CARIMAC, Summerfest Productions form bond

Claudia Gardner, Assignment Coordinator

WESTERN BUREAU:The Caribbean Institute of Media and Communication (CARIMAC) of the University of the West Indies (UWI) will initiate a memorandum of understanding with Summerfest Productions, promoters of the annual Reggae Sumfest show in Montego Bay, within a few weeks.

The collaboration is in keeping with the universitys thrust to become involved in all of the important developmental areas here in western Jamaica, particularly in Montego Bay, Director of the UWI, Mona-Western Jamaica Campus, Dr Luz Longsworth, told Western Focus.

In identifying important development areas, the cultural industries is one area which is extraordinarily important. Western Jamaica and Montego Bay, in particular has led the way for the rest of the country, and with Sumfest celebrating 21 years, it could not come at a better time to link academia with one of the most important cultural movements that has come out of Jamaica, she said.

Longsworth made her comments during a presentation ceremony at the Montego Bay-based university campus, where Reggae Summerfest directors Robert Russell and Johnny Gourzong, made a financial contribution of $50,000 towards programmes at the institution.

According to Gourzong, his organisation saw the need to support the university as it recognised that there is great potential for development of the mind and music. He said at this years show, five CARIMAC students will be drafted as part of the events production team for the first time.

We hope to expand this in years to come and expand our relationship in many, many other areas, he said.

NOT FIRST PARTNERSHIP

This is not the first time CARIMAC staff and students have collaborated with Summerfest Productions on a major project. At the International Reggae Conference held on the Mona campus of the UWI in February this year, the media institute crafted a presentation dubbed Uprising: a Reggae Sumfest Story.

The creation of that body of work was led by assistant lecturer-coordinator at CARIMAC, Steffon Campbell, and included rare footage of past events.

Unofficially, the initial discussions that we have been having is that we want to create a formal documentary on this event that is such a major part of Jamaica and the west as well. So thats how we want to move forward, Campbell told Western Focus.

This will provide both promotion for Reggae Sumfest as a brand and as a mainstay, and it will also provide experience for the students themselves to work on something that has national impact, both from the technical side as well as from the cultural side, he added.