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The Institute of Jamaica (IOJ), founded in 1879, is the country's most significant cultural, artistic and scientific organisation: [1] a patron and promoter of the arts in Jamaica, sponsoring exhibitions and awards. It is also the country's museums authority, as well as administering other national arts and cultural outlets including the National Gallery, the African Caribbean Institute of Jamaica, and the Jamaica Journal . [2]
The Institute of Jamaica was established in 1879 by Sir Anthony Musgrave, then governor of Jamaica, "For the Encouragement of Literature, Science and Art in Jamaica", [3] and as such was designed to help Government in the promotion and preservation of culture in the island. [4] It is Jamaica's "most significant cultural, artistic and scientific organization". [5] In the words of the late Edna Manley: "When I pay tribute to the Institute, I like to think back over the years to the twenties - when there was almost nothing that stood for the encouragement of any of the Arts or Sciences. Only the Institute stood like a beacon in its attempt to create an atmosphere where creativity could hope to flourish. The Institute stood for integrity. It also had the strength and intelligence to survive. Let the Institute survive, beaming aloft its flame of integrity." [4]
The IOJ is located at 10-16 East Street, Kingston, Jamaica, and has responsibility for the following organizations:
The function of the Institute varies according to the role of each division. These include: to establish and maintain museums and galleries for the collection, preservation and presentation of artefacts and art treasures (National Museum Jamaica); to maintain and display Jamaica's flora and fauna collections (Natural History); to document and disseminate information on the impact of the African presence in Jamaica and the wider Caribbean (ACIJ/JMB), with Liberty Hall as a unit of the ACIJ formed to promote the memory of Marcus Garvey including through educational programmes and exhibitions; to develop the potential of children in visual and performing arts and to broaden their appreciation of Jamaica's culture (Junior Centres); and to acquire Jamaican art for public display (National Gallery). [6]
The IOJ publishes Jamaica Journal , originally the Journal of the Institute of Jamaica, established in 1896.
The Musgrave Medal has been awarded by the Institute of Jamaica since 1897 for excellence in the fields of arts, sciences and literature.
The Gleaner Company presented the Institute of Jamaica with the Gleaner Honour Award "For its unyielding and invaluable contribution to Arts and Culture in 2014, staunchly preserving Jamaica's heritage." [1]
Edward Philip George SeagaON PC was a Jamaican politician. He was the fifth Prime Minister of Jamaica, from 1980 to 1989, and the leader of the Jamaica Labour Party from 1974 to 2005. He served as leader of the opposition from 1974 to 1980, and again from 1989 until January 2005.
The Honourable Edward Kamau Brathwaite, CHB, was a Barbadian poet and academic, widely considered one of the major voices in the Caribbean literary canon. Formerly a professor of Comparative Literature at New York University, Brathwaite was the 2006 International Winner of the Griffin Poetry Prize, for his volume of poetry Born to Slow Horses.
Ralston Milton "Rex" Nettleford, OM, FIJ, OCC , was a Jamaican scholar, past student of Cornwall College, social critic, choreographer, and Vice-Chancellor Emeritus of the University of the West Indies (UWI), the leading research university in the Commonwealth Caribbean.
Keith Anthony Morrison, Commander of Distinction (C.D.), born May 20, 1942), is a Jamaican-born painter, printmaker, educator, critic, curator and administrator.
Albert Huie was a Jamaican painter.
The Musgrave Medal is an annual award by the Institute of Jamaica in recognition of achievement in art, science, and literature. Originally conceived in 1889 and named in memory of Sir Anthony Musgrave, the founder of the Institute and the former Governor of Jamaica who had died the previous year, the medal was the first to be awarded in the Western Hemisphere.
The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Kingston, Jamaica.
Mallica Reynolds, OD, better known by the adopted name "Kapo", was a Jamaican artist and religious leader. Considered one of the greatest artists in Jamaica's "Intuitives" artistic movement, Kapo's religious beliefs were reflected in his work.
Kofi Kayiga, formerly known as Ricardo Wilkins, is a Jamaican-born artist and educator, who migrated to the US, after periods spent in the UK and Uganda. He has exhibited widely internationally and since the 1960s has taught fine art at various institutions, becoming a professor at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design (MassArt).
Althea McNishFSCD was a British textile designer of Trinidadian origin who has been called the first British designer of African descent to earn an international reputation. Born in Trinidad, McNish moved to Britain in the 1950s. She was associated with the Caribbean Artists Movement (CAM) in the 1960s, participating in CAM's exhibitions and seminars and helping to promote Caribbean arts to a British public. Her work is represented in the collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Whitworth Museum, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Museum of Domestic Design and Architecture and the Cooper-Hewitt, among other places.
Petrona Morrison is a Jamaican sculptor and media artist. Her work is largely inspired by African art; she uses found objects in assemblages that have both personal and broader social themes.
Robert A. Hill is a Jamaican historian and academic who moved to the United States in the 1970s. He is Professor Emeritus of History and Research Professor at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), and Visiting Fellow at The Sir Arthur Lewis Institute of Social and Economic Studies (SALISES), University of the West Indies at Mona, Jamaica. A leading scholar on Marcus Garvey, Hill has lectured and written widely on the Garvey movement, and has been editor-in-chief of The Marcus Garvey and Universal Negro Improvement Association Papers for more than 30 years. Reviewing the first volume in 1984, Eric Foner wrote: "'The Marcus Garvey and Universal Negro Improvement Association Papers' will take its place among the most important records of the Afro-American experience."
Maymie de Mena was an American-born activist who became one of the highest-ranking officers in the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA). She has been credited with keeping the organization alive after Marcus Garvey's conviction for mail fraud and deportation from the United States.
Alvin Tolman Marriott was a Jamaican sculptor. He worked in Europe, North and Central America, and Jamaica. Many of his carvings and statues are on public display and in administrative buildings in Jamaica and the UK.
Laura Facey CD is a Jamaican contemporary artist. She is best known for the monumental sculpture Redemption Song (2003), which serves as Jamaica's national monument to the Emancipation from Slavery.
Storm Saulter is a Jamaican filmmaker and photographer. He wrote and directed the 2010 film Better Mus' Come and directed the 2018 film Sprinter. In 2020, Sprinter was released on Netflix.
Songs of Jamaica is the first book published by the African-Jamaican writer Claude McKay, which appeared in January 1912. The Institute of Jamaica awarded McKay the Silver Musgrave Medal for this book and a second volume, Constab Blues, also published in 1912. He used the associated stipend to fund a trip to the United States of America.
Maureen Warner-Lewis is a Trinidadian and Tobagonian academic whose career focused on the linguistic heritage and unique cultural traditions of the African diaspora of the Caribbean. Her area of focus has been to recover the links between African cultures and Caribbean cultures. She has been awarded multiple prizes for her works, including two Gordon K. and Sybil Lewis Awards, the Gold Musgrave Medal of the Institute of Jamaica, and was inducted into the Literary Hall of Fame of Tobago.
Cecil Archibald Baugh, was a Jamaican master potter and artist.
Dorothy Henriques-Wells was a Jamaican painter and art teacher. She is known for her sparse, vibrant watercolors depicting the plants and landscapes of Jamaica. She has works in the National Gallery of Jamaica and she received the Silver Musgrave Medal for Art in 1987. Henriques-Wells graduated from the Ontario College of Art in 1951, where she was the institution's first Black alumna. She taught art at Jamaican high schools and colleges for over two decades.
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