Imagination Awards recognise local creatives

NEXT month the Errol Barrow Centre for Creative Imagination (EBCCI) will be celebrating its tenth anniversary and is moving into its second phase of development.

 

This assurance has been given by EBCCI Director Professor Gladstone Yearwood as he delivered brief remarks at the inaugural Imagination Awards, held on Wednesday night in the Walcott Warner theatre of the EBCCI Cave Hill Campus.

 

The awards were introduced to give recognition to those who work and have worked tirelessly in the creative sector; nationally, regionally and internationally, from and for Barbados and the wider Caribbean. The awards represent the epitome of achievement in the creative sector. 

 

Two awards – the “Imagination Award” to a stalwart, and the “Spirit of Imagination Award” to an emerging young leader – will be given each year to a individual, a group or an institution that has made outstanding contributions in research, education, publications, advocacy, entrepreneurial pursuits or other developments as well as activities in arts and culture; in theatre, dance, visual arts, film and video, and the literary arts. Janelle Mitchell and celebrated stalwart in the creative sector, Cynthia Wilson, were the 2016 winners and double graduates 

of the UWI EBCCI’s Creative Arts Programme.

 

Professor Yearwood said the awards ceremony was a part of his vision for the centre which officially opened its doors in December 2006 and admitted its first class of students in September 2007

 

While giving a report card of the EBCCI over the years he noted that 82 students have graduated with the Bachelor in Fine Arts, with ten receiving First Class Honours. Ten students have graduated from the MA in Creative Arts. Two students received a 

distinction. In 2011, EBCCI rolled out the Motion Picture Arts Certificate (MPAC) with 18 students enrolled. He revealed that a second edition of MPAC took place in the 2014-2015 academic year.

 

A total of 34 students have taken the certificate programme, which will begin with a study tour of Cuba.

 

In spite of economic challenges facing the country, Professor Yearwood gave the commitment that the EBCCI will deliver a world-class arts education and invest in the future of the youth.

 

He highlighted the Imagination Circle of Friends which was implemented for the Creative Arts, as well as a programme for youth called the “Imagine Youth Arts Programme” which includes animation. He expressed hope that it can be extended to run throughout the year. (JH)