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

EMCVPA offers high quality education, training and research in the Visual and Performing Arts in a manner which enriches aesthetic sensibilities, fosters social transformation and promotes the cultural diversity of the Caribbean.

Vision

EMCVPA is an environment for learning and unparalleled praxis in Arts and Culture, grounded in Caribbeanness [for social transformation]

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.

Philosophy

The EMCVPA believes that artists are central to social transformation. Therefore, the College has a responsibility to demonstrate that education in the arts enhances the artists’ capacity to view and position their work in ways which are beneficial to the wholesome development of themselves, their communities, and the society.

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 are inclusive. We embrace and accept anyone whether staff faculty or students who have the potential for learning and thereby add value to the organization.
Service
We are servant leaders who uphold the highest ideal of service
Creativity and Innovation
We provide psychologically safe space for discovery and experimentation through trial and error. We provide balloon buoyancy to all our members
Transparency
We share information, are open and honest about decisions and actions, and provide explanations.
Commitment
We are accountable for our work; consistent in our performance, dedicated to our mission, fully engaged in the process of institutional strengthening and show up when we say we will.
Partnership
We recognize the principle of divine mutuality and the spirit of Ubuntu that compel us to work collaboratively with persons and organizations whose mission, vision and goals may converge with ours for institutional strengthening.
Lifelong Learning
We accept that organizational learning shares a symbiotic relationship with individual learning and are therefore committed to seeking and seizing opportunities to build and broaden our knowledge, skills and other attributes that will add value to the organization
Integrity & Ethics
We value personal and institutional integrity, and are committed to consistent, justifiable moral and ethical principles.
Respect
We are other-regarding and sensitive to the uniqueness, time and space, work and worth of others. We listen actively and without judgment and adhere to the golden rule: Treat others as you would want to be treated.