EAST PORT OF SPAIN

REHABILITATION & DEVELOPMENT

GROWTH POLE

YEAR 1

The Artist Coalition of Trinidad & Tobago (ACTT) 5 Gulf View Drive La Horquette Extension Road Glencoe Trinidad, West Indies 1-868-797-0949 rubadiri@yahoo.com www.artistscoalition.wordpress.com

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THE EAST PORT OF SPAIN HERITAGE CITY AND CULTURAL REHABILITATION PROJECT

THE OVERARCHING PRINCIPLES OF THE EAST PORT OF SPAIN GROWTH POLE/HERITAGE CITY PROJECT ARE:

1. The Heritage, Cultural, Infrastructural and Industrial development initiatives of East Port of Spain should not be compartmentalized but seen as one whole

2. That all development processes in the area be majority owned by the residents of the area and/or utilize prescribed quotas of their resident skill banks

3. The creation of an Optimum Map of the entire East Port of Spain area- as far west as Charlotte Street, as far south as Beetham and Sea Lots, as far North as Belmont, and as far east as Morvant. This Optimum Map will grid the present and future of the area and track all projects happening within so as to achieve maximum project coordination and impact

4. The programming of amenities within the grid of this Optimum Map so that every resident is within 1 mile or 2 minutes of a cluster of civic amenities which include: nursery, primary and secondary schooling; a fully equipped and staffed health care facility; counseling services; a fully equipped and staffed community centre; libraries; museums, heritage sites, and places of Memory; a financial service centre; a commercial district; outdoor sports, leisure and recreational facilities; and access to a major traffic grid.

5. That the creation of infrastructural work in the area (road rehabilitation, drainage, plumbing and sewerage, electrical and IT works, cable and fibre optics, etc) be based on this Optimum Map and the larger developmental imperatives of the area

6. That the principle of the location and planning of buildings and industries in the area is based on the Medillin Rehabilitation model of “Our most beautiful buildings must be in our poorest areas.” And that the principle of awarding of construction sites be the reduction and eradication of violence and crime within the areas

7. The declaration, conserving and treatment of parts of East Port of Spain proper (Charlotte Street to Picadilly Street from City Gate to Oxford Street) as a Heritage City

8. The understanding that Heritage Sites are multi-million dollar earning institutions

9. That rehabilitative international ‘Best Practices’ be sought for all programmes being conceptualized for the East Port of Spain area

10. The early identification of the ‘missing skills banks’ within the area and the creation of transparent scholarships and training opportunities to resident talent so as to create the cadre that can staff and man the new East Port of Spain institutions once they are completed

11. That an integrated communally agreed to Crime Plan be implemented that encorporates all other developmental aspects of the Growth Pole’s projects so as to create the necessary ‘push and pull’ factors for crime eradication

HERITAGE: 12. The construction of the multi-billion dollar earning House of Music project which encorporates the

entire block of Nelson street as the primary Heritage Site in the City of Port of Spain

13. The identification, preservation and resourcing of select residential homes- and built and natural sites within the area- as full Heritage Sites eg. The Rada community Yard, Ray Apollon’s wrestling pit, Fitzroy Coleman’s house, Ken Morris’s Forge, Russel Latapy’s home, Spree Simon’s house, etc… And the landscaping and programming of these sites according to international ‘best practice’ principles

14. The renaming of streets and areas based on Heroes and Ancestral history

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EDUCATION 15. The creation of the curriculum, staff and buildings for pioneer vanguard African Schools based on

Pan-African principles- nursery, primary, secondary, and tertiary levels

16. That there be the programming of an educational district in East Port of Spain based on the Geoffery Canada ‘Harlem Educational Zone’ Principles

17. That there be a male and female Leadership Academies Boarding Schools based on the Oprah Winfrey South African Girls School model

PAN, MAS, CALYPSO & THE CREATIVE INDUSTRIES 18. The creation of a Pan Industrial Site with all the downstream industries- packaging, sticks,

accessories, etc

19. The creation of a Mas Industrial Site alongside the establishment of Centres of Commerce and Excellence in all the downstream Mas activities like Carnival Truck outfitting, sound systems, Panracks, stage lighting, catering services, etc etc

