NICH Appoints Albert Vaughan as New President

There’s new leadership at the National Institute of Culture and History. Today, NICH announced that veteran public servant Albert Vaughan is stepping in as its new president. Vaughan takes on the role just months after leaving his post as Belize City Administrator and returning to an institution where he once served as a senior director. He says he’s ready to build on the work already underway, with a renewed push to protect Belize’s cultural heritage and strengthen public engagement. We caught up with him earlier today to hear his reaction to the appointment.

 

On the Phone: Albert Vaughan, President, National Institute of Culture and History

“Thanks to the Minister of Culture who have that level of confidence in me to make sure that the person being selected to be the president of NICH is myself. And I want to see thanks for that. Yes, I feel very good. I feel very good because I believe that I’m up to, and I believe that I can achieve what the minister needs to achieve. The challenge is to make sure that in these institutions we meet the requirement that we’re looking after. Now we’re talking about notifying, rehabilitating and maintaining the archeological sector. We’re talking about strengthening the festival of the arts at the Bliss. Make it more accessible, modern, vibrant. And it be the home for what we call the creative arts. We bring in culture, we want to be more cultured, we want to be more aware of culture in the different communities and districts. We are now moving towards Punta Gorda for our House of Culture.  And of course, as I say we are looking at the advanced flagship for the cultural, other cultural projects that we have, like the Believe in Music Project, formalizing, the National Orchestra. They are the foundation immersive and culture experience. So yes, we there will always be challenges and we have always, since being here 2021, we have always been facing these challenges, right? And see how best we can, we can get over it. We want to make sure that the Belizean heritage is more accessible to Belizeans, researchers, and digital, most of all.”