FirstCaribbean representatives tour Museum works site: (from left) Managing
Director Tom Crawford and Regional Director for Compliance Anna McLean with the
Museum’s Acting Director Debra Barnes-Tabora (far right).

To mark its fifth anniversary celebrations earlier this year, FirstCaribbean Bank selected the Cayman Islands National Museum as most worthy national cause. Representatives this week toured the works sites to see the outcome of the works their US$20,000 anniversary gift helped fund.

Commenting on the project’s selection, Managing Director Tom Crawford said: “We firmly believe that the National Museum benefits all of the people of the Cayman Islands, both residents and visitors, and is very important to our continued cultural development.”

Mr Crawford, accompanied by the bank’s Regional Director of Compliance Anna McLean and guided by Acting Museum Director Debra Barnes-Tabora, said that FirstCaribbean was “very proud to give back to the communities in which we operate, and we are pleased to see the continued restoration progress as a result of the contribution we made.”

The Managing Director noted that one of the bank’s predecessors – Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC) – had contributed to the original restoration of the Museum back in the 1990s. So when they were assessing the projects to which to contribute, they focused on the Museum as “one that would have most lasting appeal -- so we were happy to continue that relationship”.

He explained that the bank’s operating companies across the entire Caribbean have selected country projects to receive gifts from the bank to mark its fifth anniversary.

“We participate in all the communities we are in, supporting worthy causes,” he said.

Reflecting on the changes since he first came to the Cayman Islands 20 years ago, when the population was a mere 16,000, Mr Crawford said that he has much personal investment here: “I had two children who grew up here,” he said, “and they love to come back to visit -- and it is a great place to live and to do business.”

Thanking Mr Crawford on behalf of the Museum, Board Chair Harris McCoy said it was heartening to have gained the support of the bank, especially to have been so well thought of as to be the subject of its fifth anniversary gift.

“This is an important milestone for the bank and we are so pleased to be in a very real sense part of their celebrations, and we wish them continued success as they grow.”

Acting Museum Director Debra Barnes-Tabora said that donors such as FirstCaribbean can indeed feel satisfied of the “lasting appeal” of their gift to the Museum restoration, as it has helped to fund the scope of the works, expanded to ensure that the likes of the 2004 Hurricane Ivan disaster is averted in the future as much as is possible.

“As a result of such donations, we now have a much stronger and more resilient building, which has come back better able than before to secure and showcase Cayman’s cultural identity,” Mrs Barnes-Tabora said.

The Museum will reopen in early 2009. Meanwhile, the board and officers are planning a “soft” opening, featuring the building itself, in November, prior to the installation of exhibits. This is to enable the public to see firsthand the outcome of the restoration of the building, which, as the last remaining authenticated building of its vintage, is an artefact of significant importance to the Cayman Islands.
The Museum continues to appeal for public support for funding the massive restoration programme. Donations may be made by contacting Acting Director Barnes-Tabora at 949-8368, email musdjtab@candw.ky.