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Stories by Michael Reckord/Gleaner Writer

Published:Friday | January 24, 2020 | 12:00 AMMichael Reckord/Gleaner Writer

Because of the approach taken by the Edna Manley College’s School of Drama and the Sistren Theatre Collective, community drama in Jamaica is about helping communities to solve social problems. Often, the dramatic work is created through discussions...

Published:Friday | January 17, 2020 | 12:00 AMMichael Reckord/Gleaner Writer

The Cathedral Singers of Ontario, Canada, and their organists flew out of the island on Monday after helping out two local churches for 10 days. A spokesman said they all had a “wonderful time”. Members of the group conducted workshops with local...

Published:Friday | January 10, 2020 | 12:00 AMMichael Reckord/Gleaner Writer

“Basil (Dawkins) doesn’t create superficial characters,” says theatre director Douglas Prout. Fans of Dawkins’ plays will probably agree, and the playwright has accumulated hundreds, perhaps thousands, since his first production, Flat Mate, in 1980...

Published:Friday | January 3, 2020 | 12:00 AMMichael Reckord/Gleaner Writer

Just three months shy of its 40th birthday on April 1, Chalice remains one of Jamaica’s most popular bands. Not surprisingly, then, there was standing room only for its lunchtime concert last Friday at the Bank of Jamaica. One of the 15 or so...

Published:Thursday | January 2, 2020 | 12:00 AMMichael Reckord/Gleaner Writer

The senior curator of the National Gallery, Oneil Lawrence, is happy with the institution’s “cunning strategy” (his phrase) of attracting patrons to its fine arts exhibitions. For years, the gallery’s ‘Last Sundays’ performing arts presentations (...

Published:Friday | December 27, 2019 | 12:00 AMMichael Reckord/Gleaner Writer

If you weren’t given a copy of Hugh Martin’s recently published, aptly named memoir, Days of Sunshine Days of Rage, for Christmas, buy one for yourself for January, the universally acknowledged month for the remembrance of things past. Since you’ll...

Published:Friday | December 20, 2019 | 12:00 AMMichael Reckord/Gleaner Writer

When Rebecca Newman-Chung, a Campion College fifth-former, said to me, “Joining the school choir turned me on to classical music,” she might have been speaking for the scores of young people involved in two school concerts that took place within...

Published:Friday | December 13, 2019 | 12:11 AMMichael Reckord/Gleaner Writer

Part 1 of this article was published last Friday. Una Marson returned to England and made history as the first black and first West Indian woman employed as a programme assistant on the BBC’s Empire Service. Promoted to work with the famous...

Published:Friday | December 6, 2019 | 12:13 AMMichael Reckord/Gleaner Writer

Part 1 of a two-part article. A seven-year-old girl is among those currently getting acquainted with the woefully neglected but important Jamaican pioneering poet, playwright, feminist and social activist Una Marson. The girl has been reading...

Published:Saturday | November 30, 2019 | 12:00 AMMichael Reckord/Gleaner Writer

Louise Bennett was a good person and a skilful poet.” That pithy statement about Jamaica’s most loved cultural icon was made last week Tuesday by long-time Bennett researcher, University of the West Indies Professor emeritus Mervyn Morris. The...

Published:Friday | November 29, 2019 | 12:00 AMMichael Reckord/Gleaner Writer

Two different forms of the creative arts were offered to appreciative audiences on Sunday and Tuesday at two of Kingston’s major cultural institutions. The first – a collection of short films made by new film-makers – was shown at the National...

Published:Friday | November 22, 2019 | 12:28 AMMichael Reckord/Gleaner Writer

The figures tell only a fraction of the story, but they do indicate the success of the Jamaican Poets School Tour 2019. Led by Florida-based, internationally acclaimed Jamaican poet Malachi Smith, over a period of 10 days, 29 poets had readings and...

