“OUR MUSTARD SEED”

REMARKS BY

THE HON. DR. KENNY D. ANTHONY PRIME MINISTER AND MINISTER FOR FINANCE, ECONOMIC

AFFAIRS, PLANNING & SOCIAL SECURITY

AT THE OFFICIAL OPENING

OF

WALCOTT HOUSE

15-17 CHAUSSÉE ROAD

CASTRIES, SAINT LUCIA

SUNDAY 24 JANUARY, 2016.

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<Protocol Acknowledgements>

Distinguished ladies and gentlemen,

Friends of The Arts far and wide,

Friends of Saint Lucia,

Friends and family of Derek,

A PROUD DAY

This is a proud day.

A proud day for our country and its people.

This is a proud day for Saint Lucia.

This is a proud day for the Caribbean and its

civilisation.

This is a proud day no doubt for Derek.

This is a proud day for the memory of Roderick,

of Pam, of Warwick, of Alix.

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FOR THE ARTS GUILD

This is a proud day for the Arts Guild, and its

inheritors.

We might recall them as if a litany of actors:

“Jakes” and “Spa,” Sextus and Sonia, “Mackie”

and McDonald, the two Ruths, Harwick and

Hogarth, Ornan and Kenneth, George and

Keith, Egbert and Primrose, Pancrus and

Maurice, Connie and Marcellus, Lennie and

Martin, “Secra” and “Mockie,” Winston and

“Specie” the jester; the memories of the Turks

in the yard, the calypso melodies on steel pan,

and those who watched on from the flanks and

from the audience.

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In this house, their memories, whether living or

lost, can find a spiritual home. In this house,

our spirits can be heated and enlivened like the

heat under the midday sun.

This is a proud day for those who admire the

arts, and who have worked and produced with

Roderick and Derek. And those who follow in

their footsteps, who build on their foundations.

FOR GRASS STREET

This is a proud day for Grass Street and this

part of the Chaussée, the families of its past

and of its present, and the people who come

and go and frequenting these parts: The Jules’,

the Springers, the St. Villes, the Fletchers, the

Drysdales, and so many more.

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This is a day in which we can look forward and

imagine the things to come. With each new

phase, new hope, with each new hope, a life

saved or succoured. For all our lives are too

precious to be lost to the bullet or the needle or

the diseases of man.

CHALLENGE OF THE POET

Often times dreams are forgot within a short

time from their conception. We wake up and

they flee like chicks from the hawk. These

dreams are often whispers of the mind, so

softlyuttered that if not put to pen and paper,

they might be lost in translation, in utterance.

This is the challenge of the poet, the challenge

of the writer, the challenge of the actor: to find

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these words, and capture them and make them

real, if but only on paper, or in the echoes of a

hall.

Decades have past and we are still capturing

these dreams, condensing them and morphing

them into form and function.

RECLAMATION OF THE MEMORIES

This building behind us is just that. A home

long lost, long enveloped by a printery and then

by abandonment can find once more a rebirth.

It can sit and feast on its past, it can look into

the mirror on its past life, and form again a

love for itself.

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What is being unveiled today is the first step. It

is reclamation.

It is reclamation of the memories, the past, the

poetry, the plays, the words and the wax.

For while this house stood clear of a city’s

death by fire in 1948, it faced a city’s death of

neglect. The flight from the city to the suburbs,

the flight of children to foreign lands for career

and craft, meant the slow, steady decline, and

then the paralysis, the crucifixion by crime.

OUR AMNESIA IS NO MORE

Our amnesia is no more. We are reclaiming our

memories, and with them our hopes.

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And yes, there are many who say with

pessimism: how could you possibly put a

museum in Grass Street? There are those who

ask why spend money on building a house for

the Walcott’s when we need to improve our

health system. There are also some who do not

believe even in the need for museums.

And there are some who still view the Arts as

acts of hobby making.

We believe in the totality of the human spirit.

We believe in body, mind and spirit.

We believe that if a people do not know

themselves, cannot celebrate themselves – if

they cannot laugh and feel moved, then living

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itself is reduced to meagre value. And as Sir

Arthur Lewis recognised, we can ill-afford

a“cultural desert.”

For we want health bodies and healthy minds

and healthy spirits. And so, we can never

juxtapose these matters as we have sadly done

in the past.

WE CAN MOVE THE MOUNTAIN

We are not naïve. But yet, we must believe. We

must have faith that we can move the

mountain of poverty. We can move the

mountain of neo-colonialism. We can move the

mountain of crime.

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We must have faith that the poet’s word can

move the mountain of depression and doubt

and despair.

We must believe that our people, our stories,

our productions, our history, is as noble as any

other; and is to be cherished as any other.

We must believe that we can move the

mountain.

OUR MUSTARD SEED

Today – this proud house – this house is our

mustard seed.

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And around it and through it we will grow

feeding off its inspiration. For it has already

produced world renowned greatness in Derek

and Roderick.

To the people of Grass Street and the people of

Castries, we have the opportunity to look back

on what this city has produced in the past and

recreate a new economy around this.

Furthermore, those who doubt are often,

through no fault of their own, unaware of the

richness of history that can be unveiled and

captured within our tourism product.

