OAaSIS International Foundation (Jamaica)

He achieved the three score years and ten promised by the Bible, but just 4 hours before his 77th birthday, Professor Alston Miller “Rex Nettleford” died in the Washington Hospital where he lay.

His vision though of Jamaicans being free from mental slavery and realising their identity to live on through instituions such as the OAaSIS International Foundation. After all, his discussions with its founder was one influence of its creation.

OAaSIS Founder remembers the culture icon always reiterating that a country’s progress is mirrored by how it treats its artirtist(es).

She was once a creative writing’ student ofthe Professor, and remembers he always being warm even when he would extol disciplinary measures to the unsettled. She also will never forget his words etched in her heart that artists(es) should be among the leaders of society as they are the ones who can observe, interpret, translate, mirror what’s happening in society. Only then do some persons actually understand what is going on.
These words should present challenge to any member of the creative industry, especially as they were among the many last warning-filled words of one so greatly honoured as a Caribbean National.
His life, no matter what he did as both a culture icon and as a colourful intellect was dedicated to exposing Jamaicans and challenging them to realise their own identity and setting internationally.
Many are his writings which will be sought out, published and circulated. Even if its in capsulated forms, these well researched, and put together messages of encouraging wisdom will be useful.

Well done Rex Nettleford (February 3, 1933 - February 2, 2010)! CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

The Vice-chancellor Emeritus at the University of the West Indies, Professor Rex Nettleford died late Tuesday evening at the George Washington Hospital in the United States six days after collapsing in a US hotel. He was there at the Hospital on visit for a fundraising gala for the UWI.

The Jamaica Observer reported through its webpage that “Nettleford, who reportedly suffered a massive heart attack and was admitted to the hospital’s intensive care unit, never regained consciousness and finally passed at 8:00 pm.”

The achievements of Rex Nettleford in the arts, culture and academia are innumerable and well revered.
His greatest achievement so far is his co-founding of the National Dance Theatre Company(NDTC), along with several others including Bert Rose. Added to that his work and contributions to the Company, which include director, dancer, co-director.
Professor Nettleford is the recipient of Jamaica’s third highest honour – the Order of Merit, and, is a cultural advisor to the prime minister. He graduated from the University of the West Indies with History (honors).
He is a Rhode Scholar who attended Oxford University with postgraduate studies in Politics. Ironically, he also has a created word which he has contributed to the Oxford dictionary.

He’s also the author of several publications including, “Manley and the New Jamaica”, “The African Connexion”, and “In Our Heritage”. His latest published book is “Caribbean Cultural Identity, the case of Jamaica”.

Professor Nettleford is also a member of the Inter-American Committee on Culture, founding governor of the Canada-based International Development Research Centre, and had acted as expert/consultant to the government of Ghana, FESTAC, CARIFESTA and UNESCO. Professor Nettleford is a radio and television commentator and has lectured in many countries including India, the Phillipines and Israel.

Up to his death he remained prolific in his expressions – visual, performing, literary and as a highly respected intellect. All Jamaica will be affected by his death in one way or another. Still although he will no longer be physically seen nor heard, his visions will live on, as many will strive to carry on the baton.

JAMAICA LEADERS REACT

See “Icon lost – Golding, Simpson Miller mourn Nettleford”:

Bruce Golding and Portia Simpson Miller have great memories of the Professor, but are agreed that his passing is a great loss for Jamaica.

PRIME MINISTER BRUCE GOLDING said he was deeply saddened at the news of Nettleford’s death.

“Jamaica and the entire world have lost an intellectual and creative genius, a man whose contribution to shaping and projecting the cultural landscape of the entire Caribbean region is unquestionable,” Golding said.

“Rex Nettleford was an international icon, a quintessential Caribbean man, the professor, writer, dancer, manager, orator, critic and mentor. He has left a void in our world that will be a challenge to fill.”

Olivia Grange

MINISTER OLIVIA GRANGE (minister of youth, sports and culture): Nettleford, who had been in the intensive care unit at the hospital since last Wednesday with catastrophic brain injury following a cardiac arrest, died at 8 p.m., four hours before his birthday.

“The nation, the wider Caribbean and beyond mourn the loss of this great Caribbean icon,” Grange said.

OPPOSITION LEADER PORTIA SIMPSON MILLER (president of the People’s National Party and opposition leader): expressed con-dolences to Nettleford’s family, friends and colleagues.

“I am very deeply saddened by the news of Professor Nettleford’s passing. This is a national loss and one that I feel personally. Words are inadequate to capture the extent of the grief I feel,” Simpson Miller said.

Simpson Miller hailed Nettleford as a son of rural Jamaica whose life’s trajectory testifies to the success that is possible through grit, determination, resilience and ‘smadification’ – local parlance for self-actualisation – within the Jamaican cultural environment, of which he wrote so eloquently.

