Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago
The word for the night was “heat”. At that speed, spoken word artists delivered poems about love, gangs, street food, public transport and even a trip to the barbershop.
The fashionable crowd of 100 snapped, clapped and cheered for the verbal dexterity in this open performance space, just off Ariapita Avenue in the bustling heart of Trinidad’s capital.
The monthly slam poetry event is one of several cultural offerings that have emerged in recent years to liven up the slack period between the annual carnival celebrations that flood the streets of Port of Spain with costumed revelers.
Trinidad and Tobago’s cultural ecosystem still revolves around Carnival, associated with Ash Wednesday in February or March.
But arts advocates, creative entrepreneurs and government officials are looking for ways to stimulate a year-round scene that could build an economic alternative for a country otherwise dependent on oil and natural gas.
“I see the creative sector as key to diversifying our national economy,” said Calvin Bijou, chairman of the state-owned cultural promotion enterprise CreativeTT.
In addition to rich oil and gas reserves, the twin-island Caribbean nation has a wealth of cultural talent.
It is the birthplace of the steel pan, widely believed to be the only non-electric acoustic instrument invented in the 20th century and the origin of calypso.
These musical traditions blend with folk crafts such as wire bending and costume design at Trinidad’s world-famous carnival. Since 2014, it has brought an annual average of 36,000 visitors to the island, who spend about $48 million.
But spreading culture-driven economic activity throughout the year is a difficult task and has fueled debate over whether a small island nation should focus on domestic or foreign audiences.
Backyard theater
The spoken word event, True Talk No Lie, began in 2013 to take advantage of the Carnival off-season.
It runs from March to November, when the cultural calendar heats up again, with parties showcasing the latest soca hits before the next carnival.
The poets took to the stage of the Great Black Box, a reconstructed courtyard in the former residence of a respected playwright.
Multimedia production outfit 3canal renovated the space in 2014 as a simple “black box” theater with a flying mango tree on the roof.
In the off-season, the venue hosts weekly live performances and rehearsals for annual productions.
It has also become an incubator for taking Trinidadian arts abroad. Two of 3canal’s rising stars toured Pride and Carnival events in Britain and the Netherlands this summer and members of the ensemble will perform at the National Theater of Scotland in November.
In the run-up to Carnival, there are nightly rehearsals for 3canal’s annual show, culminating in Friday night “backyard jams” where spectators can enjoy the work in progress.
Inside the restored gingerbread house, 3canal maintains a recording studio, office and merchandise store. Having its own infrastructure has allowed the ensemble to escape the constraints of Trinidad’s seasonal cultural scene.
“The ease of having your own base from which to explore, express and experiment can’t be beat,” 3canal artistic director Wendell Manwarren told the Thomson Reuters Foundation as dancers rehearsed in the courtyard.
“With our new album, we can luxuriate and take our time – as opposed to the pressure cooker of Carnival.”
The Big Black Box has joined a group of historic residences converted for cultural use within a few blocks of each other in the Woodbrook neighborhood.
A decade ago, a trio of creatives founded an artist residency program called Alice Yard. In 2011, the Medulla Art Gallery opened to showcase contemporary Caribbean art, while old institutions like the Little Carib Theater, built in 1947, round out the scene.
Carnival remains the center of gravity for some activities such as the #1000mokos project at Alice Yard, which teaches a new generation of walkers – moko jumbies in carnival parlance.
Visual art is less overwhelmed by the rhythm of carnival, finding a larger audience during the quiet season. In May, an open show and talk by a young painter filled the Medulla underground gallery.
Global or local?
But as Trinidad’s cultural scene grows, it faces a key question: Should it prioritize domestic audiences or export abroad?
For Rubadiri Victor, president of the Coalition of Artists of Trinidad and Tobago and a former adviser to the arts minister, the answer lies overseas.
When he was in government from 2013-2014, he fought unsuccessfully to expand the mission of Pan Trinbago, the Trinidad-based world steel pan body, to “make pan sections and rhythm the festival music of planet Earth”.
He wanted the country’s best bands to play the world’s best festivals, including dozens of Caribbean-style carnivals in cities around the world, which he estimates generate about $2.23 billion in annual revenue.
He pointed to examples of Trinidad’s cultural success abroad – from several Olympic opening ceremonies choreographed by carnival artist Peter Minshall in the 1990s and early 2000s, to the popular steel pan band accompanying fans in Germany to perform Trinidad’s first at the 2006 World Cup.
But exporting Trinidadian culture requires funding and public support, Mr. Victor noted. “If you don’t have those opportunities, it’s just hard,” he said.
3canal’s Mr Manwarren is more interested in local audiences. “We tend to focus a lot on external validation,” he said. “We have to penetrate ourselves.”
The government, meanwhile, is trying to straddle both lines.
It runs youth programs to learn steel pan, maintains a national register of artists and coordinates mentorship from master artists – including Manwarren, who teaches live show production.
It hopes to provide funding for artists to showcase their skills abroad, but lacks a national cultural policy that would facilitate such opportunities, although public consultations are underway to develop one.
“Cultural should be seen as a political tool and priority, alongside energy, trade and manufacturing,” said Arts Ministry official Marlon De Bique.
This article was reported by the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
