Culture Minister tells Carnival stakeholders: Stay within your budget

Minister of Tourism, Culture and the Arts Randall Mitchell has said Carnival organisers should try to stay within the budget allocated to them by the National Carnival Committee (NCC).

Mitchell made the statement during the launch ceremony of the La Vigie Paramin lookout on Wednesday.

“The NCC is made up of special interest groups as well as its board of commissioners. With the $15 million allocated (by the government) it was supposed to disaggregate a special amount to its special interest groups (including) the TTCBA (TT Carnival Bands Committee), TUCO (Trinbago Unified Calypso Organisation) and PanTrinbago. That was done.”

He said he rejected the idea that the government was having funding issues which led to the reduced NCC budget.

In a statement on Wednesday, the NCC and TUCO in a joint statement said another event, A Clash of Tents: Showdown in De Taste of Carnival, would replace this year’s Calypso Fiesta competition.

It said the new show would be held on February 20 at the Naparima Bowl, San Fernando, at 2 pm. It will feature 30 performers from ten calypso tents across the country and ten finalists will be selected to perform during the Dimache Gras.

It also said an "extempo war" is also carded for Sunday’s show, where participants will compete for a spot in the extempo finals during the Dimanche Gras.

Mitchell said on Wednesday, “They have made their decision and we are very happy with it. We are happy we can reopen the entertainment (and) cultural sectors and are able to experience some extempo and calypso, albeit without the competition part of it.”

He said, however, that government would support any private-sector organisation that wished to hold calypso events.

“Most certainly. We are giving sponsorship to a number of private promoters and (in exchange) they would advertise tourism for TT.

“During the pandemic, the entertainment sector was one of the hardest hit. Once they satisfy our criteria in their application for sponsorship we are assisting private promoters.”

Mitchell said he was happy to see concerts by Soca stars such as Aaron "Voice" St Louis and Nesta "Sekon Star" Boxill being put on for the season.

President of the TTCBA Roslyn Gabriel told Newsday in a brief phone interview on Wednesday the traditional and conventional individual competition and the Kings and Queens competition will definitely go on as planned.

The traditional competition, she said, will take place at the Queen’s Park Savannah on February 20 from 9 am and admission will be free.

Gabriel said the Kings and Queens preliminaries will be held on February 22 in the Queens Park Savannah at 7 pm.

She said all competitors had been informed that they must have their vaccination credentials.

She said while the TTCBA was still tallying the number of participants registering for both competitions, it is expecting about 80 people for the traditional and conventional individual, 30 kings, and 30 queens.

Gabriel said the TTCBA was assisted for the Kings and Queens competition by First Citizens Bank.

She said she was sad to hear of TUCO’s decision to cancel its competitions but supported its decision to do so.

“Personally, I would have liked to see the competition happen.”

Finalists from the Kings and Queens competition will perform during Dimache Gras.