Arts-in-Action (AiA)

Since 1994, the Department of Creative & Festival Arts (DCFA) has embarked upon a programme of public education, entitled Arts-in-Action (AiA). The brainchild of former Heads of Department, Dr. Dani Lyndersay and Mr. Rawle Gibbons, this programme seeks to extend the work and mission of the DCFA into communities and institutions throughout, in the first instance, Trinidad and Tobago, and subsequently throughout the Caribbean region.

The philosophical basis of its work has been that the arts have an indispensable role to play in the process of social and attitudinal change and development. Today, Arts-in-Action is recognized as the leading Applied Creative Arts company in the Caribbean Region. We have coined the term Applied Creative Arts (borrowing from Applied Theatre) to explain the ways in which we specialize in using creative and performing arts disciplines (e.g. theatre, dance, music, visual arts, storytelling, spoken-word, Carnival Arts etc.) in developing educational content for a wide range of audiences. From primary and secondary school interventions to community workshops and corporate boardrooms, AiA uses arts-based techniques to treat with issues ranging from Change Management to HIV / AIDS Awareness to Mathematics. The company’s vast experience, especially working in a social development/education capacity with organisations such as UNDP, UNWomen, NACC, the Ministries of Gender, Social Development and National Security, bpTT and BHP Billiton, has forged it into a unique social response vehicle which has made it into an effective first-responder in the fight against violence against women, child abuse and child sexual abuse, gender-based violence, youth crime and youth violence.