20. The regularization or optimum relocation of all Panyards in the area and the complete redesign of the panyards according to the multi-purpose principles of the Lloyd Best Schools-in-Pan model

21. That there be a major Pan Competition for small 7-a-side combos for modern music featuring young players based in East Port of Spain

22. The creation of Secret Society Guilds for all the traditional masquerades

23. That all Cultural Groups in the area be resourced and housed within optimum independent spaces or located and centralized in the nearest optimumly constructed Community Centres

24. The creation of ‘Culture Cluster’ areas like the Yoruba Village site, etc

INSTITUTIONS & CIVIC INFRASTRUCTURE 25. The creation of a central Credit Union (CU) which will be the central financial institution of the

90,000 residents of E POS

26. The creation of a Super Market chain owned by the Credit Union and the residents of the area- which will include downstream labeling, bottling-glass blowing industries

27. The complete reconceptualising, redesign, reoutfitting and reprogramming of Community Centres with a new set of minimum specifications and administrative principles. And the construction of new ones according to the Optimum Map

28. The full outfitting of all sports grounds and the creation of indoor and outdoor sports leisure facilities plotted within the Optimum Map grid and the reanimation of Sports Clubs

BUSINESS & INDUSTRY 29. The partnering with- or creation or facilitation of- micro, medium and large financing services to

ramp up resident businesses to the next level of development in their life-cycle

30. The identification and resourcing of the niche manufacturing and industrial services that the community can supply.

31. The creation of a Technology and Science Zone within the area for high level, high concept new technology services driven by the inventiveness of the people of the area

32. That East Port of Spain be the country’s leader in the construction and training for Green Housing, Technologies, and Industries. That all development within the area be according to internationally bench-marked Green Principles

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33. That East Port of Spain be the national headquarters and national outposts of Guilds of Masters in certain artisan skills- like carpentry, masonry, tailors, craftsmen, drum makers, etc located in East Port of Spain. These Guilds will become internationally recognized for their core indigenous skills and their export products which will be the basis of a multi-billion dollar design based industry

34. The establishment of a resident based and/or legal team for the entire East Port of Spain process especially as the patenting of all processes is of paramount importance

35. That a programme of communally-built hand-crafted buildings using indigenous materials be the principle for the rehabilitation of housing in most parts of the area and the critical mass entrepreneurial basis of the Guilds

36. The pioneering of the miniaturising of indoor and outdoor furnishings and functional facilities for all housing within the area (based on the Japanese principles) that miniaturize appliances and household amenities and maximize space. Creating industries out of this.

37. The creation of high yield farming industries like Talapiya and backyard farming and the training of a cadre of residents as fulltime farmers offsite in areas like Aranguez, Central, etc

38. That meetings be had with all national Chambers of Commerce, Rotaries, Trade Associations, etc for the relocation of certain heavy industry, manufacturing, financial services and commercial areas back into the community on a phased basis once certain benchmarks are met

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THE EAST PORT OF SPAIN HERITAGE CITY AND CULTURAL REHABILITATION PROJECT POSSIBLY THE MOST IMPORTANT PROGRAMME DECLARED IN THE ENTIRE BUDGET. WHY?

• BECAUSE EAST PORT OF SPAIN IS THE CRUCIBLE OF PAN, MAS AND CALYPSO AND COULD ARGUABLY BE SAID TO BE THE SOUL OF THE NATION.

• BECAUSE THE COLLPASE OF THIS COMMUNITY AND ITS DESCENT INTO VIOLENCE AND DESPAIR HAS SPREAD NATIONWIDE AND IS HOLDING THE ENTIRE COUNTRY- EVERY SECTOR IN IT- TO RANSOM.

• BECAUSE THE POWER OF THIS COMMUNITY IS THAT IN RENAISSANCE OR APOCALYPSE THIS COMMUNITY WILL CARRY THE REST OF THE COUNTRY WITH IT…

