committed to culture

The refurbishment of Queen’s Park’s Daphne Joseph Hackett Theatre and the Garfield Sobers Gymnasium signals that the Government is serious about taking the culture industries to the next level.

This is according to Minister of Culture, Sports and Youth, Stephen Lashley, during the venue tour at the Gymnasium yesterday afternoon.

Lashley told the media that his government recognises that in order to take these culture industries to the next level successfully, they have to put facilities in place that would actually give the people what they need to move forward.

He pointed out that persons have already expressed an interest in using the refurbished facilities, and added that he believes the revenue intake would certainly increase the marketability of both venues.

“What pleases me immensely is that the Daphne Joseph Hackett Theatre will be brought on stream and this has been in the plans for many, many years. The last time any real work was done on these buildings was in 1981 when Barbados hosted the last CARIFESTA,” he said.

“So this is not only a historic moment, it’s a proud moment where we can actually restore such a historic structure
and do so in such a way that pays homage; and at the end of CARIFESTA, we would have a place that those involved in creative business can actually have a ‘home’.”

Lashley highlighted that the kind of work done at the gymnasium was highly technical, but assured that they had a programme in place – which included a number of students from the Samuel Jackman Polytechnic, who were able to work alongside some members of the Chinese construction team.

He explained that the intention was to ensure that young persons were able to understand the systems that were built into the gym.

In relation to the Queen’s Park building, he stated that there will be a maintenance plan put in place as well because he believes that once the work is done in terms of bringing the facilities up to standard, it is important to look after them.