Rubadiri Victor

Rubadiri Victor is an activist and a multi-media artist working in 8 mediums (film, music, painting, theatre, Mas, photography, writing/publishing, & curating/design) uniquely networked amongst generations of practitioners in all fields in Trinidad and Tobago. He is founder and president of the Artists’ Coalition of Trinidad & Tobago (ACTT) - the lead Creative Industry and Cultural Sector representative organization in T&T. He is also founder and artistic director of Wire Bend Folklore Theatre, a performance troupe that brings to life ancestral and contemporary folklore by combining onstage costumes and sets created by indigenous Master Artisans with interactive animation created by T&T’s top young talents.

Rubadiri enjoyed a rich prolific career as a young multi-media artist from 1989-2000 whilst apprenticing under many Elder Masters. The fact that he is multi-media and also networked with Elder and Younger practitioners informed his activism and enabled him as a scholar to emerge with new critical takes on contemporary cultural theory. For 17 years- from 2000 to 2017- Rubadiri placed his creative careers on hold - to battle for the communal interest of the Cultural Sector. He founded ACTT and began battling for the creation of a facilitative environment for the Creative Industries and Cultural Sector and for the rescue of National Legacy.

Rubadiri is author of ‘Meditation on the Traditions’- a photo-essay on Traditional Mas and also publisher of the historic ‘Generation Lion Magazine’ which documents T&T’s genius at home and in its diaspora.  He published ANANSI & THE 10 DRAGONS and ANANSI & THE BOOK OF NIGHT- the first and second parts of a 7-part series depicting the adventures of Anansi's grandmother as a young Spider. The series is part of a larger Universe of books entitled 'Myths for a New Time.'  

Rubadiri owns the publishing company Passion Fruit Publishing Ltd which is currently publishing a series of contemporary manuscripts. This has culminated almost 3 decades of creative writing in fiction and non-fiction, including scholarly papers delivered in local, regional and international conferences and symposia. He has pioneered theories pertaining to Trinbagonian and African-Diasporic culture as well as new theories interrogating humanity's capacity for storytelling, male-initiation rituals, and human settlement… The University of the West Indies Youth Printing Press is named after one of his papers. Rubadiri has also been a columnist for both of his country’s 'elder sister' daily newspapers- the Guardian and the Express.

Rubadiri has staged 10 1-man exhibitions of paintings and jersey art. He worked with many of the leading theatrical troupes in the country throughout the 1990s as lead actor, set and costume designer, and art director until he quit in the late 90s frustrated by the influx of foreign scripts and bedroom farces which homogenized the theatre. Since 2002 he resumed his relationship with the medium as a playwright, director and masman, leading his own Jouvay band- Generation Lion- since 2003. He has also directed and managed an array of local and international events like the closing ceremony of the America’s Competitiveness Forum in 2014. Rubadiri is also the lead singer and songwriter for Rapso-fusion band Chantwell and is in the process of recording a new album.