Author: Rubadiri Victor
The National Academy for the Performing Arts of Trinidad and Tobago (NAPA) has been shrouded in controversy from conception to opening with different constituencies weighing in on its merits and flaws. Artist/activist Rubadiri Victor attempts to analyse NAPA through its construction process, as a building, and as a facility which should have held the Dreams and Aspirations of a Legacy-rich cultural community. He finds it compromised in its facilities as both an Academy and a National Performing Arts Centre but attempts to unearth the opportunity it holds as a phenomenon.
The Sorrowful Tour
On Sunday 17th January 2010 4 generations of theatre and dance practitioners gathered at the National Academy for the Performing Arts (NAPA) for a seminar entitled The Way Forward- part of this exercise involved a tour of the NAPA facility for the first time by the stakeholders who are supposed to be its most important tenants. What followed was one of the saddest journeys that many of us have ever embarked on. What should have been a tour full of wonder and joy upon revelation instead was more like the sorrow of a 2nd generation Jew visiting a concentration camp.
During the tour one could hear the muttering of disbelief, the exclamations of horror, and sometimes peals of laughter on the unveiling of each room. One could see- particularly in elder practitioners- the almost teary eyed resignation as they shook their heads in disbelief. The words on everyone’s lips were, “How could they get it so wrong!!!” None of us had ever been consulted or listened to for the entire construction process and this abomination was the sad result. We had for years received the reports of deficient specs in NAPA, but it was nothing compared to actually seeing it. Hundreds of millions of dollars spent on un-useable spaces.
Because of this I am now prepared to concede that it may be more feasible to give the entire NAPA facility over to being a hotel and that another site be sought to construct a proper School for the Arts and a National Performing Arts Centre. NAPA is completely unsuited for either function and will cost too much to convert it into such. There are precedents for hotels with Performing Arts stages attached to them- ala Las Vegas- and probably this is what NAPA is best used for. It is completely unfit as an Academy and a Performing Arts Centre. That is the tragedy we are faced with.
The tragedy and hidden history of NAPA
Filed under: Architecture, trinidad and tobago Tagged: | Architecture, trinidad and tobago
