There are some cities around the world famous for their cultural life and vibrant artistic activity where a record of artistic events for the year, such as this, would not be newsworthy. Georgetown is not one of them. What helps to make such a listing worthy of publication in Guyana is that there have been repeated remarks about the absence of a climate conducive to a flourishing of the arts and intellectual life. And furthermore, what helps to make the subject worthy of comment today is the quiet way in which such a culture seemed to be creeping back into public life in Guyana during 2001.

The collapse of theatre became obvious during the year and was a cause of great concern for the minister of culture who has begun to seek ways of entrenching literature and the theatre into the public education system. While this is indeed a necessary scheme, there are other fundamental roles for government if an artistic and intellectual renaissance is to take root. This involves government as a facilitator; a provider of the necessary infrastructure for artistic development accompanied by a climate of free expression. These have been slowly returning to Guyanese society although the population as a whole, and even some quarters of public administration, are still not accustomed to it; so expression is still inhibited.

Nevertheless, through both private and public initiative, an artistic community periodically saw signs of life during the year. The best example was Castellani House, an independently managed institution launched out of the Office of the President in 1993 as the national gallery for fine arts. But Castellani House has grown to be the foremost centre for the arts in the country and functioned as such in 2001. Its visual arts programme was notably imaginative, yet it continued to serve as both venue and generator for various other art events.

Another developing institution, the Cheddi Jagan Research Centre, provided similar services as it grew as a useful venue with an agenda for the arts. It hosted public lectures, book launchings, craft, fashion and other exhibitions. The Museum of African Art ran another series of public lectures by Carmen Same Acuna and others on topics relevant to the African component in the art of Guyana in the significant month of August. The Hadfield Foundation played its usual role as the leading private gallery.

Of note during the year, was the increasingly productive roles assumed by diplomatic missions, in which the High Commission of the United Kingdom was trend-setter. The British not only hosted poetry and film, but were recently partners in an extremely important project in which trained British conservators, Caroline Glover and Hugo Platt, restored a collection of Guyana's most treasured paintings at Castellani House.

The Indian High Commission stepped up performances of Indian music and dance to commemorate areas of cultural co-operation and significant events such as Indian Independence. The Brazilian Embassy also celebrated independence on September 7 and 8, 2001 with performances by singers, dancers and musicians at Le Meridien. This accompanied an exhibition of prints by the famous artist Betty Betiol, a foremost Brazilian exponent of a modernist technique using etchings on metal.

The art of another neighbour was also the subject of one of the Hadfield Gallery's exhibitions. It hosted Surinamese Contemporary Art represented by the works of George Struikelblok and Marcel Binas. It also mounted a small show for a CARICOM conference at Le Meridien and ended the year with a third, which runs until January 15, 2002. A Different Design shows the work of Surinamese Arthur Thym and the original textile, fabric, fashion and furniture designer Guyanese Liz Deane-Hughes.

Like the Brazilians, Castellani House also combined visual arts with other activities. It opened an exhibition of 100 of My Favourite Cartoons by Hawley Harris with the launching of a published collection printed by Guyenterprise and introduced by David de Caires. Harris, the best cartoonist in the Caribbean, retired as the feature satirist for Stabroek News late in 2001 after a long career including publication in other newspapers.

This was only one of a series of book launches since Castellani also hosted the public release of The Shell Book of Guyana, annotated photographic coverage of the country's natural heritage and biodiversity by Robert J. (Bobby) Fernandes. Fernandes' previous publications have been on birds and Amerindian subjects, but a significant factor in this book is the vital support of private sponsorship, in this case, Shell Antilles. This was followed by the launch of the Guyana Christmas Annual (formerly the Chronicle Christmas Annual), printed by Guyenterprise and produced by the Janus Young Writers Guild. Janus started the year with its own official launching as a group at Castellani House in February, 2001, while Guyenterprise promoted the public release of Moses Nagamootoo's first novel, Hendree's Cure at the Cheddi Jagan Centre. After its phenomenal year in 1999, the Free Press continued the monthly publication of Guyana Review and the August issue of Emancipation.

If the activities of 2001 are to be graced with the lofty name of "renaissance," then public lectures and discussions of the arts must be regarded as having led it. They were fairly regular features. Again, the National Gallery was prominent. It opened the extremely potent Stanley Greaves exhibition There is a Meeting Here, Tonight with critical papers on Greaves by Elfrieda Bissember and Al Creighton. Writer and critic Dr David Dabydeen also gave a public lecture on early fiction about Indian indentures, Lutchmee and Dilloo, Nineteenth century plantation life in British Guiana by English author, Edward Jenkins. Dabydeen also lectured publicly at Red House on 'African Writing in the Eighteenth Century: British Slave Narratives'. He was again a panelist at the same venue, when the Cheddi Jagan Research Centre hosted a symposium on 'The Literary Genius of V.S. Naipaul'. The other speakers were Dr Ian McDonald, Ryhaan Shah and Creighton.

This encouraging trend, in which different organizations and venues were involved in public discussions was a positive sign, suggesting a reawakening of intellectual interest. It was insufficient for any comparison with other societies where such events are the norm, but it certainly provided companion support for artistic production. In 2001 some public awareness, criticism, debate and dialogue were generated to help promote publications and exhibitions as well as general artistic development for artists and for their audience.