Alice Yard's third anniversary programme

Photo by Georgia Popplewell


In September 2009, Alice Yard marks its third anniversary as a space for creative experiment. We celebrate this small milestone with a modest programme of three events that explore in different ways the free conversation, collaboration, and improvisation that characterise Alice Yard.

= Monday 7 September, 2009: The idea of “free”

Alice Yard is part of a growing network of creative projects and initiatives supported by ideas, enthusiasm, and cooperation, rather than institutional structure. Sean Leonard, Alice Yard’s chief instigator, joins in a public conversation about “free” as a model for creative collaboration with the makers and doers of some of these allied projects: Richard Rawlins, Marlon Darbeau, Dave Williams, and Terry Smith, representing the Draconian Switch e-magazine, Trinidad and Tobago Erotic Art Week, and INDIgroove.
8.00 pm

= Wednesday 9 September, 2009: “Free yourself, be yourself”

Since September 2006, Alice Yard has been home to 12 the band, led by Sheldon Holder, and a centre for musical creativity and exchange. In a pre-celebration of the launch of their first album, Streets and Avenues, 12 will play an acoustic set reflecting on their first performance in the Alice Yard space three years ago. Before the performance, Christopher Cozier will join in a conversation with Sheldon Holder; Martin “Mice” Raymond, producer of Streets and Avenues; artist Wendell McShine, co-director of the video for 12’s song “Prosper”; and Marlon Darbeau, designer of the album’s innovative packaging.
8.00 pm

= Monday 14 September, 2009: 24HRS with Marlon Griffith

Artist Marlon Griffith’s practice is situated at the intersection of the visual and public performance. He has shown his work internationally in New York, Johannesburg, Kingston, Gwangju, Cape Town, and Toronto, among other locations, and has worked as a mas designer for many years in both Port of Spain and London. Griffith also conceived the idea for the 24HRS residency programme, in which an artist creates a site-specific work in the space of a day, influenced by interactions with anyone who passes through Alice Yard during that period. On 14 September he will take up temporary residence at Alice Yard and the resulting work will be presented to the public that evening. Artist Jaime Lee Loy — who has worked collaboratively with Griffith, and who was the first artist to present her work at Alice Yard — will give a short introductory talk.
7.30 pm

All are invited.

Gerard Gaskin: Trinidad Artists

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Tuesday 18 August, 2009, at 7.30 pm



Portraits from Gerard Gaskin's Trinidad Artists series. Clockwise from top left: film director and editor Walt Lovelace; artist Sabrina Charran; photographer Marlon Rouse; artist Jaime Lee Loy; musician Roger Roberts; photographer Abigail Hadeed


Photographer Gerard H. Gaskin's Trinidad Artists series is a work in progress, a survey of Trinidad's creative topography via portraits of three generations of visual artists, musicians, writers, performers, and others. Shot in a standard format--close up, in natural light and with a shallow depth of field--each portrait is an intimate encounter. "The impact of the world around the subject can be logically inferred only from the light, the expression, or from what is reflected in the eyes," writes Christopher Cozier.

Gaskin is currently in Trinidad shooting new portraits for the series, using Alice Yard's exterior spaces as his studio. On Tuesday 18 August he will give a talk about Trinidad Artists and his other recent projects, moderated by Cozier. Images from the Trinidad Artists series will be projected in the Alice Yard Space. All are invited.

(Visit Gaskin's website to see a portfolio of his work, and read Cozier's essay on Trinidad Artists in the August 2008 issue of The Caribbean Review of Books.)

Play on: Alice Yard's music conversations

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"Boom Up History" (2009), by 3Canal. Music video directed by Walt Lovelace and shot in the Alice Yard band room


The very first part of the Alice Yard space to become operational, in September 2006, was the small soundproof band room in the north-east corner of the yard. The room was designed by architect Sean Leonard, with advice on acoustics from sound engineer Yoichi Watanabe of Trinitone Ltd. Intended to be the headquarters for 12 the band, and managed by 12's leader Sheldon Holder, the band room is used by a range of musicians and bands for rehearsal sessions. Over the past three years, Alice Yard has come to be a crucial centre for musical creativity in Port of Spain, with activity by the following bands and individuals, among others (in alphabetical order):

= 12 the Band
= 3Canal
= Alison Hinds
= Blue Culture
= Cabezon
= Canboulay
= Chromatics
= Fuego Latino
= The Generals
= Gyazette
= jointpop
= Ken "Professor" Philmore
= The Nylon Pool
= The Orange Sky
= Palladin Project
= Rubadiri Victor
= The Sean Thomas Trio
= The Sky is Falling
= Stephanie Kalloo
= Theron Shaw
= Witch of the Bell Tower

The constant musical presence in the yard--the band room is occupied most nights of the week--has led to various fruitful creative encounters between musicians, artists and others. In early 2009, director Walt Lovelace shot a music video for 3Canal's song "Boom Up History" in the Alice Yard band room (see above), using clever camerawork and editing to compensate for the tight space. Not long after, artist Wendell McShine collaborated with 12 on an animated video for the band's song "Prosper":





Alice Yard has also hosted numerous live music performances. The conversation is ongoing.

"Patricia Gone with ... Millicent?"

Thursday 30 July, 2009, from 7.30 to 9.30 pm



Lord Invader, the Mighty Growler, Atilla the Hun, and the Roaring Lion in 1943

What is one subject that calypso has handled with some of its sweetest ingenuity and subtlest imagination? Homosexuality, believe it or not! Come listen! Whether you love the calypso artform and Trini culture or you have a personal or family connection to the topic, join community organiser Colin Robinson, cultural critic Charleston Thomas and others in a tent-like atmosphere at Alice Yard, where they will take in some two dozen recordings of fascinating calypsoes from the 1950s to the present that display surprising wit and intelligence in their treatment of same-sex love. The audience will be invited to share their own memories of other treatments of the topic, talk about the meaning of the music, why dancehall and calypso treat so differently with the same issue, and what implications the music and its history might have for debates about homosexuality in the current political moment. Plans for Carnival season activities on the topic will also be aired.

