Carifesta hit by $$ shortfall to be revamped

CARIFESTA, the biannual Caribbean Festival of Arts held in various islands of the Caribbean, has not been generating the kind of revenue it should, so a decision has been taken to “revisit and restructure” the Festival in an effort to remedy the fact.

The media was informed of this at a press conference at the Hilton Trinidad yesterday (Friday) hosted by the Ministry of Community Development and Culture to announce the convening of two meetings to be held in this country next week that are expected to have a direct bearing on the future direction of Carifesta. Acting director of Culture Eric Butler, who was among this country’s contingent that participated in the Festival held in Suriname last year, explained that coming out of a symposium that followed staging of that event it was agreed that “if Carifesta is to be sustained as a viable enterprise, it must be completely revised and reworked.” As a result, The Carifesta Task Force will meet here next Monday and Tuesday, (March 8 and 9) while the 15th meeting of the Regional Culture Committee will be convened next Thursday and Friday (March 11 and 12). The Task Force, made up of Caribbean technocrats, is expected to come up with recommendations for improving the Festival, which would be submitted for approval to the Caribbean heads of government meeting to be held in July, 2004.

This country’s delegates to the Task Force meeting are Butler and Norvan Fullerton of the Culture Ministry’s Best Village Division. The two gave an overview of the proposals that would be submitted on Trinidad and Tobago’s behalf, which are as follows: Marketing and promotion campaign that would target international markets and use advanced technology in its strategies; Organisational structure that would allow for establishment of a Festival secretariat, Festival director and Festival committee; Management of the event; Criteria for participation, with the focus on a particular genre of culture as an inducement; Staging of hallmarks, to include performances by top artistes in the region; Criteria for selection of host country that would allow for hosting by every country; and proposal for funding, which would require countries to contribute annually to a Caribbean pool to be used for funding. Minister in the Ministry of Community Development and Culture Eddie Hart, who brought greetings from the Ministry, said hosting of the two meetings in Trinidad and Tobago was a significant event in the cultural life of the country.