Exhibition Information

Now seriously: Did YOU know that there were panyards at the then University College of the West Indies (UCWI) and the early UWI after it became an independent of the University of London in 1962?
Dr Archie Hudson Phillips and Prof Emeritus Woodville Marshall both recall cacophany behind Taylor Hall in the mid-1950s as ‘di boys’ struggled to turn salvaged steel drums into workable steelpans and forge a workable steel band for fetes, support of hall activities including sometimes hard-contested football games, and carnival.

UWI graduate Dr Archie Hudson Phillips had a simple answer to how carnival emerged at the University College of the West Indies (UCWI), now UWI, in the mid-1950s: It was coming up to Ash Wednesday and the southern Caribbean students said – “Le’ Wi Play Mas!”
And that is the title of our new cameo exhibition, mounted now in honour of UWI Carnival which has migrated into the Lenten period and is this year celebrated at the UWI’s founding Mona campus from March 10 – 14. At Cave Hill, the dates are March 20 – 26.