduled to take place in Barbados from 15th to 22nd October 2010. Formerly under the patronage of the University of the West Indies Vice Chancellor Professor Emeritus the late Rex Nettleford, the focus for the 2010 Festival is Celebrating Our Ancestors: Inspiring Our Youth and highlights the importance of honouring our legends and icons, making connections between our region’s past, present and future and, subsequently, adding value to the development of our arts and culture for our youth. This event is specifically designed to promote collaboration between teachers, arts educators, practising artistes; arts academics and students, from regional institutions, while creating a forum for participants to share and present work.  The Festival therefore serves as an interface through which delegates can exchange and respond to innovative developments in the educative arts.  As such, the Festival will feature components which focus on youth education, relationship building among regional communities and will also provide opportunity for trade in the arts.

The Festival expects to host a cross-section of local and regional institutions, community groups, professionals; those involved with academic and scholarly research; those engaged in the visual and performing arts as well as arts education. The Festival will serve as testimony to the role of the arts in developing and sustaining resilience, creativity and progress in Caribbean culture and society.  In addition to the general public, the Festival will be designed specifically for primary, secondary and tertiary institutions; practicing and aspiring artistes and educators from across the Caribbean region and the Diaspora.

This Festival comes at a pivotal time when most territories of the region recognise the importance of placing the creative industries at the centre of social and economic development within the context of globalisation, while paradoxically striving to maintain and preserve a national identity and a distinctive sense of what is Caribbean. This tension results in a critical and often contested dialogue about the role of culture, art and education not only in providing economic activity but encouraging social cohesion and organisation.

Such a debate has resulted in the growth of arts education at the primary, secondary and tertiary levels in the region, particularly in the last decade. Organisations such as the Caribbean Examinations Council, the Barbados Community College and the University of the West Indies have all recognised the value of arts as an academic area of study and the importance of the arts as intrinsically valuable. However, the problem arises that as nations we have much to do to ensure that training, education and development are perhaps given the same attention as the traditional academic areas of knowledge. This has been our failing thus far and it is hoped that the Festival through its workshops; presentation of academic papers from scholars both from the Caribbean and the Diaspora as well as performances will imbue in its participants the desire for academic rigor and scholarly attention to the arts. To this end an important feature for the Festival is the presentation of papers aimed at professional training for the Caribbean Creative Economy and this call will be for academics across all the arts disciplines.

Download the festival registration package pdf. This package provides additional information, on accomodation, transport and schedules

Important Dates
• Submission of proposals 16th June 2010

• Deadline for the full paper submission 31st of August 2010

•  Registration opens 1st of July 2010

• Late registration starts 15th September 2010

• Deadline for late registration 14th October  2010

Contact: caribbeanedartsfest2010@gmail.com
Chair (Papers): Dr. Suzanne Burke
Chair (Conference): Yvonne Weekes

BCC

UWI

CXC

NCF

ART PRESENTERS