THE COMMUNITY OF EAST PORT OF SPAIN & TRINIDAD’S GOLDEN AGE 1930- 1950 During T&T’s Golden Age the gangs and marginal boys of T&T converted themselves into cultural Secret Societies. One set became panmen- orchestras and bands where they became musicians, inventors, entrepreneurs, scientists, managers and artists. Another set converted themselves into secret societies that created Traditional Mas characters and small, medium and large size Mas bands- eventually spreading that gospel to over 200 places all over the world. Yet another set created Calypso Tents and created the entire apparatus and aesthetic form of the Calypso that became a global form of music. This cultural triad is worth more than $15 Billion worldwide annually and has influenced the lives of tens of millions of people and changed the nature of societies all over the Old and New World. All of this was spawned by those ‘gang boys’ of East Port of Spain. They were never thanked nor rewarded. No industries were refined from out of their Gifts. The communities around these Genius Artisans collapsed into becoming ghettoes. The current mission is to take the gifts and transformative cultural processes of the Golden Age and institutionalize them and replicate the best aspects of their capacity to rehabilitate and provide purpose and pathways. The E POS Project is about unleashing the Genius of marginalized peoples and finally crowning a community which has given this nation its Identity and Soul.

IMPLEMENTATION SCHEDULE: 1. Create a committee charged with creating and implementing the masterplan through consultation.

This committee should comprise of: • David Abdullah and FITUN- as the driving force behind the project and its political touchstone • East Port of Spain Council of Community Organisations- the legitimate community representative

organization and the liason with the community • ACTT- touchstone with the creative community • The Ministry of National Security- the protective services have an important role to play

2. Assemble the stakeholder organizations for consultation, which include: • Mayor of Port of Spain • MPs for the Area • The JCC (Architect’s Association, Engineers, Contractor’s etc) • The National Trust • Pan Trinbago with resident pansides- Tokyo, Renegades, Casablanca, Despers, All Stars, etc • Office of Law Enforcement Policy (OLEP) • South East Port of Spain Secondary School • Principals of all Primary and Secondary Primary Schools • Downtown Merchants Association including the Chinese Associations of Port of Spain • St. Vincent de Paul Society • All religious organizations operating in the area • Ivan Laughlin- major planning consultant

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The Trinity of Mas, Pan, and Calypso were forged in the crucible of East Port of Spain

They were formed by mostly ‘gang-boys’ converted into Mas bands, Orchestras, and Calypso Tents

Their inventions spawned one of the greatest cultural movements of the 20th Century. There are now 300 Trini-style

Carnivals worldwide worth over $15 Billion. Its birthplace needs to be consecrated & rewarded.

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THE EAST PORT OF SPAIN HERITAGE CITY AND CULTURAL REHABILITATION PROJECT cont’d

PUSH & PULL

The E POS Heritage City and the rehabilitation project must be an integrated, multi-tiered, multi-dimensional programme with culture-based, architectural-based, police-based, counseling-based and social-programme-based solutions. These programmes must be creatively harmonized and resolved- the PUSH & PULL factors must be scheduled and deployed simultaneously. The choreography of how these programmes are deployed is crucial. The processes by which these programmes are created, staffed and sustained are as important and critical as the results themselves. Law enforcement must provide the PUSH- progressive social programmes must provide the PULL. They must work together… This is also not just an architectural exercise- this is fundamentally about people. People who historically have been amongst our most creative citizens and who have gifted this country with a multi-billion dollar multi-tiered carnival and creative industry. These people have reciprocally been marginalized into extreme poverty and dependence and into cycles of intercommunity violence and criminality that now threaten the entire nation. The challenge is to reverse the current polarity which is towards disintegration and instead redirect it towards individual and communal empowerment so that they become amongst the most productive and significant contributors to our national patrimony. CREATE POLES OF STENGTH & INFLUENCE We must create Poles of Strength around existing community institutions and cultural strongholds that have resisted historical patterns of marginalization and overt oppression. These centres must be resourced, redefined and recalibrated as rooted but modern, purpose-built, people-centred, and creatively administrated institutions. This redesign of these institutions must be architectural and programme-based and must come from the real needs and solutions created by the people. The idea is to have the 90,000 people of East Port of Spain- in all their various communities- all serviced by a series of interlocking civic institutions that are harmonized around the idea of the best ideals of the Community. The institutions that must be the central points of resource, redesign and activity are:

• Community Centres- completely redesigned with a minimum set of specifications • Panyards- using the Lloyd Best Schools-in-Pan model with an architectural re-outfitting • Heritage Sites- the Memory Sites of the community that connect it to its best Self • Sports Grounds- must be plentiful including innovative ideas like SMALL GOAL PITCHES • Schools- must be completely re-envisioned along the best-practice lines stated • Churches- have their place in the provision of spiritual and social guidance for congregations

