The Necessary Arts School (NAS) celebrates 20 years of training artists in the performing arts in TT. With branches in TT and Dubai, those who have worked with the school for two decades hope to continue the work of the school in the future.
Founder Naima Thompson said the idea for the school came while she was in college in New York in the early 90s.
“At the time, Harlem was under siege by the ‘stop and frisk’ policies of Mayor Giuliani. Tempers constantly flared between law enforcement and primarily the black male youth. The attitudes of the student population reflected this energy through the kids’ behaviour. An unfortunate, gang-related execution of a black youth at Madison Avenue and 104th Street, around the corner from where I worked, struck a flame in me so fierce that the quest for social justice for the invisible youth in my immediate community began.”
She said she had been developing workshops for the after-school programme Boys Harbour between 1991 and 1998, including theatre production, music-video production, advertising in media, ethics in music, and hip-hop dance evolution, for predominantly black and brown children of Harlem and the Bronx.
“These workshops created trustworthy and long-lasting relationships between myself and members of the Boys’ Harbour community. It was the boom of the hip-hop era and I took the time to explore adolescent themes through this popular culture, where my students could connect with something deeper within themselves: a power unique to only them.
[caption id="attachment_992610" align="alignnone" width="635"] Necessary Arts’ Carlinea Holder at North Coast Jazz Festival. -[/caption]
She said many of these students and then others became those who would participate in the first few events of NAS in New York City.
“The incident of the kid who was executed on Madison Avenue propelled me to make a greater difference in the lives of my students. I was determined to develop youth programmes outside of my regular teaching job, a venture that could provide a refuge for Harlem’s latch-key kids. In 1997, I started the first NAS programme for the youth of Harlem. This would be the genesis of NAS.”
Thompson said she returned to TT in 2001 and shared her dreams of bringing the Necessary Arts programme to TT with her mother Yvonne Thompson. She met with past schoolmate and friend Lydia Ledgerwood on her home terrace to brainstorm and designed the NAS After-School Arts programme.
“We discussed our different skill sets, and our personal strengths versus challenges, against the backdrop of our perceived needs of the local community. Lydia had remained in Trinidad for the 11 years that I was in NY. By this time in 2001, she had already completed her bachelors in music from the UWI and also worked for many years as a classroom teacher for the Ministry of Education’s public schools.
“I was fortunate that we were able to rekindle our acquaintance on my return home because she had her finger on the pulse of the soc
