2

Department of Community and Cultural Affairs

BERMUDA CULTURAL CONFERENCE

Saturday, 29 September 2007

Fairmont Hamilton Princess

01-00:00:0

Robinson: Good morning, and welcome to the third day of the first Bermuda CulturalConference. We’re very happy to see the turnout that we had this morning; this is great forwhat’s relatively early on a Saturday morning (laughter). And I want to thank you all for joiningus. You’ve been a fantastic group of participants and I think that yesterday sort of really got thecreative juices flowing as far as different thoughts on Bermudian culture and different ways ofworking together. What I found from yesterday was that we did–the conversation that we beganin the morning about what is Bermudian culture and that we sort of concluded with at the end ofthe day as far as the young Bermudians’ perception about what Bermudian culture is was veryinstructive in a lot of ways and I think that it’s a conversation that was started but certainlywasn’t finished. And part of the reason why we wanted to have this gathering this morning wasto sit down with people who are very intimately involved in the field of culture, and specificallywith organizations that work in the cultural and historical industry so that we can really get downsome nuts and bolts as to how to work better together. Because no matter what our individualorganization’s mandates are, we all have a similar goal in mind and sometimes what I find is thatwe are sometimes reinventing the wheel. On this small island we’re often stepping on eachother’s toes not intentionally, but sort of as far as scheduling. We don’t necessarily have the kindof conversations about what it is that we’re trying to accomplish that we should because quiteoften we find out almost accidentally the things that we share and the connections that can bemade as far as actually structuring programs in such a way that can have a much larger and moresubstantive impact in terms of our goal. So one of the things that we wanted to do this morningwas to start that conversation, and we’re very happy to have Ms. LeYoni Junos, who many ofyou know, who’s going to help moderate this conversation. But although at this point many of usalready know each other either by sight or by reputation or by face or both, I think it would bevery helpful this morning to just quickly go around the room and give an introduction again sothat we know who’s here and maybe what hat they’re wearing in this particular context. So whydon’t we start on this side.

01-00:02:44

Peets: Good morning again. My name is Patricia Peets. I’m the vice president of theBarbados Association of Bermuda.

01-00:02:53

O’Leary: Good morning, I’m Nicola O’Leary and I’m with the Bermuda NationalTrust.

01-00:02:58

DeGrace: Morning. I’m Bill DeGrace and I think this morning I am here for the WorldHeritage Site Committee.

01-00:03:05

Tannock: Good morning. Louise Tannock, Cultural Affairs Office.

01-00:03:08

Birmingham: Good morning. My name is Andrew Birmingham, I’m president of theHistorical Society involved with the World Heritage Site and also involved with Kim with theHistorical Heartbeats Lecture Series.

01-00:03:21

McDonnell: Good morning. I’m Ken McDonnell, and I represent the West IndianAssociation.

01-00:03:26

Bradshaw: Good morning. I’m Michael Bradshaw and I’m here from Bermuda FriendlySociety’s Association and I guess also the Uptown Market Association, Court Street group.

01-00:03:38

Brangman: Good morning. I’m Joanne Brangman, I’m head librarian for the BermudaNational Library.

01-00:03:42

Whalen: Good morning. Heather Whalen, Department of Community and CulturalAffairs, and it’s great to be here. Finally (laughter).

01-00:03:53

Ming: I’m Conchita Ming. I consider myself a dancer and a choreographer and I’m alsoa talent development specialist.

01-00:04:00

Pearman: Morning. I’m Shirley Pearman, I work with a number of organizations but I’mmentioned Emancipation Committee because I’m much involved with that, the African DiasporaTrail Host Committee as well as the Arts Consul.

01-00:04:21

Gorham: Good morning. I’m Laura Gorham, director of the Bermuda National Gallery.

01-00:04:26

Kawaley-Lathan: Good morning. Adrian Kawaley-Lathan and I’m with the Departmentof Community and Cultural Affairs.

01-00:04:32

Interviewer: What do you do there?

01-00:04:35

Kawaley-Lathan: (laughter) What don’t I do there?

01-00:04:41

Junos: Good morning, I’m LeYoni Junos and initially the invitation I received was in myprivate capacity and so I was coming here representing my own little foundation called the SallyBassett Foundation for Independent Research and Education, through which I’m doing researchand publishing. However, since that time, as of the 20th of August, I have taken up the post ofadministrator of the African Diaspora Heritage Trail Foundation which is a little offshoot fromthe Department of Tourism, and I’m finding that it’s very relevant to be here just on their behalfas well.

01-00:05:22

Interviewer?: (laughter) Kim Dismont Robinson, Community and Cultural Affairs.

01-00:05:26

Paygane: Good morning, I’m Tonet Paygane from the Filipina Association in Bermuda.

01-00:05:32

Gilkes: Hi, my name is Michael Gilkes and I’m here because Kim asked me to come(laughter). I work–I’m a cultural worker and have been for the last 40 or 50 years. I was at UWI,University of the West Indies. I travel a lot and I’m involved in every aspect of culture, as welike to call it.

01-00:05:52

Tucker: My name is St. Clair Brinky Tucker, I’m the co-founder of the St. David’sIsland Indian Committee.

01-00:05:58

Trott: My name is Irwin Trott, I’m the founder and managing director of the WarwickGombeys.

01-00:06:05

Johnson: I’m Nell Johnson and I’m a tour guide of the botanical gardens and I work withthe agricultural exhibition–and heritage exhibition.

01-00:06:15

Strong: I’m (inaudible). My name is Elena Strong and I’m the leader of (inaudible).

01-00:06:23

Scott: Morning, I’m Leona Scott, the education officer for Social Studies for theMinistry, and I’ve worked with a few of the organizations here in one capacity or another.

01-00:06:35

Clifford: Morning, I’m Sarah Clifford, I’m the education officer at the Commission forUnity and Racial Equality, and have a deep passion for the arts and participatory methodology.

01-00:06:47

Lyons: Good morning, Laura Lyons for the Bermuda National Trust.

01-00:06:55

Junos: OK, well, thank you everyone for your introductions. I’ve certainly heard somenames here that I’m not familiar with and people that I know I need to be in contact with like Mr.DeGrace over there (laughter). Just picking up from where Kim left off, talking about how weoperate in our own little world sometimes and we don't know what other organizations are doing,I’ll give you an example that I just experienced having just taken on this post. We have aconference coming up in the Bahamas, the African Diaspora Heritage Trail conference–it’s thethird conference that’s taking place. And in doing some research on the internet trying to findother similar organizations I discovered that there is an organization called ASWAD, whichstands for Association for the Study of Worldwide African Diaspora. And their conference isgoing on at the same time that our conference is going on, however their conference is going onin Barbados. And I thought, “How did this happen?” that, you know, this really–it seemed like avery well put together organization with very well-known scholars, and I said, “How did thishappen that this conference could be going on at the same time as ours?” And so I realized therewas a lot of work to be done just there, in finding out what was going on around the world withsimilar organizations and working together and complementing each other rather than schedulingthings that conflict and prohibit us from supporting each other and attending each other’sfunctions. And so that’s one of the places that I’d like to start off with as far as talking about howwe can work together, how we can–I would like some feedback from everyone as to how–whatdo we need to do going forward? How can we plan or set up a program that will allow us to beable to tap into what everyone else is doing and be able to work together and complement ratherthan just working in our own little world, in our own little bubble. And so that’s one of the thingsI think is really important that we look at. So I welcome any ideas from the floor, because I thinkthe purpose of this whole session is to come up with some concrete and conclusive ideas as tohow we can move ahead together.

01-00:00:00

Tucker: One thing–first of all, I would just like to suggest, it was mentioned yesterdaythat the Department of Cultural Affairs should have a larger staff and reading the newspaper on afairly frequent basis money’s no problem. (laughter) And I would just like to suggest that thestaff be increased and to have two or three people to deal with just this, coordinating everythingin one place. Because from our experience when we have a Native American festival on St.David’s we have to call the Corporation of Hamilton, call the Corporation for St. George’s,chairman of commerce to find out if our dates are going to conflict. And if we just had to make

one phone call, would save a lot of unnecessary problems because we don’t want to competewith anybody and we don’t want anyone to compete with us. Because what we’re doing is for thewhole island, not only for St. David’s community. What I would suggest.

01-00:10:32

Scott: I would support that from the sense of the ministry, because what you havesometimes is organizations will put on things that they want students to participate in, and theyoften complain about the lack of participation, not knowing that there could be three or fourthings that are being offered at the same time where schools pick and choose, and also they havetheir own functions that are going on. So you get all these conflicts because again, there’s nocalendar out there on what is taking place when.

01-00:11:14

F: There is a calendar–doesn’t Tourism do a calendar?

01-00:11:16

F: There is, but I don’t think there’s a comprehensive calendar.

01-00:11:20

F: And then there’s stuff on the internet. I mean, again people think they’re doingcomprehensive things so they don’t–

01-00:11:23

F: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. But it’s a bit sporadic and–

01-00:11:27

Brangman: Well, we do need a database with a calendar–years ago the library had thatlittle diary that we kept in the building and people used to come in to check to see whether or notthere was another event going on. But as time moved on and things became computerized peoplestopped writing in the diary so we don’t keep it anymore. But if we had a database where peoplecould go and check something on the internet, and something that you could add to–(overlappingdialogue; inaudible) one person adding to it, that anybody going in would be able to add to itnow. How you do that I don't know, but–

01-00:12:05

F: We have our technology expert in our department right now (laughter).

01-00:12:10

F: I just know that the Centre of Philanthropy on their website, they also have a calendarof community events. But is there something that maybe the Department could set up that wouldbe an online–someone would have to administer it, but–so that–because obviously tourism,education, everyone has their own inner calendar that they keep up to date, but the problem isthat you have to go to all those separate places. So if you had one comprehensive calendar thatyou have an administrator that organizations can check for themselves and add their own eventsthat the administrator would have to proof–but that would be my suggestion, is an online

database that people could–would be, you know, not party to one particular department or theother but it would be a collective calendar that one person would have to maintain.

01-00:13:03

M: Or the several as he was suggesting. Or several people, if that staff (inaudible).

01-00:13:09

F: Well, the thing is, is that you have one key person that would have to keep track ofeverything but every department would have to add in their–

01-00:13:17

F: If there was a clear procedure as to how you deliver the information, you know, atemplate to be developed so that everyone is administering the information so I just thinkstreamlining the process is really key otherwise it becomes a sort of monster task and I don'tknow that a coordination officer could manage the whole thing, you know.

01-00:13:34

Ming: Can I mention something–yesterday they were talking about cross-pollination andto me that is really important, getting people to think outside the box in terms of who you canwork with. And the example that I have is the fact that I was asked by the Department of Cultureto work with the Bermuda presentation at the Virginia Tattoo. Who would have thought thatConchita would be, you know, working with the military and types–but what an amazing–

01-00:14:04

F: Fusion, beautiful.

01-00:14:05

Ming: –fusion. It was so exciting and it just opened me up to, you know, a wholedifferent genre and for them to think, you know, this woman is crazy, but you know, maybe shehas some ideas for us. And so having those kinds of possibilities are really amazing. But againyou need to talk with a whole bunch of people and I’m thinking we’ve got 2009 coming up, andrather than it just being the committee talking about, well, what are we going to do, it almostneeds a large group like this and saying, you know, what kind of ideas could there be? Andthink, well, maybe I could work with so and so or so and so, you know, that sometimes just fourpeople on a committee just doesn’t do it (laughter).

01-00:14:47

F: So you’re thinking wider consultation.