LIVING HERITAGE SITES:

The Chopin Benches in Warsaw play the music of the city’s genius and provide a map where other benches are located. Heritage buildings become Libraries, Restaurants, and Museums… A Heritage City is not an embalmed dead relic. It is a vibrant and living community that happens to be living in a Site of Memory. But here in T&T it goes further. Golden Age forms are still very much alive, vital and continually evolving whilst obeying tradition

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Different visions of Heritage Cities. The Strand Arcade is a modern mall, Old Havana recreates an older past

Old Venice utlises its Carnival Tradition as a living testament- Old Havana is a hub of cultural activity

In Europe many sites are lovingly preserved & reconstructed, Paris however chooses to mix the old with the new

Even the Laventille hillside can be treated in many ways as this image of the central Mexican city of Guanajuato shows… Meanwhile many Heritage Cities are famous for their pedestrian streets and outdoor, corridor and indoor cafes and places for meeting, relaxation, and eating. The culinary traditions of the region then become a major attraction and industries in themselves. There are many possibilities. It may be useful to think of East Port of Spain in zones- each charged with a particular character and responsibility: a purely Preserved Heritage zone; a zone of mixed modern and traditional; a Museum and Performance based zone; low, middle and high income residential zones; a business zone; a civic zone; a nightlife zone; a Festival and Ritual zone; etc

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THE SOUTH EAST PORT OF SPAIN HERITAGE CITY AND CULTURAL REHABILITATION PROJECT cont’d

PUSH & PULL cont’d

THE MAP: A GEOGRAPHICAL MAP MUST BE CREATED OFTHE ENTIRE COMMUNITY HIGHLIGHTING THE POSITIONS OF ALL THE MAJOR CIVIC INSTITUTIONS WHICH ARE IDENTIFIED AS POLES OF POWER. THE ENTIRE COMMUNITY MUST BE DESIGNED IN SUCH A WAY THAT EVERY SINGLE PERSON IS SERVICED BY AT LEAST TWO OR THREE OF THESE SIGNFICANT CENTRES WITHIN THEIR RADII. Consultations within the community have conceived of a series of indigenous organizations which are deemed critical to their advancement and must be central to the implementation of any East Port of Spain Developmental Plan. These newly created institutions must be almost 100% owned by the community and will form its institutional wealth:

• The Credit Union (CU)- will be the central financial institution of the 90,000 residents of E POS • The Super Market chain- includes labeling, bottling-glass blowing industries- owned by the CU • The Guild of Master Carpenters- this Guild will service reconstruction of all Heritage buildings • The African School- primary, secondary, tertiary level institutions based on African principles • Green Technology Centre- the re-design of E POS is based on Green Principles • The Reclamation of Carnival Industries- Music Trucks, Sound Systems, Stages, Lights, Caterers,

Drinks- East Port of Spain will be situating itself at the centre of the global Carnival Industry

THE MAJOR INDUSTRIES: There must be manufacturing-based industries that offer mass-employment that can be situated in the area. These offer downstream community improvement energies by attracting downstream businesses- banking, restaurants, service industries, gas stations, etc. The mass-employment industries include:

• Mas- A Mas Assembly Factory must be situated in E POS. • Pan- A pan manufacturing and chroming facility must be situated in E POS • Talapiya- Low-impact high yield farming like Talapiya farming should be introduced in E POS • Food- Food processing on a cottage and macro level can also be introduced • African School/ Baptist School/ Orisha School- The school is not just for E POS, the model can then

be patented, branded, franchised and exported. The Crime Situation in Morvant/ Lavantille The holism of the E POS plan is the most powerful anti-crime vehicle that exists. This is about the reclamation of a people. There are existing plans conceived by the Ministry of National Security and the Office of Law Enforcement Policy (OLEP). These must be co-ordinated with the larger plan and must contain best practice programmes created for maximum community participation to ensure results. At the same time the armed services should be allowed to do their job to the best of their ability. The progressive policies and programmes constitute the pull in the community- policing that makes the life of crime uncomfortable and un-romantic will provide the push. Both activities must act in concert. THE COMMUNITY PAN PROJECT: The National inter-community Pan Competition for 7-side youth combos of 4 pans and 3 other instruments in June/July/August 2011 will be one of the major activities taking place in the community which can dynamise a lot of the talent. Like many of the other programmes they depend on their success on the wider architecture of reforms that must take place in the sector.

