Grange to deliver Seaga lecture on Jamaica’s musical legacy
Key Points(5)
- Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport Olivia “Babsy” Grange will deliver the sixth annual Edward Seaga Distinguished Lecture at the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts (EMCVPA) on Thursday, October 29, as the institution celebrates its 50th anniversary.
- The lecture, titled “SEAGA and SOUNDS: From WIRL to de Worl’,” will examine the late former Prime Minister Edward Seaga’s contribution to Jamaica’s music industry, entrepreneurship and cultural development.
- The event will take place from 3 p.m.
- at the Vera Moody Concert Hall on the college’s campus at 1 Arthur Wint Drive in Kingston.
- It will be followed by a panel discussion featuring Grange, Professor Emerita Carolyn Cooper, Dr.
Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport Olivia “Babsy” Grange will deliver the sixth annual Edward Seaga Distinguished Lecture at the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts (EMCVPA) on Thursday, October 29, as the institution celebrates its 50th anniversary.
The lecture, titled “SEAGA and SOUNDS: From WIRL to de Worl’,” will examine the late former Prime Minister Edward Seaga’s contribution to Jamaica’s music industry, entrepreneurship and cultural development.
The event will take place from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the Vera Moody Concert Hall on the college’s campus at 1 Arthur Wint Drive in Kingston. It will be followed by a panel discussion featuring Grange, Professor Emerita Carolyn Cooper, Dr. Dennis Howard and Dr. Rebecca Tortello, moderated by Sherando Ferril-Cupid.
According to the college, the lecture will explore Seaga’s work as a music producer through West Indies Records Limited (WIRL), as well as his role as a cultural advocate and nation-builder who helped bring Jamaican music to international audiences.
Seaga, who served as prime minister from 1980 to 1989 and led the Jamaica Labour Party for several decades, had a longstanding interest in Jamaica’s cultural traditions and music. His involvement in the recording industry through WIRL made him one of the early commercial stakeholders in the development and promotion of Jamaican popular music.
The lecture is expected to examine the relationship between music, cultural identity and national development, including how local music production helped build an industry that has carried Jamaican sounds around the world.
The panel discussion will bring together perspectives on Jamaica’s cultural history, music scholarship and education, allowing participants to consider Seaga’s contributions and the broader significance of his work in the country’s cultural landscape.
The event forms part of EMCVPA’s 50th anniversary celebrations, being observed under the theme “The heART of the Caribbean.”
The milestone marks five decades since the establishment of the Cultural Training Centre in 1976, which brought Jamaica’s schools of art, music, dance and drama together at one location.
Since then, the college has played a role in preserving Jamaica’s cultural traditions while providing professional training for artists and practitioners seeking to develop their skills and contribute to the creative industries.
The institution describes itself as the first and only tertiary institution of its kind in the English-speaking Caribbean. It offers education and professional training in the visual and performing arts and arts management, with a mandate to promote Caribbean cultural diversity and contribute to social transformation through arts education, training and research.