01-00:14:48

Ming: Wider consultation, you know, around events just to see what can we all do.

01-00:14:54

F: That’s an excellent suggestion. And just to add a little bit because I happen to serve onthe 2009 steering committee, they are planning to do that, or to have the project manager do that

because of the importance of getting the people in the various organizations to contribute to andto have buy-in and think that, you know.

01-00:15:18

M: Could I make a suggestion, just by what you said? Could these committees beimplemented yesterday? (laughter)

01-00:15:31

F: The Bermuda Maritime Museum is already experiencing problems with 2009celebrations. We had this at St. George’s Foundation wanting to borrow stuff from the museumto go to Jamestown. And we love lending stuff out but the problem is, is that in 2009 we’re goingto be redeveloping our whole new exhibit that ties into the relationship of Bermuda and theAmericas and I know National Trust is probably going to be doing something and I’m justcoming in late, I only just started a year ago at the museum and so I haven’t had enough time tobe going out and talking to everyone, but we need to have a discussion so that we’re not allconflicting with each other and putting on the same thing because we don’t want repetition andthere’s so much room for different exhibitions and different things that are going on that we needto communicate and we need to know it’s–(inaudible)

01-00:16:26

M: I think the intent of the core committee of 2009 was to be able to strike thosenecessary connections, am I correct there?

01-00:16:32

F: Yes.

01-00:16:33

M: So that if you haven’t been reached yet my understanding is that–

01-00:16:36

F: You will be.

01-00:16:37

M: You will be.

01-00:16:39

F: That’s encouraging because timing is everything too. So even the most well-intentioned invitation to participate will be negated if it comes too late if people feel that theessential discussion, dialogue, and mapping out has occurred without that kind of mishmash ofbrainstorming. And I know it takes resources and it’s slightly more chaotic, but ultimately youemerge with a much more comprehensive, exciting, and very innovative plan, you know, as tohow you can move forward with all of these minds at it, you know.

01-00:17:06

F: Oh, absolutely.

01-00:17:08

F: And I would remind persons that if there’s something–if you’re organizing anythingthat you want school students to participate in, it’s advantageous to have it–teachers know aboutit, principals know about it before the beginning of the school year because you have toremember they mainly have the school year planned. If something just pops up in November orJanuary or February more than likely it’s going to be given second status, that it’s something Iwill look at if I have time. So particularly with that kind of celebration it’s real important thatideally if schools are expected to participate they know at least before they break in June 2008.

01-00:18:02

F: Yeah, yeah. No, the invitation has already been extended to Minister of Education.Was extended back in June for them to make the July meeting. We didn’t see anybody in July,but you know, teachers–I won’t make any comments because it went to the ministry and so I’mnot sure who they wanted to appoint to. And then we had a meeting August and again inSeptember. I was there in August; I wasn’t at the September meeting so I’m not sure if educationhas made it yet. But we will keep pushing because education’s critical to being a part of that,Maritime Museum’s–

01-00:18:38

F: Well, I will send an inquiry as to who has been asked to represent the ministry–

01-00:18:42

F: Please! If you do it from your end that will be great because we’ve sent the invitationalready and–

01-00:18:48

Birmingham: Could I just touch on the notion that Elena raised about a very importantpart of 2009? The very fact that the Bermuda Historical Society has Sir George Somers’ artifacts,we have the famous portrait, and the notion that items–and I’m on the Friends of St. Peter’s–thatthe bible and the chalice should go abroad is quite staggering. And the notion that people wouldeven suggest this, when it is our heritage here and the stuff should remain here, and the fact thatone or two minor organizations have suggested this go out of here is quite extraordinary.

01-00:19:37

F: I find that as well.

01-00:19:39

Birmingham: Quite extraordinary.

01-00:19:40

F: The last meeting–I know that there was much emphasis supporting where you’recoming from, that the artifacts relevant to our history be here and the focus is about us, and so–

01-00:19:53

Birmingham: Well, I don’t want to press this point too much but I think it should bemade loud and clear from this committee and the government that it would be very displeased,because I believe Bermuda artifacts have to get sanctioned to be sent abroad anyway.

01-00:20:07

F: They do.

01-00:20:08

Birmingham: And they certainly aren’t going from the Historical Society and I don'tknow what Elena’s position is, but I wouldn’t use the word “outrage,” but I would certainlymaybe one bit lower than that.

01-00:20:22

Strong?: Close to that. Yeah, I hear you and I 100% am with you and certainly theSteering Committee was 100% in support of your sentiment.

01-00:20:30

Birmingham: Let me say this about St. Peter’s–the bible and the silver, 17th centurysilver, has never left Bermuda in 400 years. So why should Jamestown have it for 2009?

01-00:20:46

F: Thank you, Sir Birmingham. Mr. Bradshaw? (laughter)

01-00:20:48

Bradshaw: Yeah. I want to make a comment on that, and I want to raise a different pointas well. A concern that I have about not sharing things is that perhaps sometimes when we don’tshare things with other communities we forget some of the other communities are communitiesin Bermuda. And I know sometimes when we’ve had discussions, and there was an outrageabout, for example, possibly siting the hospital at the botanical gardens. I personally wasn’toutraged because I can tell you that I didn’t feel the botanical gardens belonged to me, and Idon’t at this point and time feel that Sir John Somers’ bible, et cetera, belong to me. I’m talkingabout as representing certain groups in Bermuda. So we certainly have to see that we’re not onlyconcerned whether or not they go outside–I like for things to go outside for other people to knowabout them, so maybe we send photographs or we send something else rather than the bible. Butwe certainly have to make sure that there is enough dissemination of that within Bermuda forpeople to buy in and feel that it’s part of something that belongs to all Bermudians. And that’svery, very central, I think, and very, very important. And when I say all Bermudians I mean allresidents of Bermuda, going on to what I heard someone say earlier about, you know, peoplewho are here temporarily and take very much on Bermudian attitudes and I think that’simportant. But the point also that I want to ask is that I would like to hear or maybe invite theDepartment to ask each group to do a short little piece saying what their group is about and whatit is they have to offer. Because just sitting here–and I came here specifically for thenetworking–I’m finding out about things which would be useful to my group just by listening topeople. I never knew the Historical Society had various things like that. The Friendly Society isvery much focused on post-emancipation, that’s what it’s all about. So, you know, I’m listening

and hearing little things and saying, “Oh, well, I need to contact that person because it’s going to[be there?],” and so and so, so and so. What other people may not realize is that, what can theFriendly Societies offer? We offer space. I was saying to someone earlier, cheap space. So itwould be nice to hear what–

01-00:23:03

F: That’s actually great to know.

01-00:23:05

Bradshaw: Sorry?

01-00:23:06

F: It’s very good to know (laughter). Cheap space.

01-00:23:09

Bradshaw: Yeah, the Friendly Societies–

01-00:23:11

F: But also alternate venues and, you know, they’re relevant to–

01-00:23:12

Bradshaw: Yeah, they offer cheap space for community events, small community events,if you just know how to contact them. And, you know, I detected that people don't know that theFriendly Societies are very much public-oriented. There’s no secret oath and all the rest of it. ButI would like to find a–I guess, you know, what does this group do and what do they see as theirstrength? What can we offer? We offer–so it’s a we offer 40 old people, that’s something ofvalue for us to know.

01-00:23:41

Robinson: Dr. Bradshaw, one of the things that we were hoping to do with thisconference–everybody who, and I know some of the invitations also got lost in the mail(laughter) so sorry about that. But for all of you, you know, who’s invitation was lost in the mailor in cyberspace, whatever–yea, government server–one of the things that we included as part ofthe registration form was a request for information to be included in a cultural–sorry, a culturalnot database–directory. And one of the things that we asked for that registration form was thatpeople give information about what the holdings of their organization was. So like, for example,all these sorts of things–what kind of materials do you have available that would also beavailable to members of the public and/or other organizations? Because I–my main job isworking in the culture industry although I am new, I mean I’ve only been on for two years, but atthe same time there’s a lot of–I don't know for example all of what the Historical Society has orall of what the National Trust has. And most of the time–and I know that in some cases we don’teven know what we have, right? So some of this would require spending some time with yourorganization and sort of fully compiling maybe a list, and I know that’s not something you cannecessarily do overnight. But what I would say is if you need another copy of that form, if you’dlike to spend a bit more time filling it out it’s not too late because this is something that’s going

to be ongoing. But I would really strongly encourage you to provide as much information for usas possible because I think that sometimes having something in print like that where you canliterally refer to it and say, “OK, this is what I’ve got in mind and which one of theseorganizations has what I need so that I can go to his place,” I think it would be really helpful.And the only way that that’s going to happen is if you all bring that information to one centralspace. So we are trying to do that.

01-00:25:50

F: That kind of sharing of information I think was what Conchita was talking about withthe cross-pollination. And one other possible way of having people support and help each othercould possibly be that maybe once a year or twice a year representatives from the various entitiescome together and talk about what they’re doing, where they need support, what they have tooffer, so that we meet face to face, so that we dialogue and out of that can come a nucleus ofsupport as well. That hasn’t happened yet. To me what’s amazing is that we haven’t all sat downin the same room together. All of us are interested in promoting, preserving, celebrating aspectsof our culture, our traditions, our folk life, and that’s one of the reasons we were so passionateabout having this, is so that all of us who are a part of this come and sit and talk to each other anddialogue and say, “What are you doing, how can we get better, or what are the other things wecan do?” So certainly that’s another avenue that could possibly be considered.

01-00:27:03

M: But just as an observer of course, which is my role here, I’m struck as usual by theincredible organization of this island. But it seems to me that a lot of it is about things that arealready in possession of people. We’re talking about if you like cultural holdings–documents,you know, historical data and so on. What about the artistic creation and the connection that Ithink you need more and more between the people who are responsible for the creative activity.Rather than for rediscovering or maintaining what is already there, there needs to be somedialogue surely on the question of producing, creating. And my impression is that not a lot ofthat is going on.

01-00:27:55

F: Yeah, I was going to speak to that also. There’s a conspicuous absence for me ofyoung, cultural entrepreneurs who probably wouldn’t have much to put on a form–notnecessarily that organized, but the possibility and the innovation of what they bring and areforever creating is invaluable I think to the process and maybe with 2009 in view it’s anopportunity to bring those individuals together for a real brainstorming session. So it’s throwingout ideas, you know, to see what emerges. And you could punctuate, you know, every sort of fewmonths with another opportunity to come together a diverse group of people because really theyaren’t around–some are around the table, some aren’t. Some are probably working and they can’tcome, and I know that the process of inviting people is so tricky, you know, and you can’tinclude everyone but they just would bring so much to the table I think because it’s nonstop, youknow, and we have so many incredible arts on this island.

01-00:28:49

M: If you ask one question, I don't know what the answer is but it’s worth asking–howmany of us here at this table represent a creative effort that is going on at the moment?

01-00:29:07

Paygane: The Filipino Association, as a guest organization here in Bermuda, we createthe association of course to help other Filipinos who are here, but in our way of communicatingor participating to Bermuda culture we are happy to share our culture, some of our dances, oreven study some of your dances or some of your culture so we can go and work together in onefunction or anywhere that we can be better help to Bermuda culture. So that’s what we were herefor; we would like to participate and we could be also volunteers to other functions you’re goingto have. So if you can just call us we will be very happy and willing to help the community.

