Issa calls for world-class performing arts centre in west

WESTERN BUREAU:
Hotelier Christopher Issa has called for the construction of a world-class performing arts centre in western Jamaica, arguing that the region’s cultural talent has long been constrained by inadequate venues.
Issa, chief executive officer of S Hotels Jamaica, said artistes, schools, musicians, and dance companies across the west were being forced to convert rooms, borrow spaces, and use facilities never designed for major cultural productions.
“While there is something admirable about the Jamaican ability to make something out of very little, there comes a time when ‘making do’ is no longer resilience. It becomes neglect,” he declared. “Western Jamaica deserves better.”
Mayor of Montego Bay Richard Vernon endorsed the call, saying that the city’s young performers had already demonstrated that they deserved a dedicated home for the performing arts.
“The young people in Montego Bay have earned the right to have at least a mini theatre in the city,” Vernon said, arguing that such a facility should be more than a venue for occasional events. “It should be an institution capable of nurturing talent and developing more creative citizens.”
While calling on the Government to consider the project, the mayor said Montego Bay was also prepared to work with private-sector interests and other stakeholders to help finance and deliver it.
“We are not just sitting in a corner begging,” Vernon declared. “We are prepared to put our hands, hearts, and monies together to make it a reality.”
Issa was delivering the keynote address at the media launch of the National Dance Theatre Company’s 64th Season of Dance Montego Bay Gala at S Club. The event, being presented by First Dance Studios, is scheduled for August 16.
He said the proposed centre should serve not only Montego Bay but young people and communities across western Jamaica.
A properly designed centre, he argued, could provide a permanent home for dance, theatre, music, film, visual arts, rehearsals, training, and cultural exchanges.
“It could be a place where a child sees a professional production for the first time and suddenly imagines a different future,” Issa said.
“A place where international companies can perform, collaborate, and share knowledge with Jamaican artistes. A place where culture is not treated as an occasional activity but as an essential part of our development.”
Issa rejected the notion that a performing arts centre should be considered a luxury or a project to be pursued only after every road has been repaired and every economic target achieved.
He described culture as part of the infrastructure of a country, pointing to its potential to generate employment, support creative businesses, stimulate cultural tourism, and provide training opportunities.
“We have invested heavily in spaces where people can sleep, shop, eat, and conduct business. Surely, we can also invest in a space where people can create,” he said.
“A country that is known throughout the world for its culture should never force its own artistes to beg, borrow, and improvise for somewhere to perform.”
Issa said Jamaica had produced dancers who commanded international stages and music that had influenced the world, yet western Jamaica remained without a venue worthy of that cultural legacy.
He praised First Dance Studios for bringing the NDTC’s anniversary season to Montego Bay, describing the initiative as a declaration that excellence also belonged in western Jamaica.
Issa said he hoped the NDTC’s Montego Bay appearance would represent the beginning of a stronger cultural movement in the region and prompt serious national discussions about constructing the proposed facility.
The hotelier also challenged what he described as Jamaica’s “eat a food” mentality, arguing that economic survival should not represent the highest level of national ambition.
He acknowledged that jobs, income, and the ability to provide for one’s family were essential but said development must extend beyond the next job, contract, or opportunity to make money.
“Survival matters, but survival cannot become the highest expression of our national ambition,” he said.
“Every one of us needs food for the body. But every society also needs food for the mind, food for the imagination, and food for the spirit.”
janet.silvera@gleanerjm.com