NICH Terminations: How Will It Impact the Creative Arts Industry?
Everywhere the financial crunch is being felt; at the National Institute for Culture and History, termination letters, dated June twelfth, were issued to eleven persons, including two directors as part of its cost-saving measures following a cut in G.O.B.’s subvention as well as a drop in revenue. In May, members of staff were placed on a fifty percent cut in salaries, but that was not enough for NICH’s survival, and a decision was then taken to fire six percent of the staff including, the two senior directors who have been at NICH for more than a decade. The question tonight is how it impacts the future of the creative arts industry. News Five’s Duane Moody reports.
Duane Moody, Reporting
Six percent of employees at the National Institute of Culture and History received letters of termination earlier this week; that translates to a total of eleven persons who were sacked: four from the Institute of Creative Arts, four from administration and one each from the Houses of Culture in Benque Viejo del Carmen, San Pedro and Banquitas in Orange Walk.
Among those who received separation packages from ICA are senior officers, Theatre Director Karen Vernon and Director of Film & Media Arts Unit, Suzette Zayden, who had twelve and eleven years of employment with the institution.
Patrick Faber
Patrick Faber, Minister of Culture [File: May 13th, 2020]
“The National Institute of Culture and History which is a quasi-government body, it receives a subvention from the government but it also depends on revenue from the archaeological sites and tourists if you will. There is going to have to be, in fact there is an ongoing discussion now as to what is going to be the case there because the only revenue that’s coming into NICH right now is from the government subvention, which only pays about forty-five percent of the salary bill per month.”
But even with a cursory look at the layoffs, the individuals who were chopped from the institution are described as those who are passionate and prominent in the progression of Belize’s creative arts industry.
In the case of Theatre Director Karen Vernon, she created, organized and saw through to fruition major popular annual events such as Dance X, Belize International Jazz Festival, the Frankie Reneau Concert Series and the Street Art Festival. In fact, the street art festival won the Belize Tourism Board’s 2019 Major Festival of the Year Award. Vernon has also served as the Acting Director of ICA for several months back in 2017. Providing a platform for the creative art was at the centre of her work.
Karen Vernon
Karen Vernon, Former Theatre Director, ICA [File: February 19th, 2019]
“The sidewalk chalk competition takes place in the little street between Belize Bank and the park. There is the food court, which is always popular; we have live music there. The artists booths on Albert Street; there is the kids’ zone and there will be the fashion street back with us this year and that’s between King and Bishop Street. The youth stage is always there and they will be done in front of Channel Seven. And new with us this year is the Pok-ta-Pok ball game and that will happen at five p.m. on Regent Street in front of the Supreme Court and as usual we have the street entertainment, pandemonium steel pan, juniors and seniors; jankunu dancers will be there. We have the stilt walkers from Arenal and they will be interacting with the public all up and down Albert Street, so it is an exciting time.”
For many, her name is synonymous with the film industry in Belize and that’s because for over a decade, Suzette Zayden has been championing all the possibilities of the audio/visual industry in Belize. As recent as July 2019, the film industry in Belize was promoted as a viable, sustainable market for stakeholders in the CARICOM region.
Suzette Zayden
Suzette Zayden, Former Director, Film & Media Arts Unit, NICH [File: July 4th, 2019]
“A series of regional consultations followed this signing in 2009, with an impressive cross-section of well-known audio visual professionals and representatives at the highest levels of the audio visual sector across the CARIFORUM countries at both public and private sector levels. These consultations, which we added, were held to define the needs of the audio visual sector and seek to build private sector capacity in the Caribbean as well as to examine what is needed in the Caribbean to improve quality, local content and output and to make an impact regionally and internationally.”
Also terminated was Creative Industry Development Officer Jackie Castillo, who worked with those in the fashion industry as well as the artist registry for the country. Duane Moody for News Five.