01-00:29:58

Bradshaw: And, Kim, sort of I want to go back because the point about holdings is takenand in fact I would rather suggest that you say to people, “What are your holdings?” Becausepeople may need to be persuaded to release something to the public. I can tell you right now, ifyou ask the Friendly Societies what we would release to the public we’d tell you very little. Andthat’s just because of the generation. And for us these are not holdings, these are things we use,these are things that mean a whole lot to us. We will on occasion show them to other members,but we have started showing things to the public. But I guess what I wanted to hear is exactlywhat this lady has said. I want to hear about the strengths that the organizations recognize inthemselves, not just the holdings. So I guess that’s something that’s not kept but I just want tomake sure that that gets [theirs?].

01-00:30:47

F: Why don’t we do that right now, actually?

01-00:30:49

F: Yeah, because I was going to suggest that we actually formulate some kind ofdecision here, that the steps that we take, concrete steps that we need to take going forward isthat we will continue to come together on a regular basis and we will share our calendars andstuff because we need to make some kind of concrete move as to how we’re going to get to thisdatabase and this sharing. I mean, we can say it as an idea, as a concept, but what concrete stepsare we going to take to get to it? So I think there’s no time like the present, as Mr. Bradshaw andKim has suggested, that perhaps instead of going around the room and just saying your name andwho you represent, to actually elaborate more on what your organization–yeah, what they do,what their aspirations are, what’s on their calendar (laughter) currently coming up. We canstart–(overlapping dialogue; inaudible)

01-00:31:57

Bradshaw: That’s what I just said! (laughter) That’s what I just said!

01-00:32:00

Lathan: Or can I even suggest, like even when we leave this room today, all of you cansend it to me. Like if we’re looking for administrator or coordinator or something like that I can

pass it on to them. If when you leave here today, even if you just start with a schedule of events,you can send it directly to me and I can take their scheduled events and I’ll have all the emailsfrom yesterday we put on that placard and I’ll send it out to all of you the second I get it fromyou, and send it twice because of the government server. And there we go–what’s that?

01-00:32:34

F: Alternate email.

01-00:32:35

Lathan: OK, I’ll give you my alternate email address too. You can–actually, get yourpens. Write it down now. I like now. You know, maybe this is youthful exuberance but I likenow. I want to see now. OK, AKLathan, which is spelled L-A-T-H-A-N@gov.bm, and I’ll giveyou my personal mail because I don’t trust–(laughter). Enough said there.

01-00:33:06

M: Sorry, what comes before Lathan?

01-00:33:08

Lathan: AK, yes. No dots, no thing. AKLathan.

01-00:33:15

F: Lathan, L-A-T-H-A-N, yes?

01-00:33:18

Lathan: At gov.bm. AKA. And my personal mail is H-O-T–this isn’t going to makesense, it’s another language, I’ll just tell you now. H-O-T like hot, G-W-A-I-L-O-H atgmail.com.

01-00:33:46

F: He’ll get this if you punch it in right (laughter).

01-00:33:49

Lathan: If you get it right. Send it to both, please. And when you leave here today sendyour schedule of events. Send your holdings; send a description. Send whatever you can, butsend it. And I’ll send it back when we get all the transcription information. At gmail.com.

01-00:34:05

F: And I’ll give you also–because unfortunately although we really, really want to keephim for longer, Adrian is only with us until December.

01-00:34:13

F: That’s by his choice, not ours.

01-00:34:14

F: Yeah, I know. We’re trying to change this, but Adrian’s theoretically with us only ‘tilDecember.

01-00:34:18

F: It sounds like you have a lot of work, Adrian. I don’t think you can leave.

01-00:34:20

F: But my email address, the non-government one, is bermudaculture – one word – atyahoo.com. So maybe CC in that one as well. bermudaculture@yahoo.com. Bermuda the wordspelled out, B-E-R-M-U-D-A Culture, bermudaculture, one word, at yahoo.com.

01-00:34:49

F: Can I ask a question? I guess all the departments really–I understand that this is reallyto get groups to network better, but there were a lot of issues that were brought up yesterday thatI would really hope that we would have an opportunity to put forward to the Minister orwhatever. I mean one of the things that was clear to me is that in talking about culture we have toseparate what is culture versus our expression of culture, arts as an expression of culture, and Ithink we need to make that distinction. And also, you know, are we going to start the dialoguewith education? You know, it was being said yesterday how education is so important of ouryoung people that, you know, we had the young people yesterday saying, “We’re very proud tobe Bermudian but we don't know what that is.” When are we going to, as groups, start–what kindof work can we all do as groups or individuals to help that dialogue go forward?

01-00:35:51

Bradshaw: A thought to that–I took that on board yesterday and I heard that too. And Ithink that maybe one of the things we should do is send some sort of expression, commitment, toAdrian and Kim as to something that we can do. Because I know I suddenly heard that andrecognizing that, as I said, people don't know what the Friendly Societies do–becoming moreaware of that, more sensitive to that–it made me sort of say, “Hey, I’ve got to go back and talk tomy people about coming up with something that we do that reaches out that exactly address–maynot be with the education department, but something that we can do at some level.

01-00:36:32

F: With the community.

01-00:36:34

Bradshaw: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

01-00:36:36

F: Actually maybe that’s something that should be added to the information that’sincluded in the cultural directory, have information about what we can do to help you. I don'tknow exactly how you’d word that, but along those lines maybe.

01-00:36:52

F: And I would ask organizations to keep in mind that what you have and what you canoffer to the school system. Because we have some organizations who readily have put in a formwhat they themselves as an organization–the resources they have and what they can offer toassist teachers in delivering the curriculum. And I’m talking about not just social studies, I’mtalking about any curriculum that’s being offered. So I think sometimes we need to look at whatwe can do to get students to participate rather than what can we do for students. Because we haveto keep in mind that I think we’ve done enough of them sitting back and listening to people. Ithink we need–there needs to be, and I know there are plenty of resources out there where if weopen them up we can bring young people in and have them actually do things, whether it’sdialogue over them, whatever they might be, actually use them or–because that’s the generationwe’re dealing with–a visual generation and a generation that likes hands-on.

01-00:38:22

M: Can I suggest that if the school is involved in this way and students are encouraged toparticipate in creative exercises, if there are programs–let us say there are creative arts programsin the schools–they need to be something more than an after school thing. They need to get creditfor it. This is hardly ever done.

01-00:38:45

F: Right. That’s what I’m speaking of. I’m speaking of things need to be offered thatencourage teachers to make it an extension of their lesson plans.

01-00:38:56

M: Part of the curriculum.

01-00:38:57

F: Right, part of the curriculum. Not just something extra, but it’s a part of learning.

01-00:39:01

M: I’d like to just interject–I know some things are being done even without the overall,I guess, permission of the Board of Education. My organization, the Warwick Gombeys, almoston a yearly basis I’ve been called out to various schools–elementary, high school. Just last year Ihad a presentation at Berkeley, one of the classes, during heritage month talking to the kids aboutBermuda Gombeys, you know, the history behind it and the importance and the significance whywe still do it today. And I also go to elementary schools. So my organization is making an effortin trying to reach the kids. My wife is a schoolteacher and I guess her networking–hercolleagues, you know, have heard that I’ve gone to various schools and therefore I get invites toother schools. I don’t mind doing that. I take time off from work. It’s not a paid thing. I do itbecause I love to do it. To be quite honest, I wish I could make this culture, you know, being afull time thing. In fact, I’ve spoken to Adrian one time before–I’m working towards that. AndI’m not looking necessarily for government to make it happen. I’m trying to make it happenmyself. You know, the gentleman talked about various creativity and I’ve spoken to Adrian onetime in an interview. My organization, me in particular, I’m looking to have a Gombey museum.And you know, I’m trying to put things in place to have that happen. Because I believe this is apart of my life. I’m an accountant by profession, but I find this more enjoyable to do, to be

honest. And you know, I’m not trying to negate what the cultural department is trying to do, butto be honest, in order for me to do this full time it’s also got to be financially viable for me to doso. I have a family and I have a house that I’m building. So if I’m going to make this into acultural slash economic benefit for me and my organization, then that’s the way I’m looking togo. My goal of my group is not only to share the culture here in Bermuda, but to take it overseas.You know, this far my trip has traveled several places–Caribbean, United States, South America,and to be quite honest, the last trip we had in Venezuela a few weeks ago–that was the first tripthat any organization per se has fully funded, you know, a huge expenditure to send my groupoverseas to share our culture. Most of our other trips we’ve had to either fund it fully or partially.You know, we don’t mind doing that. In fact that is sort of one of our creeds in our group, towork hard so that we can take this overseas and show the rest of the world what’s somethingspecial that we really have here in Bermuda. So, yes, in answering that question, I intend to havea Gombey museum. How fast that’s going to come? It depends on a lot of things. But I amworking towards that. And I’ll be glad to go to any school, go to any institution or business andshare our culture. I think last year I did a brief lunchtime lecture at the art gallery, and I reallyenjoyed that. So I’m open for anything, you know, to participate in any organization that I can.

01-00:43:14

F: And those are the things that would be in the directory? See what people would bewilling to do, organizations.

01-00:43:24

Broadbelt: I would just like to share what we do. My name is Dawn Broadbelt, and Irepresent Bermuda African Dance Company. And we do authentic material from different partsof Africa, mainly West Africa, and in March this year we did a pilot program that was sponsoredby Minister Dale Butler when he was in Cultural Affairs. I brought a gentleman, Bamba Bangor(sp?), from Guinea, West Africa. He actually resides in New York and he’s a monster drummerand dancer. The pilot program we did, he was here for three months and he worked with threeschools, which was Prospect, Paget, and Harrington Sound. The program was very well received.He worked with the music teachers teaching the students dance and drumming, and the wholeidea was to have the children participate in the Heritage Day parade. We had a very difficult timetrying to integrate this into the school system even though we tried to prepare it a year ahead oftime. We worked with Sean Hayward and the schoolteachers and it was very difficult integratingit, but we managed to pull it off. The children enjoyed it and they got a lot out of it. Thegentleman not only teaches dance and drumming, he also taught them about history of Africa,songs, and various things, and the children really, really participated and they learned a lot ofrespect for him, to the point where whenever they saw him in Hamilton they called him “BrotherBamba.” We tried to continue the program but we’re having difficulty trying to get fundingbecause we wanted to do another three schools. We went to the schools while he was here. Wedid a pre-program so that they could see what we have to offer. The teachers are very interestedin the program, but like I said, we need funding in order to bring it here. We, as the BermudaAfrican Dance Company, we don’t have a home. We’re looking for a place for a dance studiobecause we would like to do much more than just dance and drumming. Like I said, we’d like tooffer history and songs and it’s lots of other areas we would like to go into. And I just wanted tosay that these are some of the things that we do, and every other year we take a group of students

to different parts of Africa. This year we went to Ghana. Ghana we sort of adopted as our homeand every other year we go there we go to a village there called Depameti (sp?) and then weventure out to different parts of Ghana. We always bring someone every year to work with mydance company so that the material that we can do is always authentic, and we get costumesmade in different parts of Africa. So I just wanted to say these are some of the things that we doand lots of times we fund it ourselves, and we would like to be integrated with otherorganizations so that, you know, we can be better learned in the community. Even though we’vebeen around for over 20 years people still don't know we exist. But, yes, we are BermudaAfrican Dance Company. Thank you.

