Next Week's History Forum: Pat Stafford on "Sailor's Valentines: The True Story of the Belgrave Brothers"

Historic Bridgetown and its Garrison and the Creative City Pt. 3

By, Dr. Tara Inniss, Department of History and Philosophy, Cave Hill Campus

How can Historic Bridgetown and its Garrison become a Creative City?

The key to the success of Historic Bridgetown and its Garrison is Entrepreneurship and Creative Thinking through culture and heritage. Entrepreneurship has historically been a central unifying activity within Bridgetown. The creativity and ingenuity required for our enslaved ancestors “to make a way out of no way”, suggests that entrepreneurship and creativity are not unknown competencies for Barbadians. It would be fitting and necessary in the preservation and enhancement of Historic Bridgetown and its Garrison’s legacy for us to challenge ourselves to think of the many contributions we can make in the same spirit as those who have gone before.

Revitalizing Historic Bridgetown and its Garrison as a Creative City will require several inputs that require policy development and planning. The process will also need public-private sector partnerships that will incentivize local businesses and communities to awaken the potential of the creative city. Interested parties should look to the recent Cultural Industries legislation to assess whether these incentives for heritage and cultural development are adequate. By creating spaces where people can participate in entertainment and culture, while also being inspired by the past, Historic Bridgetown and its Garrison can become a Creative City.

Some examples of how this can be achieved include the following:

1.    Creating a Safe, Clean and Accessible City: This is the first priority for all of the ‘grand’ ideas that will come next, but it is vitally important to the island’s health and safety if we invest in good lighting, pedestrian-friendly sidewalks that are safe to navigate and proper sanitation, including ample garbage bins, recycling facilities and public conveniences. These are basic, necessary and fundamental investments in the health and well-being of the City's residents and visitors. For this reason alone, the site should have a designated Property Manager.

2.    Revitalize the ‘Living City’: 24/7 Cultural and Entertainment Programming with bars and restaurants for after-work ‘limes’, galleries, live music, etc.

3.     Harness the Creative Energy of the Past: Use the historical/ heritage values of the site to engage with the achievements and tensions of the past for creative purposes – let our young artists engage with the city’s landscape and to use it for cultural production.

4.     Develop Festivals, Events and Fairs: Build on existing programmes to create a calendar of events with the aid of a Cultural Programme Coordinator.

5.   Establish a Creative Hub: Use historic buildings for accessible and affordable creative incubators for people to meet, talk, work, exchange, perform and visit.

6.   Cluster (spatially) cultural and economic activities: Locate artisan manufacture and markets in traditional marketing areas

7.  Create Cultural Corridors: Link existing and historic buildings and spaces into places where visitors can experience museums, sport, theatre, entertainment and dining.

8.   Adaptive re-use of built heritage: Use our warehouses, port spaces, and buildings like Marshall Hall and Empire Theatre for studios, galleries, theatre spaces and entertainment areas with innovative dining options. If we take examples from other historic cities, there are a range of services in addition to incentives that are offered to property owners, including affordable access to Historic Restoration Designers/ Architects; Land Use Plans outlining potential property functions; Architectural renderings that provide a vision for heritage corridors.

9. Develop the potential of heritage resources: Utilize museums, libraries, and our vibrant intangible heritage to inspire, promote and display creativity.

10. Develop Artist-centre tourism and marketing products: Develop tour guiding resources; using technology to create apps/ downloads/ podcasts for interactive walking tours, music and art history.

The creation and designation of creative spaces will also stimulate economic opportunities for individuals and businesses in several skilled employment fields including: built environment practice (architects, planners, restoration trades, etc.) and tourism and hospitality (hotels, tour operators, food and beverage; vending, etc.). But, there are also a variety of emerging skills and expertise that is required in making this inscription and the continued development of the property a success, including: heritage practitioners (archaeologists, curators, designers, architects); community-based organisations (community-based action groups; advocates; youth leaders; etc) and cultural practitioners (artists, performers, musicians, etc.)

Barbadians can come together to reaffirm what is needed in the culture sector to ensure that what Government and the private sector support, develop and promote in terms of culture and cultural industries remain reflective, relevant and dynamic to all Barbadians, and especially our youth. The culture and heritage of Historic Bridgetown and its Garrison can be used as sustainable tools in Barbados’ economic development if we all have the vision use the patrimony built by our ancestors to harness the past and inspire creativity in the future.

