All The World's A Stage

                The following is a reflective piece on how we as people who represent actors on this world stage should experience the urban; not just as an environment with which we interact, but as a conscious decision making process where "what and how" we interact with certain urban features determines numerous things about the urban environment, future urban construction and within ourselves.

1. The top picture depicts the Majestically constructed NAPA, which is intended to house and display multicultural arts produced in Trinidad and Tobago. It has borrowed designs from numerous buildings in the global North, and is intended to revolutionize the arts and creative sectors within the country. This building is bordered by an equally known landmark, the Queens Park Savannah, which historically has been the epitome of cultural events. Has NAPA been built to alleviate pressures on the Queens Park Savannah, and related events such as Carnival Village etc.? Or is it contributing to the erasure of certain cultural practices in terms of architecture and what is considered art? Is such an erasure a bad thing or is it just a shift into something different and fresh with respect to artistic expression. If this seems a bit confusing, lets take it into the perspective of a local calypso artiste, who shall be called "Lord Irie Star".

NAPA v.s. De Savannah

They book me for a gig, on Saturday Night

The paycheck almost make me die of fright!

Savannah "art" they say, come down and show them how to spray;

Dread lyrics, i ready to mash up the place, doh mind the pay is a disgrace to meh face.

The Crowd gather there, vybzing real nice, but oh how it looking like 2-3 grain of rice;

 in a big pot

People so scarce and the time getting late, they start to slow clap, i awaiting my fate. 

The first missile they throw hit me in my ear, i say oh gawd, lemme get out of here!
Next place i play better be one of class, where they ready on time and people not my pelting my; Ass-umption i make, that NAPA crowd more civil, they go treat me right and i could actually make a living.

My agent, also known as me, call NAPA, beg them and beg them to accept this performer!

 Almost had to give them bribe, they finally tell me i could sing! Only during intermission Lord Irie Star could do he thing. 

They pay not much better, but it go work, to prance on that fancy stage looking like all the rage. 

Well first song i sing and the crowd dead dead, maybe my notes off, i feeling a sense of dread. 

 You see, the problem i had was thinking that NAPA was better than in Savannah.

But the truth is, they made for different  types of culture. Not better or worse, but just of a different type, to each his own, to a zebra his own stripe.

2. The consumption value of certain cultural stages and avenues is related greatly to patronage. What we as consumers frequent with respect to cultural events will dictate heavily what is presented and how it is presented. Every musician will say that his music is heavily influenced by his fans, and often what the fans want, they get, even if it is not the message that the performer agrees with. Similarly, if we view the world, or on a smaller scale, the urban, as a stage, and the builders and planners as performers, we can dictate and influence what future construction projects and planning projects are implemented. If we embrace the Queens Park Savannah as a cultural beacon, then it will remain a viable landmark, and will complement NAPA in addition to being treated better in terms of resource allocation and prestige status. Instead, therefore of just carrying about our lives and going with the motions, we should consciously think about how our interactions shape the urban landscape and use this knowledge to generate our own "architecture", simply based off of what is idealized as positive, playful, fun etc.