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THE EAST PORT OF SPAIN HERITAGE CITY AND CULTURAL REHABILITATION PROJECT cont’d

INTERNATIONAL BEST PRACTICES There are a number of cities and areas in the world that have had similar problems to East Port of Spain and who have developed best-practice models in the reclamation of collapsing urban centres. RELEVANT MODELS:

• Harlem- Geoffrey Canada has created what has been called one of the most ambitious social experiments to alleviate poverty in our lifetime. His laboratory is a 97-block neighborhood in Harlem, which he has flooded with a wide array of social, medical and educational services available for free to the 10,000 children who live there. It is called the "Harlem Children's Zone." There's one adult for every six students, classes are smaller and school days longer. Kids come in on Saturdays and summer vacation only lasts three weeks. Discipline is strict and so is the dress code. To teach kids healthy eating habits, there are cooking classes using ingredients from the school's own organic garden. And if any of the kids get sick, an on-site clinic provides free medical, mental health and even dental care. Canada calls his school the "Promise Academy.” Canada's pipeline begins at birth, at the baby college, a nine-week workshop that teaches new mothers and fathers how to parent. It also teaches them how to prepare their kids for elementary school. For toddlers, there are free pre-Kindergarten classes that focus on developing language skills, even in French and Spanish. Canada has also put reading labs in public elementary schools in the zone, and created an SAT tutoring center for teens. Ninety percent of the zone's public high school students who participated in Canada's after-school programs now go on to college. President Obama announced plans to create 20 "Promise Neighborhoods" across the country

• Columbia- “Our most beautiful buildings must be in our poorest areas,” the words and policy of former mayor Sergio Fajardo which has made Columbia’s Medellín- once the murder capital of the world- a showcase for innovative urban planning and social policies. Drops in crime rates and murders in areas were rewarded by major community infrastructural and institutional improvements. A striking library designed by Giancarlo Mazzanti that resembles three massive black boulders was sited on a hilltop in a barrio once known only for drug violence and death. An elevated gondola tramway connects many poor and neglected neighborhoods to the rest of the city. Schools and community centers were built, and expenditures on education received a massive increase, totaling 40 percent of the city’s annual $900 million budget. The murder rate has been reduced by 90%.

• Brazil- 2 programmes developed by Brazilian musical superstar Carlinhos Brown have transformed his childhood slum of Candeal into a national musical warehouse. Brown’s Pracatum Association has now made music a way of life, creating professional possibilities for young people from the community and training them in musical professions. The population’s partnership with public and private institutions has transformed the traditional image of Brazilian favelas (urban slums) and has transformed the neighborhood of Candeal into a community development model which has gained national and international recognition. His other program Tá Rebocado (It’s Plastered) developed a methodology founded on community-based, participative and democratic construction-work. The interventions main aims are to better infra-structure, housing and community equipment, income, health and environment. Tá Rebocado bases its actions on opinion polls, census data, weekly community meetings, socio-economic studies and photo documentation.

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“Our most beautiful buildings must be in our poorest areas,” the words that transformed Columbia’s Medellín

Reductions in violence were rewarded with beautiful buildings. The most beautiful are libraries and centres.

Former mayor Sergio Fajardo and the tramcars that now connect the favellos with the city and services

The programmes have reduced crime by 90%. Medillin- once murder capital of the world is now a tourist attraction.

The programmes have also won numerous international awards and monetary grants.

