$45 million to stage Greatest Show on Earth
Posted: Sunday, January 16, 2005
By Suzanne Sheppard, www.newsday.co.tt
WITH a $45 million subvention from Government plus major sponsorship from Angostura Limited, Carnival's main governing body, the National Carnival Commission (NCC) completed major preparations for the national festival this week. According to NCC Chairman Kenny De Silva, funds have been disbursed to all the key stakeholders and the main Carnival venue at the Queen's Park Savannah has undergone a significant upgrade in time for the first major event of the season, the National Panorama Semi Finals next Saturday and Sunday. The theme for this year's festival is "Cherish We Carnival".
De Silva told Sunday Newsday the NCC started preparing for the challenge of a very short Carnival season several months ago. "We started really serious planning from August/ September and we put down certain time lines, we went out to tender earlier for construction, sound, lights, security. We went out for everything early," he explained, adding that the NCC has met its deadline to be "100 percent ready" for Carnival by this weekend. Tickets for the major Carnival events will be on sale from this week and over the next few days vendors will be allocated booths at the Savannah. Still to come, he said, is a significant transformation of the front of the Grand Stand, from the roadway to the building, "in a way that you have not seen before." This will not be unveiled until a week before Carnival.
However, while De Silva is satisfied with preparations so far, he concedes that there are some major challenges ahead, particularly the contentious issue of congestion at major competition venues on Carnival Monday and Tuesday. The NCC Chairman said the problem has been made worse with the emergence of super-sized mas bands in recent years. "We are getting more and more bands and bigger bands too. The physical challenge to get so many people across the stage in 14 hours . . . that is difficult to solve," he admitted, adding that "there will continue to be bottlenecks". De Silva's concerns about extra-large bands were shared by National Carnival Bands Association (NCBA) President Richard Afong, who said the situation was completely out of control. He said it might be time to consider limiting the size of bands.
"A band used to be a bandleader and a committee and they would design and produce costumes. For whatever reason, what they do now is concession the whole band. The bandleader does nothing. He is just an organiser, trading on his popularity, or the popularity of the name of the band." According to Afong as many as 50 sections are "concessioned out" — a situation he described as ridiculous. He said that trend has led to a loss of control over mas production and a "dilution" portrayals. "This is taking away the creativity and compromising the integrity of mas," he said, adding that there was a need to "revisit the whole concept of mas".
One area of difficulty in which significant progress has been made, according to De Silva, is relations between the NCC and the three Carnival interest groups, Pan Trinbago, the NCBA and the Trinbago Unified Calypsonians Organisation (TUCO). He said they have reached "a level of harmony" that had never existed before. "I am very, very happy for that. I think there was a level of frankness when this Board came in. Everybody spoke their minds, we all knew what our real positions were and we moved on from there. "We continue to embrace all the stakeholders. As you know we have the NCDF (National Carnival Develop-ment Foundation, a rival faction to the NCBA) out there. Although they're not a member of the Board, they are a serious stakeholder and whenever we have the opportunity, we meet with them."
Affong told Sunday Newsday there has been a satisfactory level of collaboration between his group and the NCC. He also said there has been an improvement in the prize structure. However, he is concerned about the escalating cost of goods and services for mas' production, particularly for bands that don't make it to winner's row. He said the NCBA plans to approach Government to discuss concessions and incentives for mas producers. Pan Trinbago President Patrick Arnold said the steelband body had no major concerns about the season and was well prepared. "We have no problems at all. We started our preparations very early and we have things well in place. Everything is fine . . . we are ready to go."
Arnold said pan yard judging for Panorama started Thursday night and Pan Trinbago is ready for the first major pan event at the Queen's Park Savannah next weekend. TUCO President Michael Legerton did not respond to requests for an interview on the calypso body's level of preparedness for the season. However, all the major calypso tents are already open and preliminary judging for the National Calypso Monarch Competition is well underway. There are approximately three weeks to go to Carnival 2005.
Printer friendly version
Send page by E-Mail
