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Diane Haylock replaces Yasser Musa at NICH

GeneralDiane Haylock replaces Yasser Musa at NICH
Effective today, February 18, Diane Haylock has replaced Yasser Musa as the president of the National Institute of Culture and History (NICH).
 
NICH was created during the second term of the Said Musa administration in 2003, and even though it was rumored before the General Elections that the UDP would dismantle NICH if the party were to come to power, Prime Minister Dean Barrow told us last week that his party would do no such thing.
 
Even though he is an artist himself, Yasser Musa, the former president, is also the son of the former prime minister and public relations officer for the now Opposition People’s United Party. It was expected that the Barrow administration would name a new NICH president after their February 7 victory at the polls.
 
A Government press release says, “Ms. Haylock has been actively involved in the field of culture for many years, having contributed significantly to an increased awareness of the importance of culture in the Belizean landscape.”
 
For her part, Haylock also has a political history, having run in the 2003 general elections in Pickstock, when the current UDP rep for that division, Wilfred “Sedi” Elrington, ran against her as an independent candidate. PUP’s Godfrey Smith won the division in 2003.
 
Haylock has also represented the UDP in the Belize-Guatemala talks at the Organization of American States.
 
She is most widely known, however, for her involvement in the arts, having been one of Belize’s premier theatre directors coming out of the Square Peg era of the 1970’s.
 
Diane Haylock has a master’s degree in developmental studies, with prior studies in mass communications and theatre.
 
NICH has been the premier arm of Government responsible for the development of culture and the arts in the public sector sphere between 2003 and 2008, and the ruling United Democratic Party credits the former Musa administration for the positive contributions they made in that sector.

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