This is a free event supporting the mission of a new coalition, CAISO (Coalition Advocating Inclusion of Sexual Orientation), to promote an inclusive, 20/20 vision of sexual orientation and citizenship in Trinidad and Tobago.

For more information, contact: 758-7676 or tntavp@gmail.com

Erotic Art Week 2009 at Alice Yard

Alice Yard was one of ten locations participating in EroticArtTT, the 2009 Erotic Art Week (23 June to 2 July). Organised and curated by graphic designers Christian Alexis and Richard Rawlins, choreographer/writer Dave Williams, and architect Terry Smith, the Erotic Art Week programme included exhibitions and installations of visual work, a spoken word and poetry performance, and a discussion of erotic elements in Trinidad Carnival. Several dozen artists, musicians, and writers participated, at exhibition and performance venues scattered across a few blocks of Woodbrook.

Seven artists showed their work at Alice Yard: Marlon Darbeau, Jason Winter-Roach, Silverstar, Justine Hosein, Christine Healey, Sabrina Charran, and Rodell Warner. Below are some installation images. For more information, download the special Erotic Art Week issue of Draconian Switch.





Playful Things, by Marlon Darbeau, installed in the gallery space at Alice Yard. Photo by Damian Libert.



Photographs by Silverstar, installed in the residency apartment at Alice Yard.

Town, by Sheena Rose

Video still from "Town"

Artist Sheena Rose, visiting from Barbados, will project her animated video work Town on Friday 29 May at 7 pm, at Alice Yard, 80 Roberts Street, Woodbrook, Port of Spain. The work will be introduced in dialogue with artists and writers Marsha Pearce and Jaime Lee Loy.

Rose is a recent graduate from the BFA programme at the Barbados Community College. Since graduating she has shown work at the Zemicon Gallery and in the Sign of the Times digital art exhibition at Queen’s Park in Bridgetown. Rose was also commissioned to produce an animated video as part of the Black Diaspora Visual Arts Symposium and Exhibition, curated by David A. Bailey in February 2009. Her participation at Alice Yard was funded in part by the UNDP (United Nations Development Programme) Barbados and the OECS.

"The primary focus of my animation is something that I can arguably say everyone struggles with, and that is constantly thinking about our daily problems. There are not very many times during the day when our minds are at rest. We are always dwelling on something that we need to do, a broken relationship, how we are going to manage paying the electricity bill as well as buying new school uniforms at the end of the month, not driving the car unnecessarily because gas costs more now-a-days. I am interested in the daily lives of Barbadian people, especially with what is going on in their minds..."
-- Sheena Rose

Sheena Rose will also participate in Alice Yard's first 24HRS residency. A 24-hour site-specific improvisational artwork instigated by Marlon Griffith will begin on Monday 1 June at 12.00 pm. The public is welcome to visit and engage with the process.

A Photographic Exploration of Religious Life in Trinidad

The Trinity of Trinidad
A Photographic Exploration of Religious Life in Trinidad
Photographs by: Erin Caner
click on the image to go to Erin's flickr site
Monday May 11, 2009
Opens at 7.00 PM
Alice Yard, 80 Roberts Street,Woodbrook, POS.
"I don't really know or understand what I'm looking at, being from a different culture, and I want to resist relying on tired stock imaging of what the Caribbean should look like, or a sort of 'orientalism' of Trinidad carnival, as an American outsider. It's complicated because so much of the culture, in my limited perception, appears to be mas or performance in itself. The culture is a performance. How does photography, capturing this performance-in-action, play into this? What's behind it all? I don't believe I've accomplished this investigative approach yet, but I would like to." - Read more here.
Co-sponsored by: Alice Yard & Trinity-in-Trinidad
Trinity at Alice Yard
Erin Caner, student at Trinity College in Hartford, CT, presents a series of photographs investigating the ways that religious life is performed and observed in Trinidadian society. Focusing on three religions in the country: Hinduism, Christianity, and the Shouter Baptists, the exhibition opens at 7.pm, and all are welcome!

Mother Mas and the Junk Jester

click on the image to go to Erin Caner's flickr site
A Performance by: Haben Abraham & Thea Button
Friday May 8th, 2009
Performance will start at 7:30 pm
Alice Yard, 80 Roberts Street, Woodbrook, POS
Co-sponsered by: Alice Yard & Trinity-in-Trinidad
Students of Trinity College in Hartford, CT, Button and Abraham have spent this past semester in Trinidad developing an experimental performance piece exploring society, location, and situation on Friday May 8th at 7:30. All are welcome! Feel free to check out their blog Trinity at Alice Yard for a sneak preview and to see how they got to where they are.

Also, on Monday night, look out for:
The Trinity of Trinidad
A Photographic Exploration of Religious Life in Trinidad
Photographs by: Erin Caner
Monday May 11, 2009
Opens at 7.00 PM
Alice Yard, 80 Roberts Street,Woodbrook, POS.
Co-sponsored by: Alice Yard & Trinity-in-Trinidad
Erin Caner, student at Trinity College in Hartford, CT, presents a series of photographs investigating the ways that religious life is performed and observed in Trinidadian society. Focusing on three religions in the country: Hinduism, Christianity, and the Shouter Baptists, the exhibition opens at 7.pm, and all are welcome!