01-00:47:13

Pearman: One of the things that could possibly come out of this exercise is educatingeducators to the wider appreciation and understanding of what education is, so that thechallenges that you experienced with the music group, with your drummers–I’m aware of thechallenges that you had. And I know from my own personal experience that there are a lot ofgood things happening in the community but they can tend to get shelved or they have to takesecond place. And the thing is, it doesn’t have to be such an enormous obstacle if teachers knowwhat’s out there and can appreciate a broader sense of learning and then take the initiative tointegrate what is out there into their curriculums, not just necessarily waiting for a mandate fromsome place or the other, but to develop a curiosity themselves and a sense of investigation andthen inculcate that into their students and utilize the resources that we have here in Bermuda. Thefact that your students have gone to Ghana, that’s a wonderful experience. It should now then beutilized by the teachers and using the children to share that information. But I think basicallywe’ve got to help the teachers understand the importance of utilizing these resources and todevelop a sense of curiosity themselves and to appreciate that there’s a broader understanding ofwhat to be educated means.

01-00:49:20

F: Thank you, Ms. Pearman. And coming off of what Ms. Pearman is saying, brought meback to some of the things that our guest speaker shared with us yesterday, that the Communityand Cultural Affairs Department or the section of government must have a discussion witheducation, and the latter must be drawn into cultural policy. He says that education is whereidentity is deliberately constructed, and that education has sometimes worked to undo whatculture is trying to do. So on the back of what Ms. Pearman is saying, I would like to put forwardthat out of this forum that we should suggest that there should be a conference between theeducators and the cultural representatives.

01-00:50:09

M: I want to second that.

01-00:50:11

F: What she’s saying, that the educators must be educated–so I think one of the keythings that needs to come out of this is a decision to put that in motion. How we can do that, youknow, I can open (inaudible)–

01-00:50:23

Pearman: I would say though that must be done with an open mind, that people in thecommunity don’t always know what’s already going on in education, and so you have to comeback–it’s part of the problem.

01-00:50:33

F: Which is why we have to open–we have to all come around the same table.

01-00:50:37

Pearman: And I also want to make people aware that there are certain things mandated,particularly in the primary school, which takes up a lot of hours already. For instance, languagearts–they have to put in two and a half hours per day. Math, it’s about hour and a half, so thereyou’ve already got four hours in the primary school day. The rest of the time is between science,social studies, PE, health, music, art.

01-00:51:16

F: So we’re talking about the curriculum. We’re talking about addressing thecurriculum.

01-00:51:17

Pearman: So what I’m saying is if you want to pretty much integrate with each other,you have to think integration when it comes to education–not add on.

01-00:51:30

M: Yeah, not an appendage.

01-00:51:32

Pearman: But show teachers how you can use drama, how you can use art, how you canuse the resources you have in your teaching of the curriculum.

01-00:51:44

F: Right, and also changing the perception of what is acceptable.

01-00:51:48

F: Yeah, that’s what Shirley’s saying.

01-00:51:50

Pearman: Yeah. No, but what has been happening over the last few years is add-onsbecause people don’t come to education with the mindset that you have things and we’re justtalking about widening our instructional strategies.

01-00:52:03

F: Ms. Scott, can I ask you if we were looking at the possibility of integration, let’s say agroup wants to do that, what would be the process? Like who exactly would be the main contactperson? Who is it that we should get in contact with to try to make sure that that happens?

01-00:52:21

Scott: The Chief Education Officer. Yeah. And from there–because remember at the endof the day it’s the on-site administrator who’s the principal, who is responsible for what happenson site, within the parameters given by the Chief Education Officer.

01-00:52:41

Robinson: And what would be sort of a realistic timeline? Because I know sometimes forexample with cultural affairs people will approach us with an idea but they’ll approach us withthe idea just after we’ve submitted budget packages, for example, which means it’s not going tohappen for another year and a half, you know?

01-00:52:54

Scott: Our budget process is the same as yours.

01-00:52:55

Robinson: But I mean beyond budget, I don't know as far as–because education isdealing with a different calendar, whether there’s–

01-00:53:03

Scott: Our budget [and strength?] is the same thing. It kicks in April 1st and it endsMarch 31st.

01-00:53:10

Robinson: So I guess the main thing would be if it was something that we were trying tohave for the new school year, for example, for September 2008 for instance, it would have had tobeen in the 2007-2008 budget.

01-00:53:25

Scott: Which means that people would need to approach like, around June of the yearbefore essentially. Because I think that’s an important thing for people who are not ingovernment–right, if you want something to kick in next school year then it would definitelyhave to be in to us, should be before July of this year.

01-00:53:41

F: But even I think we’re talking beyond–

01-00:53:43

F: Leona, can I ask you a question? It’s in conjunction with what Mrs. Pearman has saidand what Kim is talking about. Where we could, or where people could possibly be looking atintegrating content into the curriculum, I’m not talking money so much–let’s say we’re talkingabout language arts at the primary school. You still need content to teach the skills, so I thinkMrs. Pearman was referring to using cultural content in some instances. Now how do we do that?How do the organizations and who do they approach to try and do that?

01-00:54:19

Scott: OK, the first step would be the officer in charge, and then if it means changing theactual curriculum then you have to put–then the officer working with persons would have to puttogether the changed curriculum and it has to go before the standing committee and they say yea,nay, or make modifications.

01-00:54:43

F: OK, so the office and then the standing committee.

01-00:54:44

Scott: And the standing committee only meets in October and March.

01-00:54:48

Johnson: Can I say something? (laughter) I don't know why I’m here, I told everybodyyesterday, right? But I do know why I’m here. (laughter) OK. This is supposed to be a culturalconference. Does the exhibition come under cultural?

01-00:55:12

F: I would think so.

01-00:55:14

Johnson: OK, does the Heritage [thing?] come under cultural?

01-00:55:18

F: Yeah.

01-00:55:19

Johnson: Well, we never heard anything about that yesterday.

01-00:55:23

F: In our group we did (laughter) (overlapping dialogue; inaudible).

01-00:55:30

F: We spoke about it; we didn’t want to share our information (laughter).

01-00:55:34

Johnson: OK, but I would like to talk about the exhibition first. Actually my opinion isI’ve always wanted this but nobody listens to me. I would like for the exhibition begin for ourheritage month and end with Heritage Day, and that’s what–I’ve been trying to get that done foryears and nobody listens to me. They always take it from the main month and that’s it (laughter).But from the exhibition side of it, I work a lot with the exhibition and I work a lot with theeducation office at the exhibition, and we go around to the schools, to the primary schools, wesend out a letter to the headmistress and they call us and they make a date set up and we go andwe talk to their assembly on a morning and get the children and the teachers involved in theexhibition. And we have found out that we are getting more children involved in the exhibitionthan anything, so we may not lose the exhibition like we thought we would because most of the

older people are dying out or they’re too old to enter anything, but these children are coming inand they are taking over. And how many of you go to the exhibition and look at the children’sexhibits? (laughter) But you will find that there’s a lot of Bermudians that don’t come. So nowthat we’re trying to get these children involved, the children will bring their parents. Because onetime when I was talking about the exhibition to a boy, he wanted to–I don't know what companyhe came from and he wouldn’t tell me, and I kept saying, “You’re trying to find out a lot ofinformation about the exhibition but you won’t tell me what it’s for.” So I told him about theexhibition and everything and I said, “Do you come?” He says, “No.” I said, “You know what?We lost that group but we’re going to get your children.” So we are very well trying to get thechildren to do the exhibition and to–

01-00:57:51

F: I would leave it in April because May is examination month.

01-00:57:54

Johnson: (laughter) Oh, May is examination.

01-00:57:59

F: Mrs. Johnson, I thought you were saying extend the heritage, period, to cover theexhibition in April and all through the end of May.

01-00:58:08

Johnson: No, no.

01-00:58:08

F: That’s not what you were saying?

01-00:58:09

F: She’s talking about (overlapping dialogue; inaudible)–

01-00:58:10

F: –and I thought it was a great idea.

01-00:58:14

Johnson: We have the heritage month in May, but I would like for the exhibition–wehave the exhibition usually the third week in April. And if that it the beginning of our heritage,we can have it there and then when May came around and the 24th of May, that’s where wefinish. So that’s where I would want to–(overlapping dialogue; inaudible)

01-00:58:39

F: So you’re extend heritage month to begin with the exhibition.

01-00:58:44

Johnson: Yeah, but not have the end of heritage month–finish that off at the 24th.

01-00:58:51

F: So then you’re going to have the heritage period starting with the exhibition and goingthrough to the end of May.

01-00:58:56

Johnson: Not the end of May! Not the end, May 24th.

01-00:58:59

F: I think that’s a good idea (laughter).

01-00:59:06

Johnson: May 24th is the Heritage Day.

01-00:59:09

F: I know, but is that going to happen? That’s what I want to know. Is the HeritageParade still going to happen?

01-00:59:16

F: Absolutely.

01-00:59:17

F: OK, that’s all I wanted to know. But I haven’t been told anything and I need to betold.

01-00:59:24

Johnson: We’re going to get these schools–

01-00:59:25

F: Sarah? Sarah, you wanted to say something?

01-00:59:28

Clifford: Yeah, I don’t want to eliminate the discussion on the heritage timeline. I justhad a thought about–just when we were talking about education and the educational process andI feel this sort of panic as we’re deferring to existing processes–essentially we have to, Iappreciate that there are things in place–but for me what is exciting about what has been a verytrying and difficult realization about our educational system and the pressure that our teachersare under is that with it comes possibility for new approaches. And the thought of being able tobe integrative in our approach towards curriculum is so exciting, you know, and weaving itin–not reinventing the wheel, but being very conscious that we have these Bermudian elementsweaved in throughout. And, you know, I know a case of a teacher who was very integrative andshe was penalized for it because it was considered too multicultural, and these are young teacherswho are finding they can’t be as expressive. And I think the idea of bringing people together isit’s chaotic, you know, and out of chaos comes order, but let it be wild and unsafe and kind ofrisky in dialogue and then we have to put it in place. But I think, you know, it would be a shamefor us to try and put it in boxes before we even know what it is, you know, and I think that’s part

of the process always. And yet I do know how much pressure teachers are under and I thinkrather than introducing them to the possibility it’s reigniting. Most teachers had these passions orhave had them, and they enter the career that they are in not for the money, goodness knows, butbecause they believed in what they’re doing. And often it’s been beaten out of them (laughter).You know, so it’s about saying, “You can be what you want it to be,” you know, and besupportive of that, and I think we have a great opportunity to support that process. But I knowthis isn’t about education.

01-01:01:06

F: And actually that’s an idea that can be adopted by the various cultural organizationsall throughout–start developing your material and your literature about what you’re doing andwhat you’re about and your history for our visitors, for our locals, for our students, and we’reexpanding our knowledge and we’re writing it down so that we have it in hard copy–

01-01:01:30

F: And copyright it.

01-01:01:31

F: And copyright it (laughter).

01-01:01:34

F: Thank you. Mrs. Max–

01-01:01:35

M: I’d like to just address that comment–

01-01:01:39

F: Can I–OK.

01-01:01:40

M: I’ve been doing that already for a few years, particularly when I do engagements forhotels, conferences, what we do–sure, I don’t mind. What we do–we would have a two-partsegment. We will perform for a brief moment and then we will pause and then I will take themicrophone and I will explain exactly what they have just seen, and then I will perform again.This time they will be watching for very specific points. So it’s a teaching lesson that I’ve beendoing–I’ve been doing that for a number of years and I do do that. Sometimes I send–like forexample we just came from Venezuela. I sent a history of the Gombeys over to the organizers tothe event which we played, and they also put that into their promotional brochure so that thepeople over there, when they saw us performing, they knew a bit about our history and what wewere actually doing. But it’s a valid point. I’m not sure if every Gombey troupe does that, but Iknow we do that.

01-01:02:49

F: I was just about to ask how the Gombey troupes, if they work somehow together or isit a very competitive thing? Because you’re talking about one culture–I’m just curious(laughter).

