The Media Youth and Culture Committee (MYCC) met with the Honorary Cultural Ambassador of Seychelles, Mr. Patrick Victor on Wednesday afternoon, the 01st of July.
The Ambassador started off by addressing some of the pertinent issues that artists are currently facing due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He raised the point that there needs to be a “way forward” now for artists and he asserted that these last few months have been a learning curve for everyone involved.
He took the opportunity to bring forward the idea that Seychelles could make good use of its culture as a source of revenue and to promote tourism, environment protection and living values among others.
He cited a “Music Festival” that would attract people from around the world and that could possibly help put Seychelles back on its feet after the pandemic quiets down.
In addition, the Ambassador expressed his sentiments towards “reviewing and updating” the existing policies to make them up-to-date to the present needs of the country, to cater for every artist in the right way. Moreover, he argued that art and culture could be another pillar for the economy and we need to also start to think of ways to use it to our advantage in the next coming months.
The Members also interacted with the Ambassador in relations to the economic issues that artists are going through. A few members also questioned the fact of why several plans that had been laid down a few years ago still have not come to fruition.
In conclusion, both the Ambassador and the Members spoke of the plans to have the documents for traditional dance known as “Moutya” re-submitted to UNESCO (The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation) for the consideration of the “Moutya” dance as a cultural heritage of Seychelles.