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Communally-built hand-crafted buildings using indigenous materials. ‘El Sistema’- Venezuela’s historic music

programme at work in the community. It has enrolled nearly 400,000 young people in it since its inception

The Promise Centre, centre of the Harlem Children’s Zone- the revolutionary educational district

Children who were once doomed to a life of poverty are now enrolled in top Universities and Colleges

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THE EAST PORT OF SPAIN HERITAGE CITY AND CULTURAL REHABILITATION PROJECT cont’d

INTERNATIONAL BEST PRACTICES cont’d

• Venezuela- The State Foundation for the National System of Youth and Children's Orchestras -"El Sistema" originally called Social Action for Music- gives children a clean shirt, lunch and admission to a new world of music, camaraderie and empowerment. Nearly 400,000 children have passed through Venezuela's state-funded classical music program since it was founded 30 years ago. Eighty-five percent of the Venezuelan students come from low-income and working-class families and it has saved tens of thousands from the life of poverty and crime. Practicing three to four hours a day, five days a week in neighborhood centers, plus all day on weekends at the higher levels, the students make stunningly fast technical progress, learning to play with a cohesion and flair. There is also a network of 102 youth and 55 children's orchestras.

• LA Harmony Music Project- Harmony Project, an LA-based non-profit is making thousands of the most vulnerable kids in Los Angeles commit their non-school hours to learning to play a musical instrument in Harmony Project youth orchestras and jazz ensembles. Hundreds more fill waiting lists for a chance to receive an instrument and begin lessons. Harmony Project youth orchestras and jazz ensembles are "youth gangs" with a difference. They save lives.

• The Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls in South Africa- The Leadership Academy is a girls-only boarding school that officially opened in January 2007. Inspired by her own "humble beginnings" and disadvantaged background, Oprah Winfrey stated that she founded the Leadership Academy to provide educational and leadership opportunities for academically gifted girls from impoverished backgrounds in South Africa who exhibited leadership qualities for making a difference in the world.

One of the Academy’s goals is to create leaders who will give back to the community, and the campaign to encourage this form of leadership has been dubbed OWLAGive which has young people between the ages of 14 and 16 devote 3000 hours for community outreach programmes. In the fall of 2008, 225 of the Academy's students partnered with the non-profit organisation Habitat for Humanity to build 11 low-cost houses over two days for disadvantaged families in Orange Farm, south of Johannesburg. The girls mixed cement, laid bricks and toiled on the different building sites.

Winfrey defended her decision to establish the Leadership Academy in South Africa by offering the following observation: “I think the reason not just Africa but the world is in the state that it is is because of a lack of leadership on all levels of government ... and particularly in regard to schools and schooling for poor children. ... The best way to effect change long term is to ... give children exposure and opportunity and nurture them to understand their own power and possibility.

As her rationale for the lavishness of the school, Winfrey continued by saying that "[i]f you are surrounded by beautiful things and wonderful teachers who inspire you, that beauty brings out the beauty in you.” To change how women are viewed, Winfrey added during an interview, one must look for an opportunity "'to change the paradigm, to change the way not only these girls think ... but to also change the way a culture feels about what women can do.'

One of the academy's most vocal fans has been Nelson Mandela, who called Winfrey his hero because she understood that South Africa's gains in democracy would be nullified unless future generations were educated.

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THE HOUSE OF MUSIC: THE PROCESS OF CREATING THE HOUSE OF MUSIC IS AS IMPORTANT AS THE BUILDING ITSELF. A RENAISSANCE IN THE VARIOUS FORMS AND AGES OF LOCAL MUSIC MUST ACCOMPANY THE CREATION OF THIS FACILITY.

1. Immediately acquire the collections of the 3 largest collectors of memorabilia and music that exist. These are George Maharaj’s collection from Canada, and Shawn Randoo’s and Teddy Pinhero’s in Trinidad- after they are appraised. Other missing pieces can be acquired from the collection of Dennis ‘Sprangalang’ Hall and others.

2. This takes care of the artifacts/hardware- but there is an entire process of software collection that must be engaged.

3. Ray Funk from Alaska has begun the process of converting much of the materials into this ‘soft-copy’ and must be paid to facilitate this exercise.

4. Digital storage must be acquired for this material.

5. The 8 greatest collectors (Maharaj, Randoo, Funk, Hall, Pinehro, Scientist, Robin Forster, Sprang) should immediately be employed as core curators and preservationists around whom the staffing of the facility should be built. They should be immediately employed to begin the process of curating the assembled artifacts.

6. Accompanying the curators, a committee must be set up to oversee the process of the House of Music. This committee should include: ACTT; Prof. Gordon Rohlher; Caldeo Sookram; Kim Johnson; Zeno Constance; Rawle Gibbons; and Professor Maureen Warner Lewis.