01-01:03:04

F: Leave that for later.

01-01:03:05

F: OK, OK (laughter).

[End Audio File 1]

Begin Audio File 2 Cultural Conference Saturday Part II.mp3

02-00:00:00

F: Mrs. [Maxwell?]? Mrs. Maxwell, you come on in.

02-00:00:04

Maxwell: Why is it so quiet?

02-00:00:05

F: I don't know either. Come on, grab that microphone and pull it in (laughter).

02-00:00:09

Maxwell: I don’t think I need the mic. No, I just wanted to offer something for culturethat I’m constantly being asked to do, and (inaudible) to back me up. But storytelling is very dearto me and it upsets me that Bermuda has lost something very valuable, (inaudible) Mrs. [Brent?]and I were talking about it yesterday. We can’t figure out why our folktales and our folklore hasbeen pushed–it’s just nonexistent. If you look on any shelf you won’t see a record of ourfolktales, and if you open any books, international books–the young gentleman over there,Angela Barry’s husband–(laughter).

02-00:01:08

M: Mr. Barry (laughter).

02-00:01:13

Maxwell: I think he could bear me out on this. If you look in any catalogue for folktalesyou won’t find Bermuda listed. And it’s been a very scary thing to me because it means thatwe’ve lost something and it’s probably the reason why we haven’t bonded. Because storytelling,fairy tales were so simple, good and bad, you know, clearly defined and you could understandthat if you did something stupid you were going to have to pay for it, even if it meant your(inaudible) just walked up, you know, the street. But Bermuda needed this, or needs this, and Iwant to be able to work with schools, with people–this is not just a children’s thing. Adults, Imean, in every culture the adults are involved as well. And we did [tellibrations?] a couple times

where we had–it’s an international activity–just the Thursday before Thanksgiving all over theworld. Are you familiar with tellibration, Mr. Barry?

02-00:02:30

Gilkes: Yep.

02-00:02:30

Maxwell: You are? Good. And we did it here–

02-00:02:34

Gilkes: I wanted to ask though, wasn’t there a publication available?

02-00:02:39

Maxwell: For what?

02-00:02:39

Gilkes: Bermuda folktales.

02-00:02:41

Maxwell: No.

02-00:02:42

Gilkes: Swear I’ve seen one, published here in Bermuda.

02-00:02:45

Maxwell: What you have seen is an article written by Elsie Cluse Parsons. In 1927 shedid something in the folk journal and she did all the islands of the Caribbean. And when shecame to Bermuda, for some–I don't know whom she interviewed, but it was miserable. Morefunny little sayings than stories. But I want to go back and see how she treated all of the otherislands because I have read all of your folktales–I mean folktales from all over the world, evenremote places, but we don’t have ours. And I’m saying that to say I brought up somethingthat–why I think it’s so significant. It tells you a lot about how people think and how they feel,and the story that I told the other evening about the talking skull–and I didn’t bring all of thedetails out, but this is what is so frightening about folktales if it’s not handled. In Africa thetalking skull, the main characters were the chief and a citizen, and of course the chief being theperson in authority, carried out the execution because the other character didn’t come up to themark. That was Africa. Then it went to the United States. Now I don't know who did this, butthis also tells you what happens with folktales. But in the United States the slave and–instead ofit being the chief it became the slave and the master and it became slightly derogatory, and just asubtle tone there where it was derogatory because it went to the South, which tells you about theculture. And in it the slave–the master cut the head off of the–beheaded the character. And thenin Florida, which was another interesting factor, the slave and the master were omitted but it wasa white man and a colored man, and of course the colored man talked too much so he had hishead cut off and it said colored people talk too much. That was in Florida. Are you with me tohow folktales–can you see what I’m saying, what can happen to folktales if we’re not careful?

Now it came–the Cluse woman, or Parsons woman, the only informant that I was able to–theonly story I was able to get from an informant, she also got a similar story about the talkingskull. The skull disappeared, the slaves disappeared because in 1927 we didn’t know we hadslavery and that wasn’t important to us. So there were two fisherman and nobody’s head got cutoff and the motif of hearing someone talking in the graveyard thinking it’s God dividing thesouls, God and the devil dividing souls, that motif stayed. Now that story came from Africa asthe talking skull came from Bermuda and the fishermen, and because Bermuda likes things tohappen–end happily, nobody’s head got cut off, there was no slave, no slave masters, and yougot–what I’m saying is we have to get our folktales, and I think Mr. Berry will agree with mehere and Joann might back me up a bit.

02-00:06:43

F: Yes, I will. Yes, ma’am.

02-00:06:47

Gilkes: There is an annual storytelling festival held in the Cayman Islands, in GrandCayman. Have you heard of Gimme Story?

02-00:06:56

Maxwell: I have nev–no, the only one I’ve attended is the one in [Jones Bar?] in theUnited States. But I think we should–you know–

02-00:07:04

Gilkes: You need to be in touch with Henry Mutu (sp?).

02-00:07:06

Maxwell: (inaudible) information from you?

02-00:07:09

Gilkes: Yes, I’d be happy to give it to you.

02-00:07:09

Maxwell: Because now we’ve been to the Caribbean–I’ve always wanted to go–

02-00:07:12

Gilkes: No, it’s worldwide, it’s not just Caribbean.

02-00:07:14

Maxwell: Well, the one in Jones Bar is as well. And we need–if we could pull peopletogether with stories–because they’re simple but very effective, and you know if you rememberyour fairy tales, good and evil–so if you grew up with good and evil you knew that if you werestupid something happened to you. You know, your values were done in that and so I would liketo–that’s my passion. So anyone who’s willing to help me to reactivate this, I’m (inaudible) I’lljust sit there and tell you what to do, you know? But we definitely–before I leave the face of this

earth, young people, they need to hear–you know, if drugs, you know, it gets in there–you takedrugs, what happens to you, by way of another character doing stupid. You see? OK, thank you.

02-00:08:19

Gilkes: I hear what Mrs. Maxwell is saying, but I think we need to sort of integrate thismore into the education system.

02-00:08:27

Maxwell: It can, that’s no problem.

02-00:08:29

F: That’s what I want to speak to.

02-00:08:31

F: We need to find you a writer.

02-00:08:32

Gilkes: And I remember some years ago, the Western Association brought in a companyfrom North Carolina called Carpetbag [Teller?], and what they were promoting was what iscalled collaborative theater where they were utilizing all these sort of stories and creating littleplays and dramatizing these stories. And that could be married into the education system.

02-00:08:56

F: Well, the arts officer has already put forth professional development to that aspect asfar as offering PD to teachers as to how the arts, whether it be music, storytelling, or theater, canbe used as an instructional strategy. But he has the difficulty, like all of us have difficulties,getting teacher time and that’s the problem. But what I want to elaborate on what Ms. Maxwelljust said, there is a need for more children’s books in Bermuda. What I initiated–and I want tosay Mr. Trott’s wife is one of the authors–we started putting together what we called a base text.I don’t like calling it a textbook because it’s not a traditional one, but for P1, 2, and 3 based onBermuda we worked in coalition with Macmillan. That should be coming out shortly. But what Iwould like to see this start, I would like to see spin-off stories, little stories for kids, because wetend to–most of our books are geared towards the older student. And I would like to see spin-offbooks come from these three books, which are just–the books are based around three Bermudafamilies and it’s enough in there that you can get spin-off stories being developed on a specificthing that is happening where. And when it’s released, that’s how I’m going to release it, as achallenge out there. But at the same time, I think what does happen, people tend to write storiesand just go ahead and get them published and then get angry when the school system doesn’t butit. They need to run things by us, not only because sometimes it can be poor editing and youdon’t want to put things in the system like that, where people don’t want to invest in an editor.And they need to see the importance of not only providing local materials but local materials ofgood quality. And it’s not a waste of time to invest in an editor. That’s what people need tounderstand.

02-00:11:37

F: I agree with you.

02-00:11:38

M: But it’s a funding thing again, you know, like if they have the funding to invest in aneditor then that’s something that all of us have to look into.

02-00:11:44

F: And maybe all of us can support the arts officer and write letters and let people knowthat we believe this has huge value and that maybe teachers’ time is less effective and lessefficient if it isn’t going towards these very elements that we’re holding up as being the way ofthe future, the way of moving forward, you know? It would be such a shame for that to get lost.

02-00:12:03

F: Didn’t Bermuda have some kind of writers collective that was supporting thepublication of local works? Can someone lend to that?

02-00:12:14

F: I think the formal writers collective is no longer in existence but there are a number ofgroups that right now are sort of working towards a loose version of that right now. There’s ayoung lady named Sheena Daniels, I think, that’s formed her own group. She also participated inthe writer in residence program that we just hosted. And there’s hopefully a group that’s going tobe coming out of that as well.

02-00:12:40

F: Right, and are these groups working with the Department of Education? Are theyaware of each other’s–

02-00:12:47

F: I would say right now they’re working with Cultural Affairs, but see, that’s part of thereason why Cultural Affairs and education need to work together again as well. Because I wouldimagine even the whole mandate of the folk life post, which was new–it only came on two yearsago–was to work towards more cultural publications. And so that’s something that I’m trying togo in that direction. But, yeah, we need to talk (laughter).

02-00:13:13

F: Yes, Mr. Smith.

02-00:13:15

Smith: Yeah, I think folk life is extremely very important to Bermuda, but I would alsolike to suggest that we draw characters from our history. There are a lot of characters in ourhistory you can actually write stories about and put it together in a compendium and publish that.And that will, I think, pique–sort of stimulate people’s interest in our past and our history, andthe individuals who have actually, you know, figured in our history.

02-00:13:46

F: There is a plan for that actually, through the St. George’s Foundation. In talking withthe education officer there is a plan to highlight people and do like, a day in the life of, or youknow.

02-00:13:57

Smith: Yeah, you’ve got people like Dan Spores (sp?) who was a pilot in the 1820s andthere’s a story in the Gazette, the (inaudible) Gazette about him, about his heroism and–writesomething like that. There’s quite a bit in our history, about these characters.

02-00:14:14

F: And we’ve done that before with–the Department’s Emancipation Committee doesthat, the annual emancipation performance is usually based on a local story as well.

02-00:14:24

F: Yeah, always.

02-00:14:26

F: And how do we go about getting that into a printed format that then filters into theschools, that is of the standard that the Education Department would want the students to beinfluenced by?

02-00:14:41

F: Well, yeah, the first step is to know what is the standard, right? So that people aren’thaving to backtrack having already produced–

02-00:14:45

F: Well, when I said standard I’m just mentioning–she mentioned poor editing.

02-00:14:48

F: Yeah, no, no, no, I mean–but I think it is about saying–you know, knowing what therequirements are and then you can work with that, you know, because the last thing you want todo when you’ve completed a project is trying to rework it and finding that there’s no audiencefor it, you know. So that would be helpful I think, just to identify the–

02-00:15:03

F: What a couple people have done, and I would say a couple–they would come by theoffice and sit down, bring a draft, sit down with us, and say, “OK, what level do you think this isappropriate for? Is it something you can use? Would you like me to make some modifications,”or, you know? And that–so when it comes out they already know that we are planning to buyclass sets, it could be something like that. But it’s that conference–

02-00:15:40

F: Right, that has to take place. OK, I think we only have how much time left?

02-00:15:45

F: Well, we finish at noon, so.