Historic Bridgetown and its Garrison and The Creative City Pt. 2

By, Dr. Tara A. Inniss

Department of History and Philosophy, Cave Hill Campus, UWI

What is a Creative City?

Creative cities are urban centres that inspire creative thinking among the people who live and work in them. People bring creative thinking to life and they become the human capital of a city’s economy. In 2001 (a decade before Historic Bridgetown and its Garrison was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage property) The United Nations Declaration on Cities and Other Human Settlements in the New Millennium, stated ‘We welcome the economic role of cities and towns in our globalizing world and the progress made in forging public-private partnerships and strengthening small enterprises and micro-enterprises. Cities and towns hold the potential to maximise the benefits and to offset the negative consequences of globalization. Well-managed cities can provide an economic environment capable of generating employment opportunities, as well as offering a diversity of goods and services.’

Over the past decade, small and medium-sized cities in Europe, many of which have historic urban centres, have been investing in the development of their creative potential. Culture and heritage are seen as key planks for urban regeneration and the development of the creative industries. In fact, throughout industrialized urban markets, the culture sector is seen as a necessary aspect of public spending that can stimulate job creation and economic development. Industries that promote multimedia (TV, radio and film) and events organised around the culinary, musical, theatrical and literary arts can encourage innovation and small business development in the creative industries.

Research suggests that the stimulation of creativity in urban spaces is often the result of a variety of factors, including government-led policy and programming that engages meaningfully with the private sector to form partnerships that stimulate entrepreneurship and small enterprise development. There is also a number of planning activities in historic centres that can also support creative development. Of course, at the core of any society embarking on the creative economy, there must be talented people who drive innovation and who are skilled in art, design, fashion, music and performance.

Policy makers and planners, especially those responsible for the built environment, must find ways to leverage cultural assets by designating spaces for the development of the creative arts, not only within schools, but also in public spaces that are used for recreation, commerce, and tourism. They must understand the needs of creative people to network, exhibit and exchange ideas in order to attract and retain a talented and creative workforce. This cannot only be achieved in a rigid education system in which grammar and mathematics are privileged above other life skills. Increasingly, younger generations need to participate in dynamic spaces that encourage critical and creative thinking through technology while also reflecting on their history, culture and identity.

Therefore, creativity-friendly spaces are needed for all generations to reflect and innovate. The UNESCO World Heritage property, Old and New Towns of Edinburgh in Scotland is a good example of how an historic urban centre has leveraged the creative potential of its heritage to unlock economic benefits through culture. Home to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, which is the largest arts festival in the world, Edinburgh has retained its historic fabric through adaptive reuse and complimentary modern design to host a variety of performance artists every August in an event that generates over £1 million in ticket sales per year.

A 2011 BBC report assessed the value of almost a dozen annual festivals (including science, storytelling, jazz and military tattoo festivals) in Edinburgh at over £260 million in visitor spending. One figure out of the report suggested that for every £1 of public subsidy, festivals generated £35 in visitor spending. Moreover, the potential of job creation in the hospitality sector as well as the stimulation of theatre arts, scientific and technological innovation in the historic centre are clear. And festivals or event planning are only a couple of examples of the economic potential of the creative city.

Research also suggests that Creative Cities need special assets to stimulate innovation. It is not surprising that like several small and medium historic centres in Europe where this model is being pursued, Historic Bridgetown and its Garrison displays similar historic and contemporary attributes for the successful planning of the creative city. See Fig. 1

Fig. 1 Past and Present Features of Historic Bridgetown and its Garrison -- Ingredients for a Creative City

Many of the factors that provided UNESCO with the justification to inscribe Historic Bridgetown and its Garrison as a World Heritage property also fuel the site’s creative engine and its economic potential. The Statement of Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) highlighted that, Historic Bridgetown and its Garrison participated in the international trade of goods and the transmission of ideas and cultures that characterized colonial enterprise in the Atlantic World. Today, Bridgetown is poised to continue this tradition through the protection and enhancement of the OUV of its tangible and intangible heritage and provide spaces for creativity and the transmission of ideas and cultures in our globalizing world.

