Dr. Amina Blackwood-Meeks Moulding Talent in the Creative Sector

Orator for the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts and veteran storyteller, writer, and actress, Dr. Amina Blackwood Meeks, OD, continues to play an active role in training the next generation of Caribbean creatives.

With years-long ties to the Edna Manley College, Dr. Blackwood Meeks is proud to have been a recipient of training at the institution and continues to help to mould the skills and talent of students.

“I’ve been aware of the Edna Manley College from the time it was called the Cultural Training Centre as a vision of what would happen after CARIFESTA 76 when this location was a performance site as well as a space for accommodating the delegates to CARIFESTA,” she explains.

“I have been a student. Long ago, the College had something called “Advanced Acting” and I was registered in that programme in 1983.”

Aside from her duties as orator, Dr. Meeks is involved in fostering relationships inside and outside the college, hosting monthly discussions among students, officiating public events at the college, and developing programmes to promote the identity of the students as Caribbean citizens, among other responsibilities.

“I also function as a lecturer, and the courses that I have taught have varied, but in the last three academic years I have taught a course called ‘The Self: Ethics and Creativity’, and I am also teaching a course called ‘Caribbean Culture and Identity’, she says.

The renowned storyteller advises persons seeking to embark on a career in the creative sector to undergo training, to be adequately equipped. She underscores that although artists should first view themselves as ‘development workers’, it is also important for them to be trained, and that many persons entering the sector start their careers under misconception that training is not necessary, Dr. Blackwood Meeks says.

“I think first of all we have to see ourselves as development workers. That’s what artists do. The next thing we need to do is…mash down that lie that you don’t need to be trained. Of course you need to be trained to do this work,” she argues, as training is essential for creatives to be able to comprehend the nature of the work that they do.

“How are you going to work theatre, perform in a play if you don’t understand the history of theatre, and the different kinds of theatre that they are, and the different methods of acting? How are you going to become a dancer if you don’t understand kinesiology and all of that?” she asks.

Elizabeth Saddler, Seasonal Editor at the University of Technology (UTech) and one of Dr. Blackwood Meeks’ protégés at Ntukuma, a nonprofit voluntary organisation founded by Mrs Blackwood Meeks to promote storytelling and assist aspiring storytellers, says the advice and guidance provided by the creative veteran have been useful in honing her skills as a storyteller.

“As one of these storytellers, I have received feedback on multiple occasions on ways in which my own performance can be improved,” she recalls.

“Dr. Meeks has shown us how to remain poised, articulate, and engage our audience to showcase the different dimensions of a story, bringing the story to life,” Elizabeth shares.

She adds that during her lessons, Dr. Blackwood Meeks encouraged her and fellow storytellers to be open-minded by not limiting themselves in how they viewed the concept of storytelling itself.

“One noteworthy phrase that I have learnt from Dr. Meeks is that we are storytellers in our own way,” she explains.

Dr. Blackwood Meeks recalls that, amid the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, Edna Manley College had to open itself to changes across several artforms in order to adjust training methods.

“What we had to deal with were the art forms that very often require up-close and personal. We’re accustomed to touching people around the lung area and in the back when we’re teaching them how to breathe properly… for voice and speech and music,” she shares.

However, she notes that the institution managed to overcome such challenges.

“Yes, we had a lot of learning to do but that’s what we do. We’re like the bamboo. We bend, but we nuh break so we walked through the raindrops. We dealt with the challenges and I believe we have come out stronger because of that,” she adds.

Dr. Blackwood Meeks lauds the institution for earning a reputation for high-level training, and notes that this influenced her decision to become involved with the institution in the first place.

“Some things you don’t have a choice. You are drawn like a moth to a flame. It’s a magnet. It’s (the College ) where you go in Jamaica. It’s the premier place you go in Jamaica for growth, for contribution, for affiliation as a member of the growing cultural and creative industries,” she states.

The only tertiary school in the English-speaking Caribbean to provide specialised training in a wide range of areas under the visual and performing arts, the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts falls under the purview of the Ministry of Education and Youth.