Carifesta IX ends this weekend, having touched our nation with its energy and colour, and having reminded all those who would pause long enough to be drawn into its drama and life, of the rich cultural heritage of the Caribbean people.

Each country adds in particular and unique ways to the region’s artistic motif. The ability of citizens of one nation to be so much at home with the culture of another underscores an undeniable truth about the unity to which we are called, the truth about who we are and what we can become.

At the launch of Carifesta in April this year, artistic director of the festival Earl Lovelace called for it to be reclaimed as a symbol of resistance to oppression and to be seen as more than a display of “bacchanal” culture.

It surely has spoken to all those who have witnessed some measure of its unfolding over the past ten days, in a variety of ways. Hopefully it has caused us to place a higher value on the art and culture of the Caribbean and has led to a greater respect for the people of the region.

The theme of the festival, “Celebrating Our People: Contesting the World Stage”, sought to remind our artists that they are called to be more than mere spectators, that they can and must define their space, here at home and on the international stage.

The Church, long-time patron of arts, has always placed a high value on the arts, although not always with the same level of commitment. It is for this reason that at the beginning of the present millennium, John Paul II in his address to the Jubilee celebration for artists stated that “it is time to return to that fruitful alliance between the Church and artists” that deeply marked the path of Christianity in two millennia.

Here in the Caribbean also, there is a need for the Church to have a more substantive dialogue with the arts and artists.

Drama and Dance

In his 2000 address, the Pope had a special word for Christian artists called to live profoundly the reality of their Christian faith, “so that it will give birth to culture and offer the world new ‘epiphanies’ of the divine beauty reflected in creation.”

To become engaged in the arts is, as John Paul II suggests, to touch the mysteries of conversion and Resurrection. “You artists, accustomed to shaping the most diverse materials according to the inspiration of your genius, know how closely the daily effort to improve one’s life resembles artistic work,” he says.

It is tempting to speak about the value which Christianity brings to the arts and vice versa. But the truth is much deeper. God is in the arts; he lets himself be glimpsed through the work of the artist.

The Church therefore, understanding the vocation of the artist, has a role to play in redeeming the culture from all that seeks to subvert it. It would be a pity for the message of Carifesta IX to be lost on us, in our Church communities throughout the region.

Is it not time for a fresh alliance between the Church and art in the region? How can we engage our artists in all spheres of activity in giving glory to God? It has to begin—or begin again—in our parish communities—in drawing and painting, in drama and dance.

To resist the arts with which God has blessed us is to place an obstacle to faith and to retard it.