Long-time vice president of the Guyana Cultural Association (GCA), Vibert Cambridge, is the new president of the group, which sponsors the annual folk festival in Brooklyn.
At GCA’s recent end-of-year conference, Dr. Cambridge, a noted Guyana cultural historian and professor of media arts at Ohio University’s Scripps College of Communicatons, he was overwhelmingly voted in to replace Malcolm Cambridge who held the position of VP for the last nine years alongside immediate past president Malcolm Hall.
Cambridge was one of the founding members of the first folk festival that was held in Georgetown, Guyana back in the 1970’s. Author of the book, Celebrating our Creative Personalities — a series that highlights Guyanese artistes and many other publications, Cambridge brings a wealth of experience to the organization, from which he received an award for his stellar contribution to Guyana’s culture and heritage.
He is the recipient of a NAACP Ohio University chapter award, and was presented with the Netherlands Entertainment Education Foundation honor in Amsterdam.
The new president thanked GCA, for what he called the outstanding work they had done since 2001, and praised the body for establishing itself as a credible organization.
“Our organization has remained committed to its goal of preserving, celebrating and promoting Guyanese creativity, he said, naming the art exhibition, the awards ceremony, the Caribbean Summer Camp, a family fun day and the Kwe Kwe presentation as signature events.
“Over the years the festival has attracted participation from the Caribbean Diaspora in the USA, Canada and the UK, as well as folks in Guyana, added Cambridge who described the Literary Hang, the Performing Arts Series, the Symposium, and the publication of the Guy Folk magazine, elements that make up the preeminent Guyanese summer festival.
While acknowledging GCA’s collaboration with other Guyanese organizations towards the humanitarian challenges brought on by the Great Flood of 2005, and its participation in CARIFESTA X in 2008, Cambridge said that the organization will continue to reach out to these groups for an inspiring 2011 festival that will celebrate its 10th anniversary.
Other officers sworn in by the organization include, Romesh Singh, Vice President, Dr. Juliet Emanuel, Secretary, Claire A. Goring, Cultural Director, and Claire Patterson-Monah, Treasurer.
Maurice Braithwaite, Maurice Blenman, Rose October-Edun, Bobby Franklin Vieira, Godfrey Chin, Ronald H. Lammy, Negla Brandis, Francis Farrier, Margaret Lawrence, Ave-Marie Brewster-Haynes, Tangerine Clarke, Jamela Edoo, Ashton Franklin, Verna Walcott-White, and Muriel Glasgow, make up the general membership of the board.
