UTT’s oldest student graduates

After gaining practical experience for over 20 years in the arts and entertainment industry in the United States as technical director, stage manager, lighting director and production manager, and retiring from it all, Amerish Gagedeen at 66 years, is now qualified as a sound engineer.

Gagedeen did this by also becoming the oldest Bachelor of Arts student to ever graduate from the University of Trinidad and Tobago, graduating recently with a degree in Fine Arts. Unlike most students who would feel happy going on to the next chapter of life, he told Newsday, “This degree may not be useful for me at my age, but then you never know what could happen.”

“I am thinking of doing a PhD if I could find a university where I could do it without doing the master’s degree.” Asked what prompted him to pursue the degree, he said, “I did all these things in the arts and entertainment industry, but I was not paper qualified. Over the years, I was looking for a university in the US that specialised in these skills. I found none.”

Then, he said, he got married at a young age, started vocational school, children came along, and it was all about them. Over a decade ago, he returned to Trinidad.

“I told myself, I am retired. I have spare time. Go to school. Learn some stuff. There is no need to give up after 50 years.”

A sound engineer, who lives next to Gagedeen’s Mount Lambert home, told him about the programmes at the UTT. He applied and was a student again at the age of 62.

At first it was not challenging because he knew almost everything being lectured about.

“At times, I felt like I was in jail,” he said. Then came along sound engineer Professor Martin Raymond. “Because of him I ended up staying the four years or I would have quit after two years. School became fun and I began to learn things I did not know.”

On his experience in the arts and entertaiment industry in the US, he said, he worked for 15 years at the Dance Theatre of Harlem, the only professional black ballet dance theatre in the world.

“I also worked for brief periods with Diana Ross, Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson, and Bob Marley. The high point of my career was stage managing two command performances for the Queen’s mother at the London Palladium in England in the 70s/80s when they celebrated her birthday.

He got involved in the industry by sheer chance. One day, after missing the bus to get home on a cold wintry day after a day at flight school, he hitched a ride with another student. They became friends.

“I was going to school at day and working in a factory at night. I did not like the job in the factory because I would end up with arc eye from the welding.”

He needed another job and told his new-found friend who asked if he would like to work with him at the ballet company where he worked at nights as the prop manager.

He started as the assistant electrician. “I started to learn everything, technical directing, stage managing, lighting, everything. It was fun. I would go to every department and learn as much as I could,” he said.

When the production manager’s post became vacant, he said, the chief executive officer, Arthur Mitchell, noted that Gagedeen was doing everything and put him in charge. “That was how I became production manager,” he said.