Greetings to you...
I am Patriann Edwards, a multidisciplinary performing artist, arts & culture advocate from the lovely island of Trinidad & Tobago; and I have be accepted into the Post Graduate Program in Arts & Cultural Enterprise Management at University of The West Indies.
My love for the arts began as a child, through my family’s artistic & cultural passion for performing & their national participation in our country’s Prime Minister’s Best Village Competition & Program.
Coming from a family of performers, I have seen many fall back never nurturing their talent to its truest potential and I said to myself, “Sis! This starvation of talent ends with you”. At that point I vowed to be the shift. I chose to pick up where many left off, & go beyond the limitations & perceptions that were held for creatives within the community of the arts and culture.
This determination propelled me to pursue ongoing extensive training in dance, the fire arts, & the artistic industry for many years. Thus far, my wealth of experience extends to over 20 years of combined performance, training, mentorship, folk dance teaching certifications & commendations within the artistic & entertainment industry in the locally and the United States.
Early on, this journey led me to be selected to serve as a National Youth Ambassador & representative for the UNICEF's XChange Program in 2007-2008. Following this, I continued my artistic training, & went on to be accepted to the University of Trinidad & Tobago, where i obtained the Bachelor of Fine Arts in Performing Arts, majoring in Dance. During my tenure at UTT, I was privileged to be one of the first scholarship recipients of The Dance & Performance Institute, “New Waves” Summer Program, directed and curated by international dance artist & scholar, Makeda Thomas. Being immersed in this experience, created a spark & deep urge to immerse myself into finding my artistic purpose beyond dance.
Upon completing my undergraduate studies, i went on to receive and complete the New Waves - Movement Research Institute of New York’s, “MELT Summer Intensive International Scholarship”. I was trained & mentored by international artists Luciana Achugar, André M. Zachery, RoseAnne Spradlin, Levi Gonzalez, Donna Uchizono, to name a few and also bestowed the award of being one of their "GPS Artists of 2017".
This experience initiated my journey in movement research, seeing our local arts & culture industry as an underrated goldmine of movement and arts enterprise. Following this, I went to obtain further achievements including:
*Being selected as a dancer & firebreather to tour with the Caribbean core at the Universoul Circus for their yearly tour of 2018
*Recipient of one of the Woodshed Dance 'Unrest & Survival' Summer Dance Intensive Scholarships (completed July 2020)
*Recipient of the “Founder Scholarship“ from the Kieron Dwanye Sargeant Dance and Education Foundation of Trinidad and Tobago, to pursue the “Dance Criticism & Aesthetics Course”, taught by International Dance Writer & Teaching Artist,Gregory King. (completed Aug 2020)
I always felt the need to continue advancing my artistic knowledge, development & expertise independently. It is my belief that we, Trinidad & Tobago are a goldmine of talent and expertise more pro-active work needs to be done within our arts & culture industry. Upon the advice of one of my mentors, I decided to follow my academic dreams to pursue graduate school internationally, but as the global health situation worsened, it created a situation preventing many artists like myself from receiving a stable income to pursue many goals. I understood that like everybody else, the COVID-19 pandemic was an obstacle and also deeply affected my goal. When I was close to changing my mind, I received a call that I was accepted into the Post Graduate Diploma Program in Arts & Cultural Enterprise Management at The School for Graduate Studies and Research, University of The West Indies, & commencing this September 2020.
The Post Graduate Diploma in Arts & Cultural Enterprise Management is a trans-disciplinary programme that equips graduates with the entrepreneurial skills for the professional development, management & policy making of the artistic and cultural resources.
To pursue this life changing opportunity through this unexpected period, will further add enrichment & collective sustainability of the arts & creative industry, especially within the Diaspora, through my pursuit. With all my courage, I am humbly requesting your support in any way that you can through financial donations for me to achieve this goal on my educational journey.
I am in need of financial support of $15,000TT($2,500US) to cover my tuition expenses for the program. In pursuing this program, I aim to continue to actively contribute to the promotion, conservation & continuance of our artistic & cultural community.
I believe that everything happens for a reason, & never before its time. This opportunity truly presents itself in that precedent, & I invite you to contribute to a major part of my journey. If you are unable to support, please share it with your network. My appreciation and gratitude goes out to you for any contribution, assistance & support given.
Thank you in advance.