BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - THE National Carnival Committee has been looking at several innovative ideas to supplement the 2020/2021 Carnival, which has gone virtual in the era of COVID-19, and the possibility of cutting non-profitable events from the calendar altogether going forward.
Among the ideas to be thrown out by the Chairperson of the National Committee, Shannon Hawley, is a new DJ Competition and Christmas celebrations as the body seeks to revamp the schedule to make it more inclusive and profitable.
Hawley, while speaking on WINN FM’s ‘Inside the News’ programme, explained that attention is currently placed on reviewing last year’s festival with the aim of finding events that could be recreated and others that could be more focused and marketed this year.
“So, what we want to do is give the bands and we want to give the artistes an opportunity to showcase what they have; and one away to do that this year is the virtual DJ Competition.
“Secondly, we will give the opportunity for them to launch their tracks live on various media houses…We think that is an opportunity for people to grasp what they are trying to achieve,” Howley disclosed.
While touching on the 50th edition of the festival slated for 2021/2022, the Chair highlighted the challenge of staging the Soca Monarch Competition, among other shows, which has seen dwindling participation over the last several years.
“So that is one show that we want to refocus our attention on for the 50th anniversary. And then there are a number of shows that we think that we need to look at and eliminate potentially from the Carnival Calendar that is hosted by the National Carnival Committee.
“Again, with these shows, we don’t see the revenue. We see dwindling numbers, we don’t see participation, and it don’t make sense for us financially to have a show just for the sake of having a show,” Hawley explained.
Participants in several of the popular events had clashed with the former Chair over his handling of the various events, including artistes who were competing in the Soca Monarch Competitions.
However, the former Chair, for his part had been promoting various events, including having the Soca winners participate in several regional events and locking down a recording contract with a company out of Barbados.
Meantime, the Chair lamented that managers of the various troupes indicated that they were unable to source materials for their costumes due to the lockdowns across the region.
It was just recently that Minister of Culture Jonel Powell announced that this year’s Carnival would not be staged as it normally does. Instead, he pointed out that events would be held virtually and the traditional events, such as J’ouvert, the Grand Parade and Last Lap, have all been cancelled this time around due to the COVID-19 various.
That announcement comes as the Federation prepares to reopen its borders to welcome visitors, the first time since the advent of COVID-19. It also comes when the St. Kitts and Nevis, beginning on October 31, will be welcoming visitors from the CARICOM Bubble.
Those people who are travelling from territories within the Bubble will not have to be quarantined upon entering St. Kitts and Nevis once they provide the necessary documentation proving that they are COVID-19 free.
