Work your waste for Carnival

Recent video footage from a media conference featured a gathering of Tobago carnival band leaders, threatening protest if their allocation of $1.3 million for February 2023 mas is not increased.

Through main spokesperson, Jemma Bedlow-Dennis, interim chairman of the Tobago Bandleaders' Association, viewers came to understand that the bandleaders feel “thiefed,” condemned and disrespected by the measly allocation. We were reminded of the October carnival’s $17.5 million budget and learned that bands made "nothing" from the celebration. Additionally, some bands that took loans to create their October mas are still struggling to repay financial institutions.

According to Ms Bedlow-Dennis, there are people talking "crazy nonsense" about Tobago having had carnival already (October 2022) and wondering why there should be another, four months after. Suggesting that there may be attempts to eventually eliminate Tobago’s February Carnival and have only the October carnival, the interim chairman stated: “This is the national Carnival and unless it goes to Parliament for national review, it cannot be stopped.”

Her announcement that one peacock feather costs $1,000 must have stunned many viewers, myself included. My thoughts flew to the pet peacocks of a man I met recently (through a situation involving a dog that got lost after fireworks). How safe would those (and even the Prime Minister’s) Tobago peacocks be now that people know their feathers are so valuable?

“Quality Mas, Quality Money!” and “We need more money!” some in the small gathering chanted on video.

Conclusions presented were: “No money, no mas” and “Next step, protest!” What will that protest be? Will it be (the average local protest) a few people standing on sidewalks or chipping through Tobago’s streets holding placards and chanting their complaints?

Such a demonstration for "more money" could apply to most citizens. Everyone wants and needs more money these days – those demanding salaries or backpay, various NGOs petitioning for funds to carry out important social and environmental projects, families crying for assistance after extensive post-pandemic job loss...the list is endless.

What if, instead of simply thinking of Tobago’s national (February) Carnival budget as total rubbish...Tobago bandleaders made that rubbish work for them – literally?

The creative Carnival spirit can truly "come out to play" by developing innovative and impressive costumes incorporating the wealth of waste material available on the streets, waterways and beaches of our islands. Plastic bottles, bottle caps, discarded appliances (large and small), car parts, old furniture ...the list is almost never-ending.

I am not talking about ole mas; many great artists have worked with trash items to make masterpieces. Tobago mas makers can employ this approach to construct innovative costumes.

Cuban artist, Dunieski (Lora Pileta), who lives, works and conducts creative workshops at the late Luise Kimme’s home/museum, creates many innovative and beautiful artistic sculptures in a variety of media – brass, wood, clay and, quite innovatively, "rubbish."

He breathes life into the saying “Another man’s trash is another man’s treasure.” He once told me that at a point he wanted to be a garbage collector in Tobago, to get first hand grabs on what, to his artistic eye, were valuable pieces discarded by the average household. Being a garbage man would allow him to dig in garbage bins and explore their contents for "art supplies" and inspiration without being seen as "odd" or "a vagrant" by members of the public. His beautiful sculptures, which sell for thousands of dollars, incorporate everything from plastic collected on beaches (and transformed through application of intense heat) to clay dug up from roadsides, old slabs of wood fashioned into awe-inspiring carvings, old machinery parts welded into conceptual and thought provoking metal sculptures... and more.

What would happen if, instead of depending on "more money" for a second Carnival, the Tobago bandleaders took on a creative challenge – "Use what you have" – and, quite like Rumpeltstiltskin spinning straw into gold, used Tobago’s islandwide "waste products" to create a visual feast for the eyes and minds of local and global multitudes.

This is not sarcasm. I am serious. Every perceived problem or limitation provides an excellent opportunity for creative innovation and excellence.

Tobago can stand out as having a truly unique, eco-inspired Carnival, admired the world over – not by attempting to recycle a version of "Trini" carnival, but by literally recycling the island’s waste materials to fashion innovative masquerade masterpieces...and, at the same time, help the island to live up to its once-used tourism slogan – clean, green, serene.