Barbadians Alex Raven and Rhianna Smith have acquired new skills in sound design and production, having just completed intensive courses at the prestigious International Film and Television School of San Antonio de Los Baños, Cuba.
The courses, which were held from June 17 to 29, 2024, were organised by the UNESCO Regional Office in Havana, within the framework of the Caribbean Cultural Training Hub of the UNESCO Programme Transcultura: Integrating Cuba, the Caribbean and the European Union through Culture and Creativity.
This programme, which is funded by the European Union, saw 24 young professionals in the film sector from Barbados, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and Trinidad and Tobago being awarded full scholarships to participate.
Ms. Smith participated in a workshop on cinematographic sound mixing in stereophonic formats. She said that her course was quite demanding.
“They did not lie when they said in the outline that you were coming to do an intensive course. So, from day one we were learning a whole set of theory. We had two days of theory, then we went straight into practicals – a lot of demonstrations, a lot of trying to navigate ProTools, which creators would say is one of the hardest platforms you could ever try to navigate,” she stated.
She said outside of the classroom she found it to be a very interesting experience as a Barbadian seeing the differences in the culture as well as the similarities.
“I really appreciated getting to hear some of the Cuban music and realising how much it sounds like kaiso and calypso, and how much our drum rhythms are the same and so on, as well as the ways that we express ourselves, the woodwork, the leather craft and so on. It was definitely a learning experience. And it was great to just connect with other people and get to know more about them and more about myself as well,” Ms. Smith said.
Mr. Raven, who said it was an honour to represent Barbados, participated in a course on soundtrack design, multichannel music recording, and mixing.
“It’s been such a wonderful opportunity offered by UNESCO through the Transcultura Programme and the European Union. The experience overall for me has been amazing. If I could sum it up into one word, it has been breathtaking.
“The ability to collaborate and meet fellow creators from across the region, to be able to come together in one spirit of unity, art, creativity, culture, love…all of that good stuff…. It’s been amazing, amazing, amazing. If I were to die now, I would die satisfied, honestly,” Mr. Raven stated.
There are more training opportunities available for Barbadians between ages 18 and 35 through the Transcultura Programme. Applications are being invited for 72 scholarships for young people from the Caribbean for face-to-face courses in Havana, in areas such as dance, heritage, visual arts, furniture design, commercial space design and serigraphy.
Applications must be submitted by Friday, July 12, 2024, at 23:59 hours (GMT-5) via this online form.