The Day of Absence: Why It's So Important

[the note I wrote on FB in support for the Day of Absence on Feb 11th, 2009- check out my blog To The Flame to see what was done in honour of the day]

[the following is taken from Nicolette Bethel's blog, and the "Day of Absence" event on Facebook]

After the Lil Wayne incident Nicolette Bethel approached me about a DAY OF ABSENCE...

Thirty-five years after independence and forty-one years after majority rule, creative workers in our country are
unable to find work in the areas in which God has gifted them. There are virtually no avenues in The Bahamas to
enable creative people to develop and hone their talents, or to enable them to make use of them when they are developed.
Our greatest brain drain is arguably in the area of the arts; like Sidney Poitier over sixty years ago, Bahamians who want to exercise their talents in the cultural industries are faced with the choice of pursuing their callings as hobbies at home, or of leaving home to make a living by their gifts elsewhere. And we are all the poorer for it.

Newsflash. No country can be great, or even good, without its artists. When all has passed away, when all has crumbled and gone, it's not the speeches of the politicians, the enforcement of the country's laws, the profit and the loss, or the tourist arrivals that are left behind to tell the story of the people who once walked this earth.

Until we invest and believe in our art, and until we respect our artists, our country will never even be.
And so we're calling for a Day of Absence in honour of all cultural workers in The Bahamas and around the world.

It's to be a day like Green Day or World Hunger Day -- a movement, an idea that can catch fire, a spark that can spread without specific action, but just as people see the idea and become ignited by it.

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How true, how true.

As an art enthusiast, I have faced my parents and told them flat out that I was not going to bend to their wishes and study what doesn't please me. Instead, I was going to study art. This was the showdown as I prepared to enter the College of the Bahamas. As I prepare to leave its doors this year with a degree in tow, I'm about to face that same showdown again. If one's own family cannot fully understand and fully support their child's dreams of being fully immersed in the arts, then who's to say the outside world, our own country, will be any kinder??

To my fellow art students, how many jobs have you held to finance your career here at COB, and how many of them were for what your passion is in? Almost every one of them I know has had to settle with the service industry-jobs, and having held one of those positions myself, it's not all it's cracked up to be. As Dr Bethel said in her blog, there is virtually NO avenue for artists to work for the benefit of their country. Even those forming their own little graphic design companies are not immune- while in the entertainment industries you are safe with your constant stream of parties to advertise, you wouldn't be able to qualify for the few graphic design companies that occasionally put an ad in the paper. They look for degrees and years of doing more than party flyers. And the only way we can get that far, is if we travel abroad to study.

And even that is a challenge! Banks don't lend to us because we aren't aspiring doctors or lawyers, the government holds up its nose if you run to them for help, and as far as I've seen there's only ONE art-themed scholarship available to us. And since the schools abroad are limited to what they can give us international students, we ultimately depend on the charity of our parents- and if your parents are anything like mine, they aren't willing to shell out that much for an art school, no matter how cheap it may be.

Does ANYONE else see what's wrong with this?? If we were in the states, we would be encouraged. If we were in Europe, we would be accepted and respected. Hell, if we were ANYWHERE ELSE where art is truly thriving, we wouldn't have these types of problems that we have now- we wouldn't be looked at sympathetically as if we were mentally unstable for choosing the arts as our passion. We wouldn't be disregarded by society on the whole. We wouldn't have to fight with members of our own family that try to change us into something we aren't.

And that's why I support the Day of Absence- as an art student, and a Student Representative for anyone who enrolls in the College and chooses my school- Communication and Creative Arts. No one enrolls in my school to pursue their major as a HOBBY, a PAST TIME [sorry to disappoint, mother dearest]- we pursue these majors because they are our life's passions, what we see doing to affect our country. Anyone who has enrolled in this school is part of the creative process- we are the creative and artistic backbone of this college, and even on campus, we face adversities. Take a look at any other college abroad and take a look at their artistic community- they are thriving with the unified support of their College and their society. Why do we, as students of this school in particular, feel so stagnant? Why do we feel this isolation from everyone? And how about we dish it back out ten-fold?

And how about my other creative brothers and sisters in COB? The poets, the writers of the English School? The DJs, the up and coming music artists regardless of the genre? The graphic designers, the Junkanoo artists who slave away on costumes so grand that they're only in use for a few hours, only to be trashed the next day? Even my casual music-listeners- this affects you too!

I'm not asking for outlandish displays of support, I'm only asking you to stop and think. If this way of life is really that important to you, if you are as passionate about the arts and your life in the arts as I am, then you'll join me in declaring our silence to the Bahamas, so that they can start to notice how many of us are out there, and demand the same kind of respect as our peers in the other fields.

As the Senator for SCCA, I was chosen to represent you and your interests, your goals and your aspirations. On February 11th, join me in this Day of Absence.

Wear something white if you're a visual artist- we rule color, and without us there would be nothing.

Take a vow of silence if you're a poet, a writer, a singer, even if just for a minute- your voice is akin to our paint and brushes, without your voices the speeches, the music, the poetry we enjoy would be nothing.

Do whatever it takes- even ditch a class if you must- to drive home this point. Tell all your FB friends to lend their support. Read the blogs, especially Dr Bethel's amazingly written blog entry. Call in to radio shows. Write a note of your own, or express your attendance on the Facebook Event "Day of Absence". Even if you just stay home, spare a thought, a moment of your time in silence as we fight for the national appreciation of this precious way of life.

For those of you who will be on campus on the 11th- I'll be there too, declaring my support for the Day of Silence. You'll recognize me when you see me, trust me ;) If you are interested in joining with me to make a statement on campus, let me know. It's my job to stand with you on things that really matter- and if this matters to you like I hope it does, then I'm with you all the way.

Will you join me?

Thursday, February 12, 2009