Vivian Crawford gets Musgrave Gold Medal

VIVIAN CRAWFORD, born in Moore Town, Portland, came to historic Kingston city for the first time in 1949, on a market truck. The experience was so enriching that he went back home speaking “proper English”. Ten years later, he returned to Kingston to sit the entrance exam to Mico Teachers’ College (now The Mico University College). And his life has forever been changed.

Crawford is now the holder of a teaching diploma (specialising in music), a Bachelor of Science degree in economics from The University of the West Indies, and an MBA from Nova Southern University in Florida. He was conferred with an honorary Doctor of Education degree from The Mico University College, and was inducted a fellow of the Jamaica Institute of Management.

Professionally, the son of William and Betty Crawford worked in the fields of education, finance and heritage. He was pro-chancellor at the University of Technology Jamaica, where he was chairman of the University Council, and honorary treasurer. He was executive director at the Institute of Jamaica (IOJ) from 2000-2012, and from 2016-2022, and was secretary to the IOJ Council for 20 years.

At the IOJ, Crawford was responsible for five divisions, and served on the boards of the African Caribbean Institute of Jamaica/Jamaica Memory Bank, Liberty Hall the Legacy of Marcus Garvey, the IOJ Junior Centres, the Simon Bolivar Centre, the National Gallery of Jamaica, the Natural History Museum of Jamaica, the National Museum of Jamaica, and the Jamaica Music Museum.

Under his stewardship at the IOJ, Crawford oversaw the restoration of Liberty Hall the Legacy of Marcus Garvey, the implementation of the Salute to the Parishes Project starting in 2017, the holding of Heritage Fest events, as well as the establishment of plaques through the Sites of Memory Programme at six historical sites. The IOJ also collaborated with Lisa Whiteman-Harrison as facilitator to establish The Mico University College’s Museum of Education.

At present, Crawford serves on the boards of the Jamaica Library Service, National Council on Reparation, and Stamp Commission. The former chairman of the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission, and chairman of the culture committee for the Planning Institute of Jamaica 2030 Vision, also served on the boards of The Jamaica National Heritage Trust, National Library of Jamaica, The Mico University College, HEART/NSTA Trust, Maxfield Park Children’s Home, VOUCH, CARIFORUM Cultural Fund, Ward Theatre Foundation, and Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts.

Internationally, Crawford is a member of the Memory of the World Committee of UNESCO and a former member of the Group of Experts on Financial and Administrative Matters Committee of UNESCO Paris. In 2011, he was invited by the British House of Commons to the Distinguished Strangers Gallery for Prime Minister’s Question Time.

With Dr Olive Lewin as facilitator, and with the assistance of a committee of 12 people, in 2003, Crawford successfully chaired a submission to UNESCO, for the music of the Moore Town Maroons in Portland to be declared part of the ‘Intangible Heritage of Mankind’. Only 25 such other declarations had been made at that time.

Crawford has shared Jamaica’s heritage in Birmingham, England; with McMaster University; King Solomon’s Academy; Swarthmore College; National Geographic Magazine; Dr Elsa Joel of India; the BBC; Voltage TV Production; Dr Martin Griffiths of Mary Seacole Foundation UK, and at the launch of Nanny Festival in Japan in 2019.

‘So much to Tell’

In 2021, Crawford delivered the Grace Kennedy Foundation Lecture under the theme, ‘The Tangible and Intangible Heritage of Jamaica: So much to Tell’, and has been sharing his cultural knowledge with local and diasporic audiences every Monday morning on the feature, Our Amazing Culture, on HITZ 92 FM. He makes a cameo appearance in Roy T. Anderson’s 2015 film, Queen Nanny Legendary Maroon Chieftainess, and plays the role of young Marcus Garvey’s father in Anderson’s African Redemption: The Life and Legacy of Marcus Garvey documentary.

Vivian Crawford, justice of the peace, Order of Distinction (2002), was inducted into the Faculty of Social Sciences Honour Society at The University of the West Indies in 2000. He also received the Caribbean Community of Retired Persons Jamaica 50 Living Legacy Awards (2012), the Distinguished Service Award from the University of Technology Jamaica, the St Andrew Lay Magistrates Award, and Trinity College of Music London First Place Award in Jamaica.

Crawford also received the 2023 Unlocking Black History Award by Black History Conversations, and The Mico University College Gold Medal. In 2013, The Jamaica Observer dedicated its New Year Editorial to Crawford’s contribution to nation-building. The recipient of the Governor General’s Achievement Award and The Gleaner Honour Award for Culture was inscribed on the Roll of Honour at St Matthew’s Church in St Andrew.

Crawford’s hobbies include playing liturgical music. In 2022, the winner of the Mico Music prize in his day retired after 56 years as one of the organists in The Chapel at The University of the West Indies, Mona, where he was the recipient of the university’s prize for music in 1968. He still plays the organ at the Church of the Good Shepherd at Constant Spring, St Andrew. And, tonight, the man who is married to Carva Crawford, and the father of Lawson and Sheena Crawford, will be awarded the Musgrave Gold Medal for his contribution to leadership in culture at a ceremony inside the Philip Sherlock Centre for the Creative Arts, on the Mona campus of The University of the West indies.