Minister of Culture, Stephen Lashley (centre), gave an update on the upcoming CARIFESTA XIII to be hosted by Barbados in August, with Festival Co-ordinator, Andrea Wells (right) and Artistic Director, Dr. John Hunte, at the Ministry’s Sky Mall headquarters yesterday morning.
THE Caribbean is coming!
That’s the message from organisers of CARIFESTA XIII, who revealed that artists, artistes and artisans from 23 territories have confirmed their attendance to this massive celebration of Caribbean culture, which will be held August 17-27.
During a press briefing at the Culture Ministry’s Sky Mall headquarters, Barbadians were urged to secure free tickets from the Sky Mall Secretariat to attend the Olympics-style opening ceremony and the other events, which are reasonably priced or in some cases are free. The opening ceremony will be preceded by the spectacle of the gathering of the delegations in traditional national dress, who will make their way from Queen’s Park, along Broad Street onto Fontabelle and into the Kensington Oval.
Yesterday, Culture Minister Stephen Lashley, along with Festival Co-ordinator Andrea Wells and Artistic Director Dr. John Hunte, outlined the packed programme, which they assured will be sufficiently spread across several venues to ensure persons can enjoy particular niche areas, and that vendors can benefit economically from the visiting delegations and other attendees. With a pay-per-view component available for some events, the organisers said this will increase viewership to the wider Diaspora.
He also stressed that one of the legacy elements of hosting the festival in Barbados will be the upgraded venues. Telling the media that all the equipment for outfitting these venues are on the island, Minister Lashley noted that Combermere, Foundation, Alexandra, St. Leonard’s Boys, Queen’s Park Steel Shed and the Daphne Joseph Hackett Theatre will benefit from these upgrades. The Minister revealed that the call for volunteers was quickly answered with only a few spaces left before reaching the target of 400.
Dr. Hunte explained that some of the planned activities will include a symposium which will be held at the UWI August 19-23, workshops, dramatic readings, offering of panels, papers and film. A film festival will also be held at Olympus VIP as well as community screenings in Checker Hall, St. Lucy; the Glebe, St. George; and Dover, Christ Church. A Youth Village will also be held at the Barbados Community College. A closing concert will be held on August 26, which will include a super concert.
Some of the big names to hit the CARIFESTA stage include K’Koustik, from Guadeloupe, former President of Haiti Michel “Sweet Micky” Martelly, the Swanky Kitchen Band from Cayman and Boukman Eksperyans also out of Haiti. A Jamaican contingent of 175 artists, led by musical icon Ernie Smith are also expected to attend.
Wells noted that the Barbados Hotel & Tourism Association and the Intimate Hotels of Barbados have been offering guidance towards the execution of festival as it relates to meeting the accommodation needs of delegation including offering special rates. She noted that there are talks of branding some hotels as CARIFESTA hotels. “Many are on board. Wherever they (artists) go they take their energy and music. Sites will also be very lively, spontaneous,” she mused.
The co-ordinator noted that a logistics team is also covering traffic management, parking, shuttle services to “ensure life in Barbados is enhanced but not disrupted,” during the ten-day event.
Minister Lashley said CARIFESTA will be used as a platform to “entice the world to recognise that we can provide the cultural offerings that can translate into the inflows of foreign exchange,” he said.