Historic Bridgetown and its Garrison and the Creative City Pt. I

Historic Bridgetown and its Garrison – A Creative City

By, Dr. Tara Inniss

Department of History and Philosophy, Cave Hill Campus, UWI

Barbados’ pursuit of World Heritage status for several of its outstanding cultural and natural heritage sites, including Historic Bridgetown and its Garrison, has not only been to earn foreign exchange or diversify our tourism product, the Government of Barbados also recognizes that our tangible and intangible culture and heritage will help to root the nation in the shifting notions of identity in a post-colonial and globalising world. In terms of our development goals, heritage policy and programmes will also help us to come to terms with some of the more challenging parts of our history, while also binding us to the most ingenious and creative parts of it as well.  

When Historic Bridgetown and its Garrison obtained World Heritage status in June, 2011, it was a tremendous achievement for Barbados and the Caribbean. It was the first time that the culture and contributions of African-descended urban working peoples were recognized for their role in shaping the British Atlantic World. On a global level, this recognition was momentous as there are very few World Heritage sites that recognize the contributions of enslaved Africans in the development of the modern world. On a national level, it meant that Barbadians would have to come to terms with a painful history of exploitation and enslavement in order to take full advantage of the designation’s education and tourism potential.

But alas, this year marks five years of the inscription of the property, and as we achieved the status in the midst of a crippling economic downturn, we are still awaiting key investments in the promotion of the island’s heritage. The challenge remains that World Heritage must be our heritage first, before it becomes part of the world’s heritage. To put it quite simply – we have to own it and rock it!

Historic Bridgetown and its Garrison is a tangible reminder of what and who have gone before, while also being a site where we can all continue to participate in the activities that have left an indelible mark on the cultural landscape and economic development of the island and its relationship to the world.

The Nomination Dossier for Historic Bridgetown and its Garrison, explores both the tangible and intangible aspects of our urban history and culture with the goals of:

1. Raising awareness and appreciation at the Community and National levels about the Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) of our unique urban history where peoples were drawn from every corner of the world to help shape the Barbados we know today; and

 2. Articulating at the international level, the global importance of this small colonial port city on the edge of the Caribbean Sea that took a central place in the British Atlantic system of trade and commerce.

The inscription engages, in a dynamic way, several of the activities that have shaped the personality and character of the streetscape and the people who have inhabited it for generations. It addresses the military, cultural, religious, administrative and architectural heritage of Historic Bridgetown and its Garrison from its spontaneous development as a medieval-style English port town in the Atlantic World to a hub for regional trade and migration. It is descriptive of several first stages in the development of a modern Independent Barbados. It is quite clear to all Barbadians (and the rest of the world) that Historic Bridgetown and its Garrison has with justification an Outstanding Universal Value to the heritage of humankind.

Historic Bridgetown and its Garrison can never only be valued for the buildings and monuments that represent European power and dominance during the colonial period. The values of the site are inherent in the stories of the diverse cultures and peoples who inhabited and built the urban space -- and especially the enslaved Africans and working-class peoples who worked and lived in the colonial port town and who created a vibrant Creolised culture exhibiting all of the ingenuity and creativity of a new culture and identity borne out of survival.

As we begin to embrace all of the aspects of this heritage we can also start to bring more awareness to the 20^th century development of Bridgetown and Barbados as it moved into a period of political and social upheaval in the 1930s and the subsequent development resulting in a modern democratic Barbados.

Historic Bridgetown and its Garrison: Street Performance and Performance in the Street

Street Performance and Performance in the Street

By, Dr. Tara Inniss, Department of History and Philosophy , Cave Hill Campus, UWI

William Shakespeare once wrote, “All the world’s a stage.” Well, Bridgetown was certainly a stage. The streetscape was a creative space in which informal performances were an important part of the entertainment scene in Bridgetown. Street performers were a common sight in Bridgetown with visitors often reporting the musical talents of Barbadians who used improvised instruments to make music and sing. 

Many Barbadian popular Barbadian musicians can trace their origins to Bridgetown. Jackie Opel (1938-1970) was born in Chapman Lane and spent much of his time as a youth in the Nelson Street area listening to jazz ad his idol, Jackie Wilson. He later went on to develop the popular Barbadian artform, Spouge, which was heavily influenced by calypso and ska. Together with the Troubadours, they made spouge famous throughout the region. On March 9, 1970, Opel lost his life in a tragic car accident on Bay Street.[1]

Other musicians, such as the Merrymen’s Emil Straker, grew up in the folk music traditions of the town hearing classic folk songs and melodies being played at gatherings of family and friends. Before radio and television became a dominant form of home entertainment, middle-class Barbadians would visit one another on weekends to exchange the week’s news and sometimes engage in some light musical fare. It was also very common to see village communities involved singing competitions amongst choral groups.

