The Alwin Bully Foundation Inc remembers the late Dominican cultural icon on the two-year anniversary of his passing and wants to continue remembering him for his sterling contribution to Dominica and Caribbean art and culture.
It was on March 10th, 2023, that the world got the sad news of the passing of this uniquely talented and world-class artist and cultural administrator who gave much of his life to building and sustaining a cultural ethos that would impact several generations. His passing and untimely death has left a huge gap in the cultural and artistic scene across Dominica and in the region. Known as a one-in-a-generation playwright, visual artist, songwriter, choreographer and cultural leader, Alwin Bully left a rich legacy for those he left behind to build upon and to continue working on to sustain an art and cultural space that would help to inspire and drive this and future generations to action.
Since his passing, a Foundation named in his honour, The Alwin Bully Foundation Inc, has taken up the mantle of keeping his legacy alive and working to ensure that his work lives in perpetuity. The Foundation has succeeded in putting together a number of truly outstanding activities that have touched across a number of areas that Alwin would have impacted in his truly remarkable time with us. Since its founding, the Foundation has been able to organized among other things, A Night of Films written and/or directed by Alwin; worked with Fort Young Hotel to display some of his amazing art pieces; jointly organized an Artist in Residence Workshop for builders of the iconic masquerade costume, the sennse and more recently, a six weeks training programme for secondary school students in building their own sennse and getting them to participate in Mas Domnik 2025; and lastly, organized the hugely successful Legendary Echoes, a musical tribute featuring songs written by Alwin on his 2024 birthday.
The Foundation is currently focusing on expanding its work and mandate to include the establishment of a theatre institute to help train the next generation of theatre artists, working with central government on projects to benefit the art and cultural community, working on the publication of works by Alwin which need to be published, as well as working on efforts to build and sustain legacy projects which were dear to Alwin’s core belief.
This year is the 50th anniversary of Alwin’s first major theatrical blockbuster, STREAK, and the Foundation is working with La Cour Des Artes on the restaging of the play sometime during the year. In addition, the Foundation hopes through public relations and media efforts to continue to advocate for and to support the building of a cultural and creative industries sector for Dominica that would allow for artists and cultural practitioners to benefit from their works of art.
As the group reflects on his passing, it does so with the belief that his work and legacy will continue to inspire the nation and region, and that arts and culture, will, as he would have wanted, be given a more prominent and important place in our society. The two-year anniversary should serve to rally artists and cultural workers to a higher calling and to higher standards of excellence.
