The Prince Claus Fund is grieved by the passing of Rex Nettleford on 2 February 2010.
The Fund was honoured by the presence of Nettleford at the Prince Claus Awards ceremony in 2001 when a Prince Claus Award was granted to Peter Minshall from Trinidad for building intercultural bridges through carnival. Because of his great knowledge on the cultural life of the Caribbean Nettleford was invited as a keynote speaker at the Awardsceremony that took place in the Royal Palace in Amsterdam.
Nettleford, 77, was the vice-chancellor emeritus of the University of the West Indies, having previously served as the vice-chancellor of the institution’s Mona Campus in Jamaica from 1996 to 2004.
He is widely recognised as one of the Caribbean’s leading intellectuals and was bestowed with the Order of the Caribbean Community in 2008.
He was also the recipient of Jamaica’s third highest honour, the order of Merit and was a cultural advisor to Prime Minister Bruce Golding.
The founder of the internally acclaimed National Dance Theatre Company, Nettleford is also the author of several publications.
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