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DRUMS AND COLOURS OF GREAT MEN

Today, we are opening the Walcott House. But

this area around us is a cluster of much Saint

Lucian human achievement, many a time by

working class families.

Down the Chaussée: the home of Sir Allen

Lewis, our first Chief Justice and also

Chancellor of the University of the West Indies.

And it is there that Arthur Lewis would spend

his vacations home from the London School of

Economics.

And across the Chaussée, the blue house to

your left was owned by Sir Darnley Alexander,

the Soufriere-born first chief justice of Nigeria.

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And the block behind me on Mary-Ann Street,

the home of Dr Karl La Corbiniere, who served

as Deputy Premier of the West Indian

Federation and founding member of the Saint

Lucia Labour Party – a home where the likes of

Bradshaw of St. Kitts would frequent as Saint

Lucia hosted the first meeting of the British

West Indies Labour Party.

And there are more.

And so, the drums and colours of these great

men can find another life in a reawakening of

this area of Castries. And so, this project,

Walcott Place, must be taken within the

context of a broader regeneration. We cannot

leave our treasures hidden and in decay.

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OPPORTUNITY IS COMING

But yet, I must say to the community, that

visitors and investment will not come and bring

economic activity to a place will not come to

that is unclean and unsightly.

They will not be drawn in and stay and buy if

they feel unsafe or harassed. Opportunity is

coming but you must prepare.

Opportunity is coming but you must know how

to approach it, for the dream is still but a

whisper.

Opportunity is coming, but it will take time and

careful planning. It is not instantaneous.

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You must respond positively to the opportunity

and seize the moments as they come.

A SMALL PART OF THE WHOLE

Today, we unveil a small part of a much larger

whole. Walcott House is part of the larger

complex of Walcott Place.

The next phase of Walcott Place, which is to

commence within months, will set the basis for

the viability of the project. Shortly, through the

help of the Caribbean Development Bank,

Grass Street will be extended and connected to

Leslie Land Rd. It will create a street of class

and character so that the area can become

more active and vibrant.

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And work will commence on the construction of

the larger museum block of the project before

mid-year. This will incorporate a three level

structure that will link to the Walcott House.

What is to be seen in this new phase? It will

include a ticketing and reception area, a café,

book and gift shop and courtyard with seating

at ground level.

As you would appreciate soon enough once you

enter the house, the proportions do not suffice

to provide the full interpretive experience for

the project. And so, on the first floor level of the

new structure, there will be an additional 2,700

square feet of space for the museum.

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This is about three times what is currently

available from the house. It will allow for

modern interactive, multimedia displays that

can better tell the story of the Walcotts and the

arts movement in Saint Lucia; and for a variety

of audiences.

The second floor will make allowance for a

small research library, a resident artist’s office,

administrative and curatorial space.

It will then importantly allow for disability

access to the upper levels with a lift in the

reception area.

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The third phase involves looking at the

development of a small black-box theatre with

audience seating for about 150 persons.

This is the dream which we have put to word,

and now must put to action. We all must work

towards it.

GRATITUDE AND ACCOLADES

I wish to express gratitude and provide

accolades to the many who have made this

possible.

In particular, the Government of Saint Lucia is

deeply grateful for the grant provided by the

Republic of China (Taiwan) which is making

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this possible. We say a sincere “thank you”

Your Excellency.

We say thank you to the Saint Lucia National

Trust, the custodians of this house.

We say thank you to the Ministry of Physical

Development, Housing & Urban Renewal under

the direction of Senator Stanley Felix for the

technical support in design and project

management.

And of course, a special word of thanks to the

Architectural Section of that ministry headed

by Mr Augustin Poyotte.

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We say thank you to all the partner agencies:

the Grass Street Development Association, the

Saint Lucia Social Development Fund, the

Royal Saint Lucia Police Force, the Castries

Constituencies Council, the Cultural

Development Foundation, and UWI Open

Campus.

We say thank you to the contractor, Mr.

Atlanta Henry, his team, and all those who

laboured on this phase of the project.

We say thank you to the work of the Nobel

Laureate Committee under the direction of Her

Excellency the Governor General.

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And thank you to the many other committees

which have worked to realise this project thus

far – and who must continue to labour in the

belief that we can create a world class product

here in Castries.

And of course we say thank you to Derek, and

the Walcott family here today who have

supported and guided this project.

THROUGH HER VOICE

And we confess our debt of gratitude to the

lady of the house, Teacher Alix – the mother

who, with her strength and discipline,

instructed and taught, who through her singing

voice and stitching hands moved and mended,

who single-handedly raised three children

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against great odds. We honour today, in a

special way, her memory.

LET THE HOUSE SPEAK

The poet seeks always to condense the scenes

of life, the emotions, the passions, the laments,

the verse as succinctly as possible. The

politician generally does not.

Today, I have sought to learn from the poet by

being brief, and so I shall proudly let the house

and all its memories speak now for itself –

speak to you, and for you, to the generations to

come.

Let us respect her and love her. And what she

says to our children, and our imaginations. Let

us respect her walls and her presence. Let us

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respect her memory, as she becomes a place of

pilgrimage for many seeking to discover

themselves through play and song and poem.

Ladies and gentlemen, I thank you and urge

you to believe that we can move mountains

with our mustard seed.