TAJ FRANCIS

Visual Arts

“What was especially awakening for me was the reality check I got when I started to go to Edna Manley College and learned exactly what design and illustration was. It was then and there I think I made a dramatic change in how I went about doing my art and what I wanted to present to people and what I wanted to represent. I began to think more critically about what I was producing and tried to develop a style of work. My work began to get more recognition, over time.”

MATTHEW MCCARTHY

Visual Arts

Blending his obsession with Jamaican street signs and old school dancehall illustrations, Matthew McCarthy has revisioned the global street art movement in Jamaica through the Paint Jamaica Project/Initiative.

Even as an engaged student at the EMCVPA, Matthew adapted a practice that engaged and challenged the traditional art institution earning the moniker “bright and outta order” which still stands on the walls of the School of Visual Arts today.

YENDI PHILLIPS

Dance

TV Host, beauty queen, front covers, and commercials, Yendi has done it all but it is dance that makes her come alive. She shares that EMCVPA gave her more than dance, it gave her discipline, commitment and a passion for excellence.  Yendi currently uses dance to encourage fitness with her Yendi Master Dance Class (YMDC).

“There’s always an encounter that happens that just makes me know that me facilitating other people’s “feel good” is something bigger than me, even if it’s dance fitness.”

RAGING FYAH

Music

“This place – EDNA set the standard…this is where, between the links with the other ones like weself and guidance from the teachers, we keep improving” – Kumar Bent

The five piece reggae band from Kingston, Jamaica – Raging Fyahwas formed by classmates Pele, Demar and Anthony Watson. They met at the School of Music under the tutelage of Ibo Cooper, the former keyboardist with Third World. They later joined forces with veteran guitarist Courtland “Gizmo” White and formed Inside Out in 2002 before changing their name to Raging Fyah in 2006. Kumar Bent signed on as lead singer in 2010 after switching from piano to voice at EMCVPA. The band was nominated for a Grammy in 2016.