Cultural Entrepreneurship & Documentation Program Grenada – Our time in Grenada has come down to the final few hours. The sky has opened up and is dumping warm, sweet-smelling rain on the palm trees and flowers, and the birds are still singing. This is a special place and the Cultural Entrepreneurship and Documentation Program is special too.

As a journalist, I’m used to spending days chasing interviews with people who start out as strangers and end up sharing deep, personal stories. I’m not used to chasing 14 of them in one day. It was a challenging schedule and we truly made the most out of every minute we had here, travelling across rollercoaster-like roads to interview Grenadians about folklore and superstition and the performing arts in this country. I was awe-struck so many times. To watch our NSCC students blend seamlessly with the Grenadian students, to see them overcome technical challenges, heat and cultural differences and embrace it all, and to be privileged to listen to so many personal stories about the rich culture here, made for a deep professional and personal experience.

Our T.A. Marryshow Community College counterparts were excellent organizers and ambassadors and this program is a success because of the strong partnership between our two colleges which has been cultivated over the last three years. Having worked in a developing country before, the partnership aspect was critical for me. The model of people arriving from developed countries and doing things “for” others in places they know nothing about and then leaving is generally unsustainable and unequal. So I was thrilled to see just how much this program has been championed by our counterparts in Grenada, and to see how much the Grenadian students were learning alongside ours. It was clearly benefitting everyone who participated.

Finally, watching the students present their entrepreneurial ideas after two weeks of hard work and exploration was a highlight. We had a great crowd, full of passionate supporters who wanted to take their ideas and run with them. The students couldn’t have asked for more.

The impact and importance of this program was clear on the faces of the people we interviewed, and the feedback from all the students involved. Life-changing is how one of the Grenadian students summed it up. And for this NSCC instructor, it certainly was.

Erin Moore

Faculty, Radio & Television Arts

NSCC Waterfront Campus