02-00:15:49

F: Right. So in just wrapping up how we’re going to move forward from this conference,I have a few points that I would like to put forward to you for something that we can carryforward, something concrete that we can do. The first thing that came out was that we need to besharing each other’s information and the dates of our events and whatnot, and I just want toreiterate that everyone around the table and the organizations they represent will make acommitment to sending their dates for any functions that they’re having for 2008 into Mr.Adrian here, and into Kim’s email address. And those of you who need to hear that again, youcan get it from me. But that is the first commitment that I would like to see coming out of thisconference. Also that we make a commitment as a body to meet again in, say, three months timeto–I don't know how everybody feels about that, but to just gauge what’s happened in the lastthree months. Are we making progress? You know, are we moving forward successfully fromthis conference or are we–was it just another conference without any forward momentum? Iwould suggest sometime in February perhaps we could meet again as a group. The imperative,the must-have of integrating culture with education has been a very strong point that has beenmade at this forum, and I would like to put forward that we should have some kind of similarmeeting of the minds and frank discussion between the elements of culture and education, andthese things that we’ve been talking about need to be thrashed out. We need to come up with aconcrete plan how we can tackle this integration. It’s been talked about for years and years andyears but yet we still seem to be hearing the same issues and the same problems. One of theexamples, I would like to give a person, Bermudian, very accomplished percussionist by thename of Keith Caisey–had come back to Bermuda from Australia after being years in Australiaand having years and years of experience teaching in institutions in Australia and doingnumerous recordings for various films and being highly respected. He came back to Bermuda,tried to get his teaching into the school system here. He tried to get into the Bermuda College,but he was not respected because he did not have some kind of degree or piece of paper. And soone of the things that came out, I heard yesterday, was do we only respect certain levels ofeducation that are sanctioned by the west? How do we actually value our tradition-bearers thathave the experience, a wealth of experience and knowledge from that experience rather thanfrom a degree or Master’s or PhD? This is just something I’m throwing out there. So all of thesethings need to be–I feel that what I’ve been hearing at this forum–need to be thrashed outbetween education and culture. Do we need to change some of the way that we value ourtradition-bearers? And so I think some kind of culture/education conference needs to take place.Because we’re all here representing culture, basically–we’re sharing and talking, but the talk, thedialogue needs to go further and it needs to happen between those people that are in the positionsthat can make it happen. Everyone’s quiet (laughter). And also the youth–the fourth point is thefact of the youth, which ties in with education. But in this instance rather than us educating theyouth, actually having the youth involved and putting forward their ideas, what’s relevant tothem, and being able to listen to that and factoring that in as well–and that could be part of thesame type of conference in sharing. Also another point, and I’ll stop after that and let you guysinterject–is that we’re living in a technological age and how do we come up to speed to that, tobe able to reach and influence the youth? And I was talking with Kim, I was asking her if wehave a website–Cultural Affairs has a website where a lot of this information can be shared and

whatnot and there were some challenges there. (laughter) And so what I was thinking when Iheard that is–I mean hearing over and over and it’s happening in tourism as well that thegovernment system’s breaking down, that we’re having problems–and perhaps we need to takeownership of such a website and, you know, we need to take responsibility and not just rely ongovernment to monitor and do these things. So I’m just throwing all of this out here because, youknow, government is very bureaucratic (laughter). And a lot of times it’s very difficult to getsimple things fixed–like the wrong spelling of your name on the phone when you dial yourextension it goes to someone else and your name is spelled wrong and you call ITO and just say,“Can you correct that?” and it doesn’t happen for months and months and months. Whereas if Iknew how to do it I could just go in and fix it. So do we really want to be held hostage to thistype of (laughter) bureaucratic procedure? And so I think it’s about us taking ownership as welland coming up with ideas that can work instead of leaving it to a bureaucratic system to takeeons of time to fix.

02-00:22:08

M: That is “we” being whom?

02-00:22:11

F: Us, the Culture–the culture people, yeah.

02-00:22:13

F: I just want to make people aware of the skills of our young people. And this is oneexample–we have a digital history course offered at S4. It’s really took off at Cedarbridgebecause of the technological expertise of the teachers there. And one example was–and I think itcame up in the last Diaspora meeting–where her intro to Africa class along with some of themedia students went to Africa last year for two weeks, Senegal and I forget the other place. Theyvideotaped it, they came back, they made a documentary, edited it, and they were hoping to beable to show it at the Diaspora conference this year which is unfortunately not here. But whatI’ve asked her to do, I said we need to showcase what our students can do. She needs to have apublic showing of that, because that’s only one example. They have a number of things that havebeen produced over the year. When the Amistad came over here they had a documentary of thatwhere they actually interviewed persons who were descendants from that. They took tapefootage of the boat coming in, and you know, they’ve produced several, several documentaries,films.

02-00:22:41

F: And they’re not available for people to see, like on a website or anything you mean?

02-00:23:47

F: A website was supposed to have been developed–

02-00:23:51

F: Government (laughter).

02-00:23:51

F: (inaudible) bureaucracy. I’ve looked at possibly–when I last spoke with them theysaid they were developing their own. Now that was over a year ago. I don’t see where that hasreally, but–

02-00:24:08

F: Was it submitted to the film festival was the question?

02-00:24:10

Scott: Yeah, what about the CITV?

02-00:24:11

F: Leona?

02-00:24:13

Scott: What about CITV? Because they’re looking for material, and I’ve seen twosamples. I visited with Rosemary–

02-00:24:20

F: Matthews.

02-00:24:21

Scott: –Matthews and Lisa DeSilva earlier this summer because we wanted to use someof that during our emancipation this year. And I’ve seen some of the work, and it is good, whatthe students did. So CITV and Sturgis Griffin , he has his studio right up there in Barkley. That’sa possibility because they’re looking for things.

02-00:24:40

F: (inaudible) things on tourism. They’ve done, over the years, a number of things.

02-00:24:46

F: But see, this is all a part of hopefully what will come out of this gathering, is thewhole change of mentality of sharing. If you’ve got something you don’t keep it, you–even if itmeans you’ve got to go out of your way to find out, but hopefully out of this exercise people willrealize you’re not doing things in isolation. The whole concept, the philosophy behind usbecoming a people is that we share so that you don’t go to Africa, to Senegal, takephotographs–I’m sorry, photographs as well as film–and wait for it to be shown in the schoolauditorium. You just have the mentality that we did something, we went somewhere, ourcommunity must know. Where can it go to? Bermuda National Gallery on Wednesdays, theyhave a program. Up at the Maritime Museum on a small screen where people come.

02-00:25:52

F: Friendly Society has space, they said, to show things (laughter).

02-00:25:56

F: It’s a case of changing a mindset.

02-00:26:00

F: It is, and then that’s a page from–

02-00:26:02

F: –to share. (overlapping dialogue; inaudible)

02-00:26:05

F: –Mr. Tucker’s point is way down on number six. Can we sort of do 1A and then one?The whole business of staffing. Staffing. And as Mr. Smith said yesterday, that sometimes in ourgroup that if we want to get information to people it’s not a case of circumnavigating but you canexplain it because you said what it was, getting information to the top in our group yesterday.

02-00:26:48

Smith: Oh, yeah. Have a presentation, you know, get a group together, and they come upwith some sort of report and then they make a presentation together, you know (overlappingdialogue; inaudible) issues and the cabinet will listen. But that is the way to go (overlappingdialogue; inaudible)

02-00:27:05

F: It has to be presented, yeah.

02-00:27:08

Smith: –that is the (inaudible).

02-00:27:12

F: May I add one thing?

02-00:27:13

F: You mean a report from this group? Can you get everybody to sign it? (laughter)

02-00:27:19

Clifford?: Or we could do an amazing audio/visual presentation where you have thefaces of all those in support, you know? That could be. But I just wanted to add one thing to thesummary, was to be sure to include those independent artists and musicians who aren’t part of anorganization or who have been so fed up with the bureaucracy of an organization that they’veleft. And I think you’ll find that young people, particularly young entrepreneurs, focus on audio/visual arts. It is a medium where you are reaching young people, and it does need to be broughtto the table and used in every way that we can I think, and a presentation is a great way toshowcase those skills. I mean, my 16-year-old sister could put together a database, you know, ina few hours (laughter). The skill set that these young people have is phenomenal. And youngpeople aren’t afraid to share. They make a video of Cup Match and it’s on You Tube the nextday. It’s amazing what’s out there, you know, in terms of celebrating and sharing andshowcasing. So I think we want to mirror that.

02-00:28:11

F: And so basically the status quo, the government has a lot that they could learn fromthe younger generation who are just able to–

02-00:28:19

Clifford: But unfortunately the younger generation doesn’t know that there’s careeropportunity or value, or the opportunity to indeed be paid for these passions, you know, and Ithink that’s what we’re hoping to facilitate through this dialogue too, is–I think Laura spoke tothat yesterday, wanting to know that you can embrace this as a career and get by in Bermuda andit doesn’t always have to be a second consideration.

02-00:28:40

F: If I could put my two cents in–as Shirley did say, we have a lunchtime series. As theNational Gallery we have a venue, and what we would like to know–would like you all to knowthat it is a great place for a poetry reading or telling tales or having a concert. And we have aWednesday lunchtime series every Wednesday and Mr. Trott was terrific in giving apresentation. But what we need to know is who is willing and who can put together apresentation? A number of people in this room have given terrific presentations. Some people area little scared of that but they want to get word out, but it’s a very informal and terrific, youknow, venue to be able to–so if we want, we can maybe have a catalog of, you know, who’sinvolved in this, but also maybe what they can offer, one for the schools, but two, also for publicpresentations. That would be helpful and, you know, and knowing who is a venue–we are avenue and are very happy to talk to anybody about doing either a lunchtime or that.

02-00:30:00

Birmingham: Could I just make one comment about history and education? About threeyears ago every secondary school child in Bermuda got a book called Five Bermuda: FiveCenturies. Now we seem to be operating a vacuum because if 1,000, 2,000 children got that bookthey would have learned a lot about what we’ve been talking about today. So what I’m saying isthere’s a disconnect here between what we’re doing–what happened to that 2,000 copies in thatwonderful book? I mean, that is the basis of Bermuda history.

02-00:30:33

Scott?: Can I explain that? What every child received from the Bank of Bermuda Trust,they sent us strict instructions that that book was not for school use; it was for their individualpossession, for them to do as they will, which meant they could regift it to someone else. Sowhat I had to do, I had to buy a second set and–so school sets are in the schools and it is beingused.

02-00:31:04

Birmingham: This is where we should get (inaudible) and ask them to open up the bookfor Bermuda.

02-00:31:10

Scott: (overlapping dialogue; inaudible) that was their personal gift, not to be used atschool.

02-00:31:12

Clifford?: All these products that we have, if they’re not in motion it’s futile. It’s a totalwaste of time and the process is flawed.

02-00:31:18

F: LeYoni, may I ask–I’m sorry, Nikki, you go ahead.

02-00:31:22

O’Leary: Just following on from the education, and the history and education, I have togive great credit actually to the Ministry of Education for including Bermuda history, and notonly Bermuda history, Bermuda environment throughout the curriculum years. And I want to saythe Ministry and highlight them in particular because the private schools following externalcurricula don’t devote like the Ministry has in their curriculum to our own history and our ownenvironment. And our environment influences our very culture as well; it’s part of the context ofsetting that scene. And so as we talk about education and dialogue with the Ministry we need toalso be very mindful that just less than half of children are in private schools in Bermuda, someoverseas, and we need to have dialogue there as well.

02-00:32:16

Junos: That’s a good point.

