Organisers promise 'better quality' Tobago Heritage Festival

FILE PHOTO: A man performs a ritual during the 2019 Les Coteaux's Tobago Heritage Festival production at Tablepiece Recreation Ground. PHOTO COURTESY Division of Tourism and Culture  -
FILE PHOTO: A man performs a ritual during the 2019 Les Coteaux's Tobago Heritage Festival production at Tablepiece Recreation Ground. PHOTO COURTESY Division of Tourism and Culture -

FOR the second straight year, owing to the covid19 pandemic, the Tobago Heritage Festival will be held virtually, and organisers are promising a better quality production.

The theme this year is Resilient Tobago: Remembering Her Roots With Responsibility.

The festival began on Wednesday with a virtual launch.

Chief Secretary Ancil Dennis, Tobago Festivals Commission Ltd CEO John Arnold and chair of the commission Dr Denise Tsoiafatt Angus were expected to speak at the launch.

Arnold told Newsday this year’s event blends the island’s rich cultural legacy with social responsibility.

“That is because we still have to pay attention to the covid guidelines,” he said.

As such, Arnold said, viewers will not see any large choirs, dance troupes or drumming ensembles as the number of performers have been significantly reduced to prevent the spread of covid19.

The festival, which began with a folk fair, ends in early September.

The event, which took the form of a video production, showcased a variety of curated material, including aspects of heritage festivals over the years.

Tobago Festivals CEO John Arnold -

The festival’s list of activities includes a folk fiesta, where communities have been invited to submit their videos in dance, song, drama and speech band.

The Miss Heritage Personality competition, a highlight of the festival, is also being held virtually. Screening took place on Tuesday.

Arnold said the commission also introduced a heritage academy for this year’s event.

“All of the past instructional videos on things like tambrin, maypole, bongo – those videos are available now online as webinars, so people could now get access to those videos, either for entertainment or for instruction. So, we are utilising what we have.”

He added the visual arts fraternity has also put together a presentation titled Nurturing Our Heritage.

Arnold expects this year’s festival would be another bumper event.

“Between July and September, last year, 50 per cent of our reach for the year happened during that time and that is because of those activities.

“We moved from something like 50,000 persons in terms of reach on Facebook to over 300,000.”

He said people are gravitating to the virtual experience.

“We have been able to get new and diverse audiences, not just Tobago or diaspora but even people who don’t even belong to Trinidad and Tobago. So, we have been able to tap into some new audiences.”

He added the festival has also benefited from increased awareness and visibility.

Internally, Arnold said the commission has ben able to build its capacity in the creative sector, particularly in the area of videography.

“Some of those videographers in Tobago, they are world class now.”

He believes covid19 has forced the creative sector to reinvent itself.

“So people, you will see a serious increase in quality and output and we are now able to measure, in a more substantive way, the analytics online to see how people are engaging with the content that we have. Those are definitely the pluses.”

Arnold added: “Clearly, what that means is that whenever we open and get back to the new normal, we can’t stop there. This has to continue.”

He referred to a recent survey, which stated the number of social media users around the world has increased by 490 million people since the start of the pandemic.

“We have to take advantage of this. This is a brand new culture that has developed worldwide. I don’t see us leaving this.

“It will definitely raise the game on how people take their craft, how they

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