National Academy welcome news

What I failed to hear him say is where will the 2007 and most likely 2008 carnival celebrations be held while the construction is progressing. Has that information been made public or are we to be left guessing until 2007 gets here?

Carnival is an annual event that brings in millions of dollars into the national economy. So as with all great events, it takes planning and preparation. I think the stakeholders should be made aware of where the events that are normally held at the QPS, will be held in the interim. So come on Mr PM, let us in on your secret.

Congratulations to the PNM Government for finally coming through on one of its many election promises to the people of TT (the building of a national performing arts centre) over the years. We can almost believe that it is a reality with the PM’s annoucement.

By the way, has anyone seen a 3-D model of what the NAPA will look like and its layout? I believe there should be a scaled model of the centre available for public viewing somewhere; maybe in the lobby of the Ministry of Culture. So citizens can see what has been planned and what is being built. This should be covered by the print and TV media to inform citizens who may not be in Port-of-Spain. I would like to see it.

I hope there was appropriate input from all the arts and culture stakeholders in the design of the Academy. So that all their ideas could be added to the mix, to ensure that the end-product is what they want, and not something that the Government thinks they need. We have waited far too long for this centre for it to be anything but the best in TT, if not the Caribbean region.

KELVIN C JAMES SR

Port-of-Spain