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(Text of a tribute delivered by Ismail Mahomed at the Memorial Service for Pastor Clive Newman today)

Pastor Clive Newman was a vibrant, talented, caring man and dearly loved by everyone whose life he touched. But for us at the National Arts Festival, Pastor Clive was a rare and cherished friend through whose friendship, we found the vision to take the Festival to amongst some of the poorest of the poor, the old and the infirm, the incarcerated and the marginalized.

The ArtReach Project of the National Arts Festival is a voluntary initiative which invites professional artists attending the festival to donate their time and skills to give joy, through the arts, to those people who through social, economic and political circumstance cannot be part of the Festival. In executing the ArtReach Programme, we found a dynamic partnership with Pastor Clive Newman and his colleagues at the College for Transfiguration. It is therefore with absolute sadness that we received the news of the reckless and violent way in which we were robbed of his life. As we shared our grief with each other at the office, precious memories came flooding to all of us recalling the passion, the vision and the vibrancy of a wonderful man who embraced compassion and who believed in the healing and the constructive value of the arts. I can recall the day, when soon after my appointment last June, I received an introductory visit from Clive. I accompanied him on three occasions to see him at work in the communities to which we took the ArtReach Project. What made Pastor Clive Newman so very special was his ability to get down on his knees and speak non-judgementally at eye level to a child who needed his ear. He was able to hold the hand of an aging grandmother and walk her patiently to her seat and compassionately listen to her lonely woes. He was able to take the hand of a violent prisoner and breath into that prisoner’s life new hope, belief and faith. And with the artists with whom he worked. He laughed with the clowns. He applauded to the sound of the drums. He encouraged the dancers. He gave new purpose to the artists who derived their rewards from the smiles of the faces of the poor, the old, the infirm, the incarcerated and the marginalized who, through his efforts, were also able to be part of the Festival. Pastor Clive is with us no more! But his name will stay with us for as long we continue to celebrate his legacy. Clive Newman’s legacy is celebrated in his very name. C for Compassion. L for Leadership. I for Inspiration. V for Vision and E for Education. As we plan the 2010 National Arts Festival, we have committed ourselves to dedicate the 2010 ArtReach programme to his memory. It is our small way of showing gratitude to Clive’s family and his colleagues and students at the College of Transfiguration, to whom today, we can only offer a sincere and an outstretched hand of comfort and condolences at your sad loss. God bless Pastor Clive Newman and let his spirit continue to offer to us all the power of the Compassion, Leadership, Inspiration, Vision and Education for which he so graciously lived his life.

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