Published:Wednesday | November 20, 2019 | 12:28 AMMichael Reckord/Gleaner Writer

Today is National Story-telling Day and thanks to a memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed last week, every parish library in Jamaica will be holding a storytelling hour. In addition to this, the Jamaica Library Service (JLS) will begin to...

Published:Friday | November 15, 2019 | 12:28 AMMichael Reckord/Gleaner Writer

Keen observer of nature that he was, Shakespeare would certainly have known about imprinting, a biological phenomenon occurring in newly born birds and mammals that causes them to bond with the first large moving thing that they see, even inanimate...

Published:Friday | November 8, 2019 | 12:42 AMMichael Reckord/Gleaner Writer

The lights of New York City’s most famous street shone in Kingston for a couple of hours last weekend. They illuminated the Vera Moody Concert Hall at the Edna Manley College’s School of Music on Saturday and Sunday evenings, enabling audiences to...

Published:Friday | November 1, 2019 | 12:12 AMMichael Reckord/Gleaner Writer

A theatrical production, ‘Skip to My Lou – Lou’, which celebrates the life and work of Louise ‘Miss Lou’ Bennett-Coverley in poetry and play, is now on the stage of the historic Coke Methodist Church hall, East Parade, Kingston. It’s where Miss Lou...

Published:Friday | October 25, 2019 | 12:00 AMMichael Reckord/Gleaner Writer

“Across the world, cities are recognising the advantages of leveraging their cultural and creative industries to accelerate economic growth.” Kingston should do the same, says the director of marketing and communications at the Edna Manley College...

Published:Friday | October 18, 2019 | 12:26 AMMichael Reckord/Gleaner Writer

There were more than 60 offerings – including workshops, lecture demonstrations, performances and exhibitions – at last week’s 2019 Edna Manley College of the Visual...

Published:Friday | October 11, 2019 | 12:21 AMMichael Reckord/Gleaner Writer

Cultural icon Louise ‘Miss Lou’ Bennett-Coverley not only had a great influence on many of Jamaican popular musicians, but was the first singer in the island to produce commercial recordings. She started in 1950, Jamaica Music Museum director/...

Published:Friday | October 4, 2019 | 12:20 AMMichael Reckord/Gleaner Writer

As admission prices for regular theatrical productions continue to rise, the end-of-month free shows at the Bank of Jamaica (BOJ) and the National Gallery (NG) become more precious. People turned out in large numbers for both the BOJ’s Comedy Hour...

Published:Friday | September 27, 2019 | 12:11 AMMichael Reckord/Gleaner Writer

“The development of a society cannot happen unless people participate. You get participation through communication.” With that deceptively simple introduction, Dahlia Harris, one of Jamaica’s best-known communicators, launched into a complex talk...

Published:Friday | September 20, 2019 | 12:13 AMMichael Reckord/Gleaner Writer

Arguably Jamaica’s best known poets, Louise ‘Miss Lou’ Bennett-Coverley and Lorna Goodison are in the cultural spotlight just now. As of the week of her 100th birthday anniversary on September 7, the former is being officially celebrated by the...

Published:Friday | September 13, 2019 | 12:00 AMMichael Reckord/Gleaner Writer

Next Thursday’s lunch-hour production at the Philip Sherlock Centre for the Creative Arts (PSCCA), Mona, will be in honour of the late cultural icon Louise ‘Miss Lou’ Bennett-Coverley. Dubbed ‘Miss Lou: Distingwish Jamiekan – Celebratin’ A Legacy...

Published:Friday | September 6, 2019 | 12:00 AMMichael Reckord/Gleaner Writer

When I asked Noel Dexter a few years ago why he chose a career in music, his reply was, “I didn’t choose music. Music chose me.” The evidence bears this out. I, and others attending his thanksgiving service at The University Chapel, Mona, on...

Published:Friday | August 30, 2019 | 12:30 AMMichael Reckord/Gleaner Writer

Both the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission (JCDC) and the National Gallery (NG) clearly delight in presenting new artistic talent to the public. Recently, the two organisations, separately, turned the spotlight on creative writer, Rohan Facey...

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