Mottley’s Carifesta House praised as ‘visionary’

CULTURAL stakeholders have welcomed Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley’s plan to establish a permanent Carifesta (Caribbean Festival of Arts) House to preserve Caribbean culture for future generations.

At the close of Carifesta, the region’s premier cultural extravaganza, on August 31, Mottley announced plans to establish the facility at the site of the Carifesta Village and Grand Market at Waterford, St Michael.

She also proposed the introduction of a website to enable vendors registered at the Grand Market to sell their products for a year, free of charge. This initiative will be sponsored by the Barbados government.

Of the latter, Mottley said, “Carifesta must not be a single event. It must be able to cast a strong legacy. And if we talk about the orange economy and we talk about the creative industries, then our people must benefit from it.”

The 15th instalment of Carifesta was held from August 22-31 under the theme, Caribbean Roots, Global Excellence. It featured more than 300 events at various venues across the island.

Rawle Gibbons, co-founder of Canboulay Productions, regarded Mottley’s plan to set up a Carifesta House as visionary.

“It makes sense. It is clear that the Barbados leadership has a vision for the future to which the arts seem to be central or at least important,” he told Sunday Newsday.

Gibbons said Mottley’s decision to host Carifesta, in the midst of Barbados’ own economic challenges, was an indication of her interest in developing the arts in the region.

“She’s bought the Banyan archives and she is clearly looking towards the future and the role the arts and culture will play in that. So she is serious.”

He noted there were several discussions about the development of the orange economy during the festival.

“It was all about the global impact and possibilities for our culture. So I think she is serious and that move to a Carifesta House is a way of showing continuity, that Carifesta is not just held every two years and in between that nothing happens. She is not leaving it up, as many of us do, to the artists to find their way. She is providing facilities.”

Gibbons, who is also a director, playwright and lecturer, said he was very impressed with the plans to develop the creative arts in Barbados’

“They have included rehearsal spaces. They are building facilities. They have a new performance centre, which I was fortunate too see and it is quite impressive in terms of its architecture and certainly, the quality of the performance that we saw there.

“So they are serious about what it is they are doing about providing facilities for the development of the arts and for the cultural economy. That is where we need to go and the rest of us need to follow Barbados in terms of that.” Anil Singh, public relations officer of the National Drama Association of TT, also applauded the announcement of a permanent Carifesta home and an e-commerce platform for regional vendors.

“It shows real foresight and signals the festival’s evolution from a ten-day celebration into a long-term driver of the creative economy,” he said.

“For us in TT, a structure like this means our cultural entrepreneurs’ work will live on, remain accessible and generate income long after the curtains close.”

Founder and festival director of African film TT Asha Lovelace regarded the initiative as excellent.

“It will provide a dedicated space to preserve and promote Caribbean culture,” she said.

“Similarly, the e-commerce platform for regional vendors is a forward-thinking move, offering creators and entrepreneurs a wider reach.

“These initiatives, led by PM Mottley, reflect a commitment to valuing our culture and giving it the space and recognition it needs and deserves. We need these events and sustained commitment to ensure that the Caribbean can contend in the world.”

Head of the Coco Dance Company Sonja Dumas said the establishment of a permanent Carifesta hub “most certainly looks like a positive step for strengthening infrastructure for various sectors of the creative economy.”

Regarding the event, Gibbons felt TT”s performances were disappointing.

He said he saw two shows: a collaboration between the National Steel Symphony Orchestra and the national theatre as well as the country night.

“The better one was the one with the national orchestra and the national theatre even though the audience was quite small.”

Gibbons said the country night again featured the steelband, a few soca artistes, a spoken word piece by Muhammad Muwakil among other items.

“But as a show it didn’t hold together. I saw other country nights where the show was more co-ordinated. So I think that what this one suffered from was a lack of coordination, which may have to do with preparation and holding it together as a show. It is not a question of talent.”

He added, “I don’t know how much time the contingent as a whole had for planning and preparation of the event. But what I saw of the Trinidad night, I thought to be quite vacuous. How many times will you say, ‘Raise your hand and count one, two, three, four,’ to stir up energy, which was really lacking. To my mind, it lacked the fire, the energy of Trinidad and I was disappointed with it.”

Gibbons said although there were people enjoying the music, he felt the performance lacked energy.

“The Trinidad performances really reflected the state of the country in the sense of a lack of centredness, vision and a general lack of sincerity.”

Asked what he believes accounted for this, he said, “I think we have never really cultivated and developed a sense of who we are and built on it. I know we have our pan, Carnival and all of that but it remains there.

“We have not taken it seriously enough so that it becomes part of our education, part of our development in society. We have not taken ourselves and what we do and created seriously.”

Gibbons said this is not a new thought.

“We continue to joke around, we continue to be frivolous, we continue to be a jokey people, just really afraid to confront the possibilities that we have here and we settle for second or third class.”

He said Canboulay Productions was not part of the TT contingent but was invited by Carifesta to perform. The group performed Ten To One, the rise of Slinger Francisco (Mighty Sparrow) and his contribution to the calypso artform.

“We had two shows and we were well received. There were a lot of positive comments about us and the Prime Minister, herself lauded what we did.”

Singh, who is also a content writer with the TT Performing Arts Network, offered a different perspective.

He said while there were some challenges, TT’s contingent rose above the odds.

“A festival of this magnitude inevitably faced logistical challenges but the Trinidad and Tobago contingent met them head on and flew the red, white and black high.

“While every country brought its own unique presence, TT’s impact was undeniable, especially at the Carifesta Village and Grand Market where the booth erupted daily into joyful celebrations of our culture.”

Singh said the national bodies, creative organisations and individual artists who comprised the delegation, reflected both the depth of the country’s talent and the strength of its storytelling.

“This experience has been a reminder that Trinidad and Tobago were not simply participants in Carifesta but shapers of the cultural conversation of the Caribbean.”

Lovelace said she was pleased with how Carifesta went this year.

“It was inspiring to see the Caribbean come together in such a vibrant celebration of our culture and creativity,” she said.

Lovelace said the “big conversations” were particularly enlightening and provided a platform to address pressing regional concerns, challenges and triumphs across the region.

Dumas said although she did attend Carifesta, she returned to the country before TT’s performances.

But, she added, “One thing that struck me with our TT booth was the Twin island Republic showcase. I thought it was an interesting, hybrid way to represent aspects of Trinidad and Tobago. It was simple, physically immersive, interactive and digital at the same time.”

She described as “culture-affirming,” the little she did experience of event.

“It has strengthened my belief that our greatest regional assets are our manifestations of our Caribbean culture.”