Anthony Johnson

AMBASSADOR ANTHONY JOHNSON (Jamaica’s ambassador to the United States): Nettleford never regained consciousness.

Edward Seaga still honourable

FORMER JAMAICAN PRIME MINISTER, EDWARD SEAGA (who first met Nettleford in the early 1960s): Nettleford was the “quintessential Caribbean man”.

“There was a strong willingness on his part to absorb Jamaican culture, which I believe is his greatest contribution. It’s on that basis that the NDTC became such a force,” Seaga said.

THE PEOPLE:
Many tributes have come in for the Trelawny-born Nettleford, who excelled as an academic, cultural activist, historian and remained an unapologetic regionalist.

ART COMMUNITY:
More on Professor Rex Nettleford can be seen in the Alexander Cooper Gallery and Museum, Coopers Hill Kingston. Both master painter Alexander Cooper and the Rex Nettleford were close and culture icons together.

Rex Nettleford. IAN ALLEN PHOTO

Jamaica’s culture icon, Vice-Chancellor Emeritus of the University of the West Indies (UWI), Professor Ralston Miller “Rex” Nettleford now lay unconscious in a hospital bed in Washington DC as of late Wednesday.
He who in 2006, told the founder of OAaSIS that “the progress of any country is reflected in the way the artists are treated!” has been among those that influenced the beginnings of the Foundation.

Pivitol to the development of Jamaica’s arts (literary, performing, visual), and culture, the icon who believes, and often states “creative people should be among the leaders of any society” collapsed at the hospital on Wednesday evening.

Ironically, a statement from the UWI yesterday said Nettleford went to Washington, DC, to attend a fund-raising gala for the institution.

After collapsing at the hospital on Wednesday, Vice-Chancellor Emeritus of the University of the West Indies (UWI), Professor Rex Nettleford, was admitted.

Jamaica’s Ambassador to Washington, DC, Anthony Johnson says Nettleford was unconscious when he visited the hospital yesterday. He also spoke of it being a “major concern for his doctors.”

All Jamaica is being affected by the news, and the Government and the Opposition People’s National Party issued statements, wishing the renowned Jamaican a speedy recovery.

Through his strides internationally, he is among the Caribbean’s most honoured nationals, who has earned the respect of many for his success in the areas of Arts culture and as an intellect.  Nettleford boasts over 50 years’ involvement in academia and the arts (performing, visual and literary).

The finale of Kumina, Rex Nettleford's signature piece by the Jamaican National Dance Theatre Company. NDTC PHOTO

Numbered Jamaicans are already reminiscing on the hey days of Caribbean theatre, when they scurried to the locations to watch him dance. His greatest achievement is the National Dance Theatre Company (NDTC), which he co-founded in 1962, with others including Bert Rose and Eddy Thomas.  (Read also Jamaica celebrates – Formation of NDTC). Back in 2007 he told the Caribbean’s leading newspaper, The Gleaner that with Jamaica gaining Independence from Britain in 1962, he felt it was critical for the nation to make a cultural statement. It was the marking the NDTC’s 45th season. “You have to remember we were coming at the end of the self-government movement, and we had to find self-expression on our own terms,” he said.

Chester Francis-Jackson describes the Rex Nettleford NDTC “as a tower of strength in a nation still searching for its cultural identity and soul, due to the emergence of the all-pervasive influence of cable television and global marketing strategies dominated by conglomerates fuelled by the culture of cash and immediacy.” (Read The NDTC at 47)

Nettleford, for over twenty years, has also been the artistic director for the University Singers of the University of the West Indies, Mona campus in Jamaica. The combination of Nettleford as artistic director and Noel Dexter as musical director with the University Singers has seen the creation of what is referred to as “choral theatre”.

Nettleford is a prolific writer, especially during the 1960s and 1970s. 1957 Rhodes scholar to Oriel College, Oxford, he is perhaps the only Jamaican who can claim to have an insertion of his creation into the Oxford Dictionary in modern times, making Jamaica proud.

Additionally, he has written several books, noted essays and papers on social issues, including race relations and the trade-union movement in the Caribbean. Beginning with a collection of essays titled Mirror Mirror (1969), he also edited and compiled speeches and writings of Norman Manley. Eventually, he established himself as a serious public historian and social critic. Among his books are Manley and The New Jamaica, Mirror Mirror and Caribbean Cultural Identity: The Case of Jamaica.

He has received several awards, including the Order of Merit (1975), Jamaica’s third-highest civic award, for his scholarly, cultural and artistic achievements.

Born in Falmouth, Trelawny, he is a graduate of Cornwall College and Oxford University and served as UWI vice-chancellor from 1996 to 2004. Currently, Nettleford is professor of extra mural studies at the UWI and also heads its Trade Union Education Institution.

He remains a pivotal part of the creative dance group as dancer, artistic director and choreographer, and prolific in his writings.