About

Our History

The Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts (EMCVPA) is known for a rich tradition of excellence in the arts, and the ONLY choice for higher education in the visual and performing arts, and arts management. The College is housed in the culturally diverse Creative City of Music – Kingston.

The College is invested in promoting the cultural diversity of the Caribbean and enriching the aesthetics sensibilities of its students through quality education and training in the visual and performing arts. With the School of Arts Management, the College further taps into the unlimited potential of the Cultural and Creative industries to bolster economies and create meaningful careers for its graduates.

Steeped in the rich cultural tradition of the Caribbean, the EMCVPA has been developing and preserving arts and culture for over six decades, beginning with the establishment of the School of Visual Arts in 1950.

Our Founders

Edna Manley

Vera Moody

Sheila Barnett

Barbara Requa

Bert Rose

Greta & Henry Fowler

Mission

To enrich the aesthetic sensibilities and promote the cultural diversity of the Caribbean through the highest quality education and training in the Visual and Performing Arts.

Vision

To develop the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts as a centre in arts and culture, by creating a physical and an academic environment, which will engender the highest quality study, research, scholarship and the pursuit of academic excellence.
To strengthen and broaden relationships between the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts and its stakeholders by promoting partnership and collaboration to support the development of the arts and encourage networking.
To ensure a sustained social and academic environment that develops graduates who are devoted to sound moral, social, spiritual and ethical principles in their professional lives and leaders in the practice of the arts.
To create opportunities for economic enterprises that will support the development of the institution and the interest of the Edna Manley College of Visual and Performing Arts.
To provide quality staff who will support the mission of the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts, be devoted to lifelong learning and professional growth in their area of expertise.

Our Story

The Schools of Visual Arts, Music, Dance and Drama started out at different locations in Kingston but were brought together in 1976 under the aegis of the Cultural Training Centre, an arm of the Institute of Jamaica. In 1979, the schools were identified by UNESCO as pivotal institutions in the Caribbean, and have since developed as a prime agency for cultural development positioning it for the 1983 designation as the Inter-American Centre for Caribbean Cultural Development by the Organization of American State (OAS).

In 1995, all four schools were consolidated, and the institution renamed to Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts in honour of Jamaica’s seminal artist, Edna Manley, OM.

Our City - Kingston

Kingston, Jamaica’s capital is a paradox of worlds – quaint yet modern, gritty with an urban finish, culturally vibrant and bursting with life. Kingston is authentic and is alive with arts and culture and the EMCVPA sits in the centre of it all as the training ground for visual and performing artists and arts managers.

Our Core Values

The Edna Manley College is committed to the following as an essential part of its purpose as an institution of higher learning:

Diversity
We value diversity as part of our commitment to academic and aesthetic freedom and respect diverse opinions among faculty, staff and students
Service
We value service as a divine gift to humanity and seek to make it a natural part of our duty to offer the highest quality to all our clients
Innovation
We value innovation as the key to original thoughts and seek to bring new and innovative ideas to enhance the work of the College, as well as to create new knowledge in the visual and performing arts.
Transparency
We value transparency as essential to open and accountable governance by seeking to operate in an egalitarian environment that involves all stakeholders in our decision-making.
Commitment
We value commitment as vital to institutional and administrative loyalty and pledge to be committed to the ideals, mission and objectives of the College, as well as to the services in which we are engaged.
Partnership
We value partnership as an important condition for stakeholders’ participation and seek to forge alliances to facilitate the development and progress of the College.
Lifelong Learning
We value lifelong learning as a basic philosophy of self-renewal, scholarship and institutional growth and seek to encourage this as essential for all.
Integrity & Ethics
We value personal and institutional integrity, and are committed to consistent, justifiable moral and ethical principles.
Truth
We value truth as the fundamental gateway to enlightenment and human dignity, and seek to express this in our lives and imparting it to others.
Respect
We value respect for self, others and the environment as a critical self-defining element, and a source for building and maintaining good relationships and achieving success, and seek to exercise this at all times.