The Chief Minister’s office has launched a
project with funds made available, at one point reported
by the Development Unit to be in the region of £250,000,
under the theme Montserrat on the Move (MOM) 2005.
According to a full-colour magazine late in coming
but hastily published for the opening occasion, it
explains the theme as ‘reflecting the desire
of Montserratians to move on with their lives.”
This, according to the magazine, ‘is illustrated
in the cover design.”
We applaud the idea of the project, supposedly designed
‘of the people, for the people and by the people
of Montserrat.’
The problem here, however, is that the project, which
represented a proposal from Mr. Andy Johnstone, was
condemned by every person who reviewed it, including
the Development Unit, who felt however that rejecting
the project proposal might prevent the funds from
coming. Efforts should be made to continue since they
felt some ownership for the project. Consequently
it was to be rewritten.
Mr. Johnstone did not hide his objective when he spoke
to representatives of the media. He made a photography
exhibition proposal to DFID who thought it a good
idea to join government in its effort to draw positive
attention to Montserrat’s determination to live
on, and tagged on the Media project, a long outstanding
desire.
As the magazine mentions, this MOM project has alongside
it the “Montserrat Media Project,” which
evolved from of Mr. Johnstone’s original proposal
to put on a photographic display during the tenth
year of volcanic activity on Montserrat.
The MOM project is expected to showcase a series of
events in 2005 “to commemorate 10 years of resilience
by residents in response to the volcanic crisis –
Montserrat’s culture at its best.” It
is hoped that such events as St. Patrick’s Day
celebrations, the opening of the Geralds airport,
exhibitions by the Montserrat Volcano Observatory
and the Montserrat National, Trust as well as exhibitions
in the UK throughout this year will attract a steady
flow of visitors who will experience a re-energised
Montserrat.
The media project is supposed to benefit print and
broadcast journalism, and film production, (that is
radio, TV and newspaper.) This project should have
begun since last August, but so far a two-day workshop
was held for journalists and photographers, with school
photographic competition to follow.
There has been little or no effort to publicise the
extent of the benefit of this project to Montserrat,
which is supposed to involve Montserratians to the
fullest extent. The print and TV media still do not
know how they should benefit from the media project.
The turn-out to the launch celebration (a cultural
‘medley’) function at Little Bay (festival
city) on Monday night was very well received, but
reportedly poorly attended, certainly not as well
as expected. Not surprisingly, since other than the
jingles on radio created by our local ‘support
facilitator’ of the project, Justin ‘Hero’
Cassell, there has really been no publicity.
There is expected to be quite some print materials,
(the magazine for starters), but so far our government
officials have seen fit to send the work outside to
be done at costs far exceeding what it was offered
at to be produced at locally.
The implications of this, if not readily seen, remind
us of the struggle being experienced by a seriously
lagging economy and the need to keep monies within
our borders. How can we complain of the majority who
see fit to spend their dollars overseas when they
combine that with the opportunity for a change in
scenery?
It is not too late for what has gone so bad already
to be resurrected into a project that will not just
put well over £100,000 into one or two English
pockets, along with all the other sums which will
be spent overseas.
We do not believe that this can be the case, as there
is nothing so far that exudes that confidence, but
if at the end the Montserrat print, TV and film media
will be able show off their improved talents and products;
and Montserratians here or wherever can say, ‘Ten
years and now we can begin to see some light,”
then anything, no matter how shabbily organized, will
be worth it.
There is much more to what we consider to be a bad
case of how we continue to struggle within our own
.
