Minshall gets big Bucks for band

Leading Carnival king figure Curtis Eustace told Newsday that if he had been granted public funds for his band he too would have been able to produce a band in two weeks.

It was only two weeks ago that Minshall announced that he was bringing a band — The Sacred Heart — but there was no word at that time that the organisation was getting funding for certain characters, including the king and queen of the band.

The figure that was being spoken about yesterday that the Minshall Callaloo Company had received was $500,000, but while there was confirmation from the Callaloo Company they had received sponsorship, they refused to confirm the half million figure.

Minshall’s band, the Callaloo Company, is portraying, The Sacred Heart, a title which has already created controversy among some Roman Catholics who revere the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Costume prices range from $990 to $1,999.

When Newsday called Minshall’s Callaloo Company, general manager, Charisse Parsons, admitted that the band had received a sponsorship sum from the National Aids Coordinating Committee (NACC), but she declined to say how much it was.

She explained that the NACC has paid for the construction of several individuals in the band which carry an Aids awareness message.

These include the king "Son of Saga Boy," portrayed by HIV-positive Kerwin Paul, and the queen "Miss Universe Tantan’s Girlchild," portrayed by Jenna-Marie Andre.

Parsons explained the sponsorship deal. "The special characters will belong to the NACC after the Carnival, and we will tour with them around the Caribbean and the world to spread the word of HIV." She denied that the money was going to the Callaloo Company. "The NACC funds are being used to create Minshall’s work (ie the outfits), whose actual costs rise way and above the NACC’s funds."

Parsons assured that every cent had been accounted for.

Newsday asked if the NACC donation was being used to subsidise the cost of ordinary costumes for revellers in the band. Parsons said no. "The NACC is only sponsoring the king and queen and other individuals, but not the band itself." Ordinary revellers were paying the usual market price for their outfits, she said.

Parsons praised the NACC, saying, "They have been extremely generous and extremely supportive, and we would not have been here without them."

At first she was reluctant to comment on whether the donation was in fact $500,000, but she later denied the figure, saying, "That’s incorrect. I have the exact sum and it is not $500,000."

She effused, "Minshall is sending a message through his work." Parsons saw no problem with the band announcing that its king was HIV-positive. "It was the right thing to do. We are trying to stop stigma and discrimination."

Parsons praised the king for "having the heart of a man. What really matters is that Kerwin Paul crossed the Savannah stage as an HIV-positive man."

NACC spokesperson, Izola Garcia, also declined to state the exact size of the sponsorship, or to name any of NACC’s funding partners who had made the donation. She said, "They will reveal themselves."

Minshall’s characters will be on stage at the Queen’s Park Savannah tonight in the semi-finals of the King and Queen of Carnival.