NCC: ‘Taste of Carnival’ events list out by Monday or Tuesday

National Carnival Commission (NCC) CEO Colin Lucas said on Sunday that the list of events to be held during, what has been termed, A Taste of Carnival should be finalised by Monday or Tuesday. He said Dimanche Gras is on the list.

In phone interview with Newsday, Lucas said both the budget and events list are to be finalised during this week.

Asked when the commission might have a final figure of what A Taste of Carnival will cost, Lucas said the commission could not determine when the government would respond concerning its allocation.

Minister of Tourism, Culture and the Arts Randall Mitchell, in WhatsApp responses, said the budget should be made known this week. He could not give a definitive date.

Last Wednesday, the government announced that it had given approval for Carnival-type events to be held. These events are open only to vaccinated people at approved venues.

Asked about the economic benefit of a Taste of Carnival to TT, Mitchell said Government had, months ago, signalled the reopening of the economy, safely, sector by sector.

“The events and entertainment sector has been hardest hit and these events signal the start of a cautious reopening of the events sector while still within the adverse impacts of the pandemic.

“The events industry and entertainment industry contribute significantly to our GDP and benefits the areas of employment, entrepreneurship, and to business generally,” he added.

Responding to some Tobago Carnival stakeholders who said the Government’s decision to go ahead with safe-zoned events is discriminatory and prevents unvaccinated artistes from earning, Mitchell said representatives from Tobago’s tourism and culture agencies were included in the ministry’s stakeholder working group on the sector’s reopening.

They were also included on the possibility of hosting Carnival activities in 2022 and what form the activities should take, he said.

Those Tobago representatives agreed with the safe-zone type events and further indicated that the low vaccination rates in Tobago made it infeasible to host Carnival-type events there, he said.

Mitchell said for the past two years Tobago had been working to develop and plan a Carnival-type festival later in the year, around October, with which the ministry and the Tobago Festivals Commission will closely collaborate.

“And we have long supported the Tobago Festivals Commission in this venture.”

Mitchell added that the Tobago stakeholders “lamenting the Government’s decision to host Carnival-type activities may not be entirely familiar with Tobago’s ideas for tourism and culture” for this year.

He said the Government’s best advice and guidance from the Ministry of Health was to continue to restrict activities such as fetes and parties which, by their very nature, “greatly assists” with the spread of the virus.

“We are cognizant that these fetes involve and contribute perhaps a higher level of value in money terms.

“We are also sympathetic to those stakeholders who have not yet been able to return to normalcy, but we continue to work together to ensure an early date to resume the events and entertainment industry.”