NASSAU, BAHAMAS — From the size of the delegation, selection of cultural offerings, to the cost to taxpayers, the country’s participation in Expo 2020 lit a powder keg over the weekend.
After nearly two years of total shutdown of the arts and entertainment industry, with scant support for artists, the prospect of Dubai cuts deeper than being denied an all-expense-paid trip. With so many in the country experiencing economic and social hardship, most cannot afford to see the forest for the trees.
Amid calls for a full breakdown of costs, there are also deeper questions we must reckon with: what is the value of our culture and how do we validate it?
The country’s participation started as a collaboration between the Bahamas Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the University of the Bahamas. In February 2017, UB students gave the then-Christie-led Cabinet a first-hand look at concept designs.
Reports of the country’s resounding impact at the second International Participants Meeting in Dubai flowed months later in October.
“The sheer size and complexity of the (Pavilion) design took my breath away,” said Hind Al Boom, associate manager, Expo 2020 at the time.
“Not only was the strategic design of the Pavilion built around the objectives of The Bahamas Government, the students took elements that were in their Government’s agenda, like sustainability and ran with it.
“The Bahamas Pavilion encapsulates a story that you can imagine walking through, it’s cohesive and made sense – it’s playful and the students understood the concept… they got it!”
But as Tony Joudi, non-resident Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the State of Qatar for The Bahamas, intimated in a statement ahead of the expo’s opening in October, in the following six years the country faced immeasurable crisis and three successive administrations with different strategies on steering the country forward.
“During the past six years, The Bahamas has been hit with two catastrophic events, a major hurricane which devastated two of our major islands that produce 33% of our GDP and the Government is still working to bring them back to their former glory,” Joudi’s September statement read.
“Secondly, the COVID pandemic set back our nation‘s main economy and exposed vulnerabilities in our health care system. We have also witnessed the elections of three successive governments with different strategies as to how to promote, protect, and save the country for future generations from the impact of climate change that has affected and devastated several countries worldwide.”
More directly, Former Director of Cultural Affairs Dr Nicolette Bethel described the country’s pavilion as “an unholy mashup of what happens when politicians get involved”.
In a series of tweets, Bethel wrote: “…5 years ago UB students were starting with off the chain designs of the pavilion…4 years ago the professors and architects on the front line were struggling to get government to see the value of the opportunity…3 years ago sensible people were proposing contingents that would represent the Bahamas in unexpected and excellent ways but that would again COST TOO MUCH.”
She continued: “2 years ago COVID came and sense left & nothing happened and so… what we see is what we get. We is a people who will spend enough money to feed a small child on clothes, cars, hair and makeup but who will and have put NOTHING into things that make us proud to be us.“
Up to $1 million was approved by Cabinet to support the country’s participation in Expo 2020, according to Communications Director in the Office of the Prime Minister Latrae Rahming, who noted the former Minnis administration had approved a $1.7 million sum.
The UAE reportedly funded $3.5 million, inclusive of the prime minister’s delegation, and the Bahamian private sector contributed half a million dollars.
Joudi continued: “The Bahamas Pavillion exists to promote and focus on the resilience of an island nation that consists of an archipelago that spans over 1000 sq. miles, located 90 miles off the coast of South Florida. The Bahamas Pavillion consists of a 7500 sq. ft. two-storey, rectangular shape building with a beautiful façade, featuring images of the local folklore dancers called Junkanoo.
“Our first floor exhibits promote business investments in green, blue and orange economies focusing on tourism, financial services, real estate, and our natural resources…In the ground floor space, we feature locally made items to be sold as souvenirs, and we tell the story of a resilient country of 700 islands, its warm and hospitable people and great cuisine. It promotes the distinct characteristics of each island through their music, the people, the stories curated by our team of professionals from the Antiquities Monuments & Museum Corporation.”
The handling of the 2020 expo has eroded the more than five years of creative and cultural efforts to encapsulate Bahamian culture and project it onto the world stage. The visceral reaction of the arts community to the expo reflects the frustrations of a battered and exploited cultural workforce that far often sees too little of too much. Heavy investments in culture are usually draped in controversy due to the inconsistent and to some extent, schizophrenic approach to our support in national arts programming. The public’s reaction to the expo reflects poor public communications strategy to educate Bahamians on the country’s participation and build public support for an initiative more than half a decade in the making.
At a One Bahamas service in 2010, then-Governor General Sir Arthur Foulkes remarked: “…today we are one people with a distinct identity among the nations of the world. We are Bahamians. We have come through many trials and tribulations but now we joyously celebrate the blessing of being able to live as one people, in peace and unity, and to call one of the most beautiful spots on the planet our home.”
He continued: “We are Bahamians, and we have woven a single, rich cultural tapestry of threads from Africa, Europe and Asia, threads spun and colored in the Americas and the islands of the Caribbean. We are now one people, One Bahamas, proud of our music, proud of our songs and dances, proud of our folklore, proud of our works of art.”
We are undoubtedly a proud people. The time has come to dig deeper than a sense of national pride in our achievements and turn our focus instead to the ecosystems that propel our culture forward and the type of investment required to achieve loftier goals.