7. A multi-purposed curated Heritage warehouse must be created to store all acquired artifacts until they find their intended homes in the completed House of Music

8. An appropriate site must be located for the House of Music. The premiere possibility is a one-block multi-functional complex based around the Christopher Brothers Recording and Radio Studio Heritage Site on the bottom of #7 Nelson Street- the oldest site of recording nationally.

9. The multi-functional Heritage Complex must be built around the restoration of the actual Christopher Brothers Recording site. It must contain: interactive multi-media displays; performance based-sites that replicate certain eras of local music (musicians, dancers and technicians are permanently employed); a classically arranged museum with all the archives of music, memorabilia, fashion, etc of the eras; a theatre; Restaurant, stages, Museum Store, modern audio-visual museum displays including cinemas and AV rooms.

10. The House of Music site is the centerpiece of the larger reclamation and development of East Port of Spain as a Heritage City. The Entire House of Music complex block is made up of meticulously conserved, restored and re-created buildings and/or architectural facades of the Golden Age era. These are living Heritage sites where live performances are a daily occurrence.

11. The site also must be the seat of the Renaissance of the local recording scene with a vinyl record-pressing facility (alongside modern methods) conceived and administrated by Pedro Mulrain aka Scientist, an international advocate for the return of vinyl recording.

12. Project Memory’s oral and visual histories are critical to this enterprise; with books and TV programmes, etc

13. Scholarships must be offered for curators, sculptors and public art persons who can realize the intentions of the facility at the highest possible standard

14. The roll-out of this facility is contingent on the work schedule of the East Port of Spain Project

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THE HOUSE OF MUSIC cont’d

14. The process of digitizing the music to the highest standard must be engaged immediately. Professor Yoichi Watanabe at the UTT must lead this project.

15. The Guild of Masters graduating apprentice classes (the Guilds of the Brass Band tradition, East Indian musics, African and East Indian Drumming, etc) will form the House of Music’s core cadre of musicians and performers who are versed in all eras of local music

The House of Music could be the entire block of lower Nelson Street from the historic Christopher’s Record Shop

It must be a faithfully reconstructed Heritage Building complex like Carnegie Hall with Halls like these below

The building would feature modern digital exhibition displays as well as Heritage based performance spaces

Naturally the full recording legacy of T&T will be on display- the 2nd oldest recording industry In the world

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Displays of historic photographs of our multi-ethnic musical legacy; also book, record, CD and online libraries

Displays of old phonographs, historic instruments… An earphone tour and interactive displays will abound

The world’s first platinum album, ethnographic documents, modern multi-platinum local artists all find a home

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HERITAGE SITES HERITAGE SITES MUST BE SEEN AS VECTORS OF MEMORY, CITTIZENSHIP, ART AND COMMERCE. THE CENTRE OF OUR DOMESTIC AND INTERNATIONAL TOURISM MUST BE THE CREATION OF BRILLIANT HERITAGE SITES

1. The list of the to-be-protected sites must be released in 2 months time to operationalise the National Trust/Heritage Legislation and the list of protected sites needs to be considerably increased.

2. There must be 365 principal sites- one for each day of the year- which sets up a mythology that every citizen would love to have visited each one at least once in their lifetime.

3. The Ministry of Tourism must understand that these sites are firstly sites of domestic tourism but are also our prime international tourism destinations.

4. There will be a hierarchy of sites from fully subsidized sites right up to multi-million dollar foreign exchange earning super-entrepreneurial sites.

5. The board of the National Trust must include members of bodies such as: Citizens for Conservation; TTFILM, the Architects Association, the Chaguaramas Development Authority, the JCC, and ACTT.

6. There must be the creation of a committee to perform alongside the National Trust to assist in the fulfillment of the expanded mandate for Heritage Sites and to expedite the rolling out of the Policy.

7. The East Port of Spain Heritage City should be a multi-agency project involving all stakeholders TWO CULTURAL INDUSTRIAL COMPLEXES TO BE SITUATED WITHIN EAST PORT OF SPAIN:

1. PAN INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX: T&T can begin placing itself at the centre of pan manufacturing and production in the world- and the seat of pan in East Port of Spain can provide the human capital for this enterprise

2. CARNIVAL INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX: A costume production facility for the 300 Trini-styled carnivals world-wide

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