02-00:32:17

O’Leary: Because heritage is not one month out of the year, it is not, right? And it goeson continuously in our families, in our social events. It goes on continuously and so we need tobroaden that dialogue as well. But full credit to the Ministry for being inclusive. Yes, there arethings that can be improved upon. Let’s not forget private schools as well.

02-00:32:42

Junos: I want to ask Mr. Smith–go further with Mr. Smith.

02-00:32:47

Smith: Well–I won’t take long. I just want to draw our attention to, you know, one of theissues we talked about yesterday in the group I was in, and it was Bermuda Day changing toNational Heroes Day. I gave some wrong information during the discussion, yes, because it’sone of my senior moments. I said that it’s stemmed from the 1981 strike, you know, the generalstrike. It didn’t. So what I’m going to do now is–it’ll only take a short while. I’ve done researchon this and the background, history background to the Bermuda Day. In 1978 the RoyalCommission appointed to conduct an inquiry into the 1977 civil disturbances in Bermuda,submitted a document on its findings to the government. The report, entitled the Piff (sp?) Reportoutlined the immediate causes of the unrest and the long-term contributory factors, and includedthe list of recommendations for the remediation of Bermuda’s most serious problems. One ofthese recommendations was that steps should be taken, bring the people of Bermuda closertogether, and that’s a main thing. And that one way of doing this was to expand a program ofevents for the 24th of May celebrations in such a manner as to reflect the diverse heritage of theislands. The spin-off to this recommendation was the staging of the first Bermuda Day Parade on

the 24th of May, 1979. OK, so that’s the historical perspective of it. I know concern wasexpressed yesterday about changing it to National Heroes Day and people made the point that,well, you can set another day as National Heroes Day. But the idea of Bermuda Day was to bringpeople together, unite people, and if you change the title that might have a negative effect.

02-00:34:44

F: As well as the fact that Mr. Reginald Ming was very much the momentum behind theBermuda Day Parade, and if anybody knows or remembers Reggie Ming, you know what pro-Bermudian he was. So I mean he was a hero right there.

02-00:35:14

F: So you’re supporting the change of the name to National Heroes?

02-00:35:17

F: No, I’m saying that–

02-00:35:20

Junos: She’s saying that the day came out of a hero (laughter). That’s what it soundedlike.

02-00:35:28

F: No, no, no. I’m saying don’t take away from something that it was (overlappingdialogue; inaudible) establishing.

02-00:35:40

F: Can you clarify what you’re recommending then? Because I’m not clear.

02-00:35:44

Birmingham: Why it should keep the title.

02-00:35:46

F: To Bermuda Day. (overlapping dialogue; inaudible)

02-00:35:51

Junos: Based on the history. (overlapping dialogue; inaudible). Mr. Smith, you mightwant to do a proposal to Cabinet like you mentioned earlier (laughter) since you’ve got thehistory.

02-00:36:09

M: We’ll all sign it.

02-00:36:10

Junos: And we can all sign it (laughter).

02-00:36:16

Smith: They might know me and let me in, right?

02-00:36:19

Junos: No, no, to write–just write the proposal and argument for.

02-00:36:26

F: May I ask–Mr. Smith, earlier you recommended that there be a presentation toCabinet based on the outcome of this conference and the recommendations. And I wanted toknow if you were prepared to work on doing that presentation and if anybody else was preparedto work with Mr. Smith on the presentation?

02-00:36:43

Smith: Well, I’m going to be away in October.

02-00:36:45

Junos: That’s OK. (overlapping dialogue; inaudible)

02-00:36:48

F: I just wanted to know who’s interested in working on a presentation to Cabinet–OK.Sarah. (overlapping dialogue; inaudible)

02-00:37:10

F: I think that that recommendation by Mr. Smith would help to address some of theproblems that we raised in all of our discussion points during the three days that we’ve beenmeeting. We’ve made recommendations over and over and they don’t go far. And how do we getthem to go further than where they’re going thus far? And so Mr. Smith’s recommendation thatwe do something that goes directly to Cabinet might address and having to hear that there areother sides to the coin, you can’t just–hold on a second–you can’t change, we can’t changepolicies without presenting Cabinet papers, I believe, right? And why should changes happen toour history and our culture without proper channels of consultation and Cabinet papers beingestablished maybe, or introduced. You know, these are key things that are part of our culture andare part of our heritage and we just change them.

02-00:38:18

Junos: And because they’re not put in the context–we talked about context before.They’re not seen in their context.

02-00:38:23

F: Through our days of discussion that we’ve had, Mr. Smith’s suggestion of apresentation to Cabinet means that the whole host of things, the youth programs, the need for allthe ideas that we have listed in reaching out and strengthening who we are as a culturalorganization, needs to be put before Cabinet so that they can understand our focus and our visionand our direction, and strengthen what they do as Cabinet ministers and the government, andstrengthen what we do as government workers.

02-00:39:00

F: That’s why I was asking who’s willing to work with Mr. Smith so that we can makethat presentation to Cabinet that comes as a result of this cultural conference. The conferencedidn’t just have a meeting and talk, but we have recommendations that we want Cabinet to be in.Yeah, absolutely.

02-00:39:15

Junos: OK, Mr. Bradshaw has had his hand up for a while. We’re going to have himfirst, then Sarah–

02-00:39:22

F: Then Laura.

02-00:39:24

Junos: Laura, and then who’s going to go last because we do have to wrap up. Yes, andMrs. Tannock is going to wrap up after that. So we have Mr. Bradshaw, Sarah, and–I’m sorry,Laura, and then Ms. Tannock.

02-00:39:44

Bradshaw: My concern is that when doing a lot of talking you put, I think it was anumber of recommendations, resolutions, et cetera, nobody moved them. I didn’t know if youwere moving them.

02-00:39:55

Junos: I was trying to, but.

02-00:39:59

Bradshaw: So what I’m saying is let’s get back to it. Because you had moved one earlier.[Channing?] had seconded it.

02-00:40:05

Junos: Yes, (laughter) and then it went off on a tangent, yeah.

02-00:40:06

Bradshaw: Without discussion (overlapping dialogue; inaudible)–

02-00:40:07

Clifford: We need more dialogue.

02-00:40:08

Bradshaw: –so otherwise we’re going to walk away from this meeting, and I’m sorry,I’m not going to know how people think about various things. You said meet again in February. Idon't know if the majority of people agreed to it or not. So we need to maybe go back to theserecommendations–

02-00:40:20

Junos: Yeah, I did ask for some feedback but everybody kind of was looking, justlooking.

02-00:40:24

Clifford: What I think, it’s a testament to the fact that we want to keep the dialoguemoving. I think it’s a little premature for a presentation.

02-00:40:30

Bradshaw: No, but my point is whether or not we want to keep the dialogue going, I’mgoing to go away from here. I’ve got other things to do. So I wouldn’t know whether or notwe’re meeting in February. So I need to know where we are on these resolutions. My suggestion.You know, otherwise you’re wasting some of my time.

02-00:40:48

Junos: OK, do you just want me to go over them briefly?

02-00:40:51

Bradshaw: That’s my suggestion. You’re the moderator, you make the decision.

02-00:40:53

Clifford: Well, we could get the note sent to us even by email capturing (inaudible).

02-00:40:57

Junos: I mean, what I was trying to do was come to some specific decisions as to how wewere going to move forward rather than just it ending up in a report as a recommendation. That’swhat I was trying to do.

02-00:41:11

F: The meeting (inaudible) helpful right now, Dr. Bradshaw?

02-00:41:14

Bradshaw: I think so because I think there are a number of these resolutions, I’m justsaying, yeah, let’s get something.

02-00:41:17

F: We can [date?] it so that we have another pool together.

02-00:41:21

Junos: In February, mm-hmm.

02-00:41:25

F: I don’t have a calendar, but if anyone can help out.

02-00:41:27

F: With [the February?] conference we just need–

02-00:41:30

Junos: No, it’s not going to be a conference, it’s going to be a follow-up meeting.

02-00:41:33

Clifford: Yeah, because before we can present to Cabinet I think we need to have–

02-00:41:36

F: We’d still need to meet.

02-00:41:37

F: We still need to meet. And the committee that the subgroup that’s willing to work onthe presentation would need to have put some stuff together then present it to the larger group,and make the request for a presentation to Cabinet. So Cabinet’s going to tell us where we canmake the presentation.

02-00:41:54

Clifford: Might be penciled in next year sometime.

02-00:41:56

F: Well, with the meeting can you just say February but get an email to everybodyto–what is the preferred time for the majority of people because there were people who reallywanted to attend this but the timing was not good for them. There’s an alternate–

02-00:42:12

Junos: Should we say the first week of February and then send you a specific date?

02-00:42:18

F: On Saturday morning?

02-00:42:20

Junos: Yeah, do you want it to be on the weekend? Yeah, what do you prefer?

02-00:42:29

F: OK, a Friday afternoon?

02-00:42:31

F: We all have calendars in our bag, sorry. (overlapping dialogue; inaudible)

02-00:42:43

F: We’re going to look at our folk life calendar here.

02-00:42:44

F: If you just ask people, just get some feedback from everybody that we want to meetagain.

02-00:42:53

Junos: Sorry, is three months too long?

02-00:42:55

F: Six months–well, the year is almost finished.

02-00:42:59

Clifford: I’m just worried the momentum dies down.

02-00:43:00

Junos: October, November, December. Oh, sorry, January–it’s four months away. Thisis–October, November, December, January. OK, January (laughter).

02-00:43:10

F: So we’re looking at January.

02-00:43:11

Junos: Yes.

02-00:43:13

F: I don't know if you want to do the second week in January, the third week in January.

02-00:43:16

F: I’m going to suggest Wednesday evening, January 16th. (laughter)

02-00:43:23

Junos: That’s what we want to hear (laughter).

02-00:43:25

F: 6:00 pm Wednesday evening, January 16th. (overlapping dialogue; inaudible)

02-00:43:37

Junos: No, that is the third Wednesday next year. Second and the ninth and then 16th.OK.

02-00:43:49

F: OK, hold it, hold it. What did we say? Wednesday–

02-00:43:52

F: Wednesday, January 16th, 6:00 pm. I could offer the library if we did it at 6:00 pm.

02-00:44:00

Junos: Wait, where to? (overlapping dialogue; inaudible) I think we should use theFriendly Society (laughter).

02-00:44:08

F: Can we confirm the venue?

02-00:44:09

F: Friendly Society.

02-00:44:14

Bradshaw: The only issue with the Friendly Society that I’d have to check, on alternateWednesdays there is actually a lodge meeting there. Wednesday is the only day that’s aninconvenient day that I definitely know about. Other times vary.

02-00:44:28

F: Can we do the library? Can we do the library?

02-00:44:31

F: How many can it accommodate?

02-00:44:34

F: Can it accommodate this number? 26?

02-00:44:36

F: Do we want 26 or do we want to broaden it more?

02-00:44:40

F: Well, whoever attended the conference, the invitation would be sent out to them.

02-00:44:13

F: So how many?

02-00:44:45

F: And so we have been (overlapping dialogue; inaudible) answers.

02-00:44:48

Clifford: I would extend the invitation if we could.

02-00:44:50

F: But those shouldn’t be limited to those who–(overlapping dialogue; inaudible)

02-00:45:00

Bradshaw: If you invite 60, you jam up a bit. But let’s do something.

02-00:45:08

Junos: Bermuda College? (overlapping dialogue; inaudible)

02-00:45:12

F: Now if we can agree a date we can always confirm the date. So let’s just–

02-00:45:18

F: January 16th. Everybody’s got that date.

02-00:45:22

Junos: January 16th, everybody has that date, Wednesday evening, 6:00 pm.