Such traditions of informal gatherings were rooted in the city’s working class past where the streets hosted brams and dances and strolling musicians. After emancipation, many visitors commented on gatherings such as the Joan (or Joe) and Johnny dances held in Roebuck Street and Collymore Rock. Brams were held in Cheapside. More illicit activities such as cockfights and gambling were also popular in the residential districts of the city, such as Rebitt’s Land in the Nelson Street area. St. Ambrose Church, constructed in 1846, coincidentally was built right on top of the cockfighting ground. Later, after the nearby General Hospital was built, the Hospital’s Board of Directors complained about hearing the “banja,” tambourines and flutes being played from behind the hospital’s walls which disturbed patients.[2] Such music was regularly performed in the street at all hours and there were several measures put in place to limit their performance with some reports that policemen chased them off Broad Street.[3]

Various forms of masquerade were also performed, usually around Crop Over in the rural districts, such as stilt walking; Mother Sally, Bank Holiday Bear or Shaggy Bear, etc. Variations on these forms of masquerade can be found throughout the Caribbean and demonstrate a direct cultural link to African forms of masquerade. Eventually, these forms of masquerade became the traditional costumes associated with Crop Over performance and Barbadian cultural performance. For more information on the origins of Barbadian masquerade, visit Clothes Tell Stories about the Barbados Museum and Historical Society’s 2012 exhibition, “Leaves to Beads: 100 Years of Costume Design.”

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[1] Carrington et al., A-Z of Barbados Heritage: 196.

[2] Director’s Minutes (1889-1892), General Hospital. 1 Aug. 1889. HOSP 1/3 Barbados Department of Archives.

[3] Burrowes, "Popular Culture and the Arts in Bridgetown, 1787-1932," 136-40.

[4] Burrowes, "Popular Culture and the Arts in Bridgetown, 1787-1932."

Historic Bridgetown and its Garrison: Literary Traditions

By, Tara A. Inniss

Carnegie Library

Barbadians have always placed a great value on education and literacy. At the height of English settlement of the Americas in the 17^th and 18^th centuries, Barbados was at the centre of a vibrant book trade between England and its American colonies. In 1777, a Literary Society was established in Barbados (located in Literary Row near to St. Mary’s Church). In 1814, a Library Association was established in 1814. Like those established in Britain at the same time, these were private organisations and meeting places for learned Barbadians who were members.

In 1847, an Act was passed to establish a “Public Library and Museum in this Island” which was three years before the first public libraries legislation in Britain. The Public Library was first located in nearby Codd’s House and was endowed with the Literary Society’s and Library Association’s collections. In 1874, the Public Library was moved to the Public (Parliament) Buildings.

In the early 20^th century, Scottish-American philanthropist Andrew Carnegie sponsored the construction of a free library and in 1904 the Carnegie Library was opened to the public in 1906. It is now part of the National Library Service (established in 1985). The library has been temporarily re-located to Independence Square until the building can be restored. Its collections date to the 18^th century. It was the first of his public libraries to be opened outside of North America and the United Kingdom.

In dire need of restoration, it is one of the buildings that have been targeted for immediate restoration. It is a coral stone building built in the English Renaissance style.

Literary Talent

Building on a legacy of literacy and creativity, Bridgetown has also been a home and destination for literary talent. In the 1850s, British novelist, Anthony Trollope (author of Barchester Towers and The Way We Live Now), visited Barbados and the West Indies and recorded his observations about the failures of emancipation in his non-fiction work The West Indies and the Spanish Main (1859). Colonial narratives reinforcing British dominance and colonial subordination persisted well into the 20^th century in British Caribbean writing until a new wave of Barbadian voices started to question these legacies. Pre-eminent among these were political commentators such as Wynter Crawford and John Wickham. Barbadian literary icons such George Lamming [author of In the Castle of My Skin (1853) and The Emigrants (1954)] and Kamau Brathwaite [author of Odale’s Choice (1967) and The Arrivants (1973)] grew up in Bridgetown. Their experiences shaped their political philosophies of liberation and anti-colonialism which they used in their creative expression.