Sculptors’ Dilemma; Industry in need of Govt. ‘Bail out’ too

Take a walk along Main Street’s Avenue in Guyana’s Capital City, Georgetown, just in the gaze of the country’s Central Bank and ‘Art’ is on display daily.
Any tourist, resident or passerby will be met with the staple of the locale, ‘sculptors at work’ along with their exquisite creations.
Caribbean Trakker sat with one such sculptor today and learned of a humble proposal that would have in the past, seemingly fallen on deaf ears.
Brentnol Lewis is a 45 year-old sculptor, who for greater part of the last 20 years,been plying his trade at the popular Georgetown locale, neighboring the National Library.
“Buy our pieces and give some as gifts to those many foreign delegates that would visit.”
This is the call on behalf of his colleague artists, to the Guyana Government particularly the Culture Ministry and Office of the President.
The sculptor says that the industry desperately needs help in order to survive.
“I do it for both, the money and the love” says Lewis as he explains “I have a family to take care of.”
The sculptor says that over the years he has had to eke out a living depending not only on his talent as an artist.
Lewis lamented that the craft, though recognized on the international scene as quality pieces, aren’t respected as much by the local populace.
“The Arts and Crafts Producer Association along with the Ministry of Tourism, they try to boost up it,” said Lewis as it relates to support to the industry from the administration, “but we not seeing that boost as yet.”
His suggestion in the interim in terms of tangible support to the industry, “buying pieces from us…when they have their visitors, they could buy pieces from us and give to the visitors.”