02-00:45:28

F: OK, to be confirmed–everybody.

02-00:45:30

Junos: Place to be confirmed, yeah. Yes? After Mr. Bradshaw there was Laura, is shegone? (overlapping dialogue; inaudible)

02-00:45:43

F: But to have an awareness of it and also to utilize what–the work Adrian’s alreadydone with having video footage and using that in your presentation, as that as your real reasonthat’s–and we can summarize it as to why we need this support. But that’s a real reason, and touse that as your evidence really. And whenever we have our–you know, in the next four monthsis to keep the momentum going, is to keep up a dialogue, maybe via internet or email, sorry, sowe each are working towards a goal so that when we come together in four months that we’ve alldone something so we can move on from here and have a real goal in four months.

02-00:46:25

F: May I suggest that we invite the head boys and head girls of the various schools?

02-00:46:31

Clifford: They’re not the artists usually.

02-00:46:33

F: Pardon?

02-00:46:34

Clifford: Said they’re not necessarily the artists of (inaudible).

02-00:46:38

F: Oh, I thought you were talking about students.

02-00:46:40

Clifford: Yeah, yeah.

02-00:46:44

M: Can I just add my comment onto hers?

02-00:46:45

Junos: Mr. Bradshaw is a little frustrated I think (laughter).

02-00:46:49

Bradshaw: Finish these! Because I mean, you know, you said–

02-00:46:51

Junos: I had two main motions basically, yeah.

02-00:46:52

Bradshaw: –culture and education. So to my mind, that’s an important one. Again I wantto know whether or not we agree with it. See, I didn’t just say just the one thing–let’s finish thesethings that we said and then if we walk away from here we’ve done something. And we can addon a million other things afterwards, but you know, so let’s go.

02-00:47:10

Junos: Yeah, I just want to assure everyone that Mrs. Tannock is taking notes and that alot of your input is being noted and will be a part of what goes forward in whatever document weproduce and whatever discussion we have. The two resolutions that I wanted to make concreteand get some consensus from you was to set a meeting date for us to get together again, that’sbeen done. The second one was that we definitely commit as a group to somehow organizing aconference between culture and education, that that is a must happen. It’s something that has tohappen before we can actually address the integration issues that we’ve been talking abouttoday.

02-00:47:56

Bradshaw: Found it! (overlapping dialogue; inaudible) OK, and I will work with you toorganize that committee. Go to the next one.

02-00:48:09

Junos: Do we need a separate committee or is it going to be–

02-00:48:12

Bradshaw: No, but somebody’s got to set it up, organize it, to send an email, et cetera.I’ll work with you, whoever wants to set it up.

02-00:48:18

Scott?: When you say with education who are you referring to?

02-00:48:23

Bradshaw: We will talk to you about that. We will–

02-00:48:25

Junos: We will get in touch with all of you about it, the relevant people. We will get incontact with–you already mentioned, you already told us who we needed to contact. You did. Soyou will be included of course.

02-00:48:35

Scott: You know, are you involving teachers and officers?

02-00:48:38

Junos: Initially we’re involving the decision-makers first.

02-00:48:41

Bradshaw: Don’t discuss it now! People are leaving.

02-00:48:42

Junos: Not the individual teachers but the people that have the ability to pull it together.Adrian, you wanted to say something.

02-00:48:49

Lathan: Yes, mine was the follow on to–

02-00:48:51

Junos: I didn’t have any other resolution, OK?

02-00:48:52

Bradshaw: Yes, you did.

02-00:48:53

Junos: I did?

02-00:48:54

Bradshaw: I wrote them down, as did other people.

02-00:48:57

Lathan: Staffing, staffing. (overlapping dialogue; inaudible) Schedules, that’s one.Schedules.

02-00:49:02

Junos: The scheduling? OK, well, I thought that was a given, OK. Has everyone–iseveryone on the same page, that you are all going to make a commitment? This is a resolution, tosend your scheduling to Adrian and to Kim, the email addresses that were provided earlier, forany events that you know of or are initiating between now and the whole of 2008 to start with?

02-00:49:28

F: Can we just do it on a rolling basis?

02-00:49:30

Junos: Yes, but the initial commitment is going to happen here.

02-00:49:36

Bradshaw: See, now you know where you are! And how we can show what of ourofferings are relevant to that. And this was not education, this was separate from education.

02-00:49:48

Junos: OK, I see them.

02-00:49:49

M: He is present at the meetings.

02-00:49:50

Bradshaw: Present at the meetings, involved in different things. I think it means differentthings to different ones. But it’s how do you get the youth active, but listening to them from theirperspective, to know what you need to do.

02-00:50:03

Lathan: What to say about the Cabinet presentation, and all of us were unanimous insaying that Bermuda Day should stay Bermuda Day.

02-00:50:10

Bradshaw: We weren’t all unanimous because I wasn’t. That’s what I tell you when–

02-00:50:13

Lathan: In any case (laughter) there was overwhelming support.

02-00:50:19

Bradshaw: That’s all right, but that’s not unanimous.

02-00:50:20

Lathan: –for Bermuda Day staying as Bermuda Day. And if there is going to be apresentation and a paper, I wanted to put forth that there should be involvement of the youth, asyou were suggesting. There should be involvement of the technological thing. Can we use thatpresentation as the first–that resolution as the first set of action of this group, whereby weincorporate all our different sources to go there to make this presentation? To have the youthinvolved, to have all these different, you know, people there and involved for this presentation–isthat a possibility?

02-00:50:57

F: Is it a presentation?

02-00:50:59

F: I don’t think we have permission–I don’t think we as civil servants have permissionto, what do you call it, confront government.

02-00:51:08

Bradshaw: You don't know how difficult it is to get a Cabinet meeting.

02-00:51:10

Lathan: And that’s what I wanted to know, is it just the paper or do we get to presentthings like videos and all that stuff, you know what I mean?

02-00:51:17

F: You can if you have a presentation. You can do a presentation at the Cabinet. Youhave to ask and you have to request. And they have to–what we might have to do first is do thepresentation to CSE. CSE is the Civil Service Executive and you’re going through all thepermanent secretaries which will then get you (inaudible), whether we do CSE first or Cabinet.

02-00:51:43

Junos: Is that what you had in mind, Mr. Smith, when you put forward that idea? Or wasit a report?

02-00:51:49

Smith: It could be anything that was going to Cabinet.

02-00:51:51

Junos: It was a report, a written report. Or was it actually a physical presentation?

02-00:51:56

Smith: (inaudible) objectives and things like that.

02-00:51:59

Bradshaw: So get somebody to volunteer to head it.

02-00:52:01

M: –obtaining my information, because my information may be–(break in tape)

02-00:52:05

Tannock: –fruitful and rewarding in many ways, opening up some challenges for ourdepartment in many ways, and realizing that we can depend on each other and support each otherin many ways. And so my responsibility in saying thank you is to all who are gathered here andall who are not gathered here for the support that you have given over the past few days. Ispecifically want to thank the speaker, who was brought in, Mr. Sidney Bartley, for coming andsharing and adding his energy to the program. I’d like to thank the hotel, the FairmontSouthampton Princess for providing us with the venue, the service that we received fromelectronic services to provide the sound system, the recorder, Mr. Sherlock, Dennis Sherlockwho’s been with us for the past few days who has recorded everything we’ve said and recordedeverything we’ve done, and who will supply us with material that we can review. So thank you,Mr. Sherlock. To you people who came, we couldn’t have had this without you. You’ve raisedsome important points. You’ve raised some important food for thought, and when you raise thosethoughts you can’t be hasty and walk out and leave with indecisions. I applaud you for staying, Iapplaud you for sitting through what could have been nonsense at times, what could befrustrating at times, and I say thank you for hanging in there with us. We are small organization,small department, and we’ve found the courage and the strength through working together. Andout of our smallness we hope we could spread a channel, a ripple of light that goes out andreaches everyone. And as it goes out, we want to keep bringing in. We’ve got some tradition-bearers that we need to say thank you to. We could not have gotten where we are withouttradition-bearers. I could not have gotten where I am without the mentors in my life. And Mrs.

Shirley Pearman has been there for me throughout my teaching years, right through. There areothers along the way who have just strengthened me–Leona Scott, Heather Whalen–I’m justthinking of the teachers who I worked with over the years. And arriving here, the mentorship thatI’ve had from people like Ms. Johnston, Nell Johnston, Mrs. Maxwell, Mrs. Nikki O’Leary, and Icould go around the table, Ms. Joann and Ms. Conchita and Ms.–I’ll say National Gallery. Ms.Laura, Ms. Laura. OK, Mr. Brinky Tucker–and I could go around the table and name. Andrecently LeYoni came on board and she’s just been a real strength. And when we called on heryesterday, day before, and said, “LeYoni, look, we’re really stressed but would you take on thisresponsibility of doing this moderation for us today?” She willingly stepped up and she wasn’t apart of everything that took place in the discussion, but her willingness to follow through thismorning–really, I applaud you, LeYoni, so thank you for taking a burden off of us, OK? Andgeneral thank yous to the staff of the Princess who helped to serve the meals, and we hadwonderful means. To the Bermuda Institute Band that came and performed so well on ouropening night, to the music provider yesterday, Mr. Mackenzie–I forgot his name.

02-00:56:16

F: Martinez?

02-00:56:17

Tannock: Mr. Martinez, yes, Mr. Martinez. OK, and to the group that we will havetomorrow, the person that we’ll have tomorrow–I’m not even sure but we’re just grateful thatthis whole thing was pulled together. I finally want to say that Mrs. Whalen gave us a task,especially when she missed her flight and couldn’t get home in time–we realized that we had tocarry the load and carry it well. And I’d like to say that Mrs. Whalen, you always give us theopportunity to do what you know that we are best at doing, running our mouths and the nice(inaudible). And you always give us the opportunity to spread our wings a little bit. And eventhough we were stressed and worried and concerned that you weren’t here and certain thingsmay not have been done, (inaudible) table in case she gets into office and she finds certain thingshave not been done (laughter). But we have really tried to make sure that this occasion came offas seamlessly as possible. So thanks to you, Mrs. Whalen, for just being behind us and pushingand helping us to learn and understand. And as you do that, I just want to say a final thank youbecause if we didn’t have you here with us, we couldn’t be so outspoken. We’re outspokenbecause we know that you stand behind us, and what we have, Kim, Adrian, and I, have come upwith–when we speak it you’re right there listening and you’re right there pushing and helping usto get these things passed. And if we don’t get them done, we don’t reach our youth, we don’treach our community, we don’t do the job that we are assigned to do as officers of culture. Wedon’t reach the government, we don’t reach the heads and supervisors above us who really needto understand the work of the cultural officer to our community. And so thank you for beinghere. And we’re going to see you tomorrow hopefully. In your bags that you received was a freeticket for you to come to the cruise. Don’t leave us on the dock with nobody to come on thecruise. We want to see you. Find in your bag, OK, a free ticket that’s in there that says, “Come toour cruise,” and let’s have that final celebration tomorrow if you can, OK? We look forward tohaving you. Thank you.

02-00:58:59

Whalen: May I just say something? I would like Louise, Adrian, and Kim to stand.These guys have been fantastic. (inaudible) I’ve always loved my job, but I absolutely loveworking with these guys. They work hard. They think, and they’re passionate about culture andthe preservation and celebration of it. Guys, thank you very much.

02-00:59:36

F: Can I ask if it’s possible to put out for people to give you feedback about these threedays? Because everybody says everything you think and then you go home and you mull thingsover. I know I would like to submit some.

END OF AUDIO FILE