President of the Barbados Association of Creatives and Artistes (BACA), Sean Apache Carter, believes that CARIFESTA XV has provided Barbados with a blueprint for a new cultural festival – or at the very least, a framework through which Crop Over can be reshaped.
Speaking to Barbados TODAY, Carter praised this year’s edition of the festival and said the event highlighted how much room exists to expand opportunities for creatives outside of the traditional Crop Over season.
“I think there is a need for another festival, which showcases more aspects of our cultural heritage,” he said.
The BACA head praised the CARIFESTA Grand Market, describing it as “like a Bridgetown Market on steroids” and noting that it attracted artisans, visual artists and culinary specialists from across the Caribbean. He added that the transformation of the CARIFESTA Village into a permanent space for creatives — now known as CARIFESTA House — was a welcome step.
“I definitely look forward to seeing our artisans, culinary artists and visual artists in that space on a continual basis. There should also be more opportunities for performing artists, because you don’t have to necessarily wait for a festival like Crop Over,” Carter said.
He said that CARIFESTA’s success, so soon after Crop Over, proved there was space on the cultural calendar for another major event. “It doesn’t have to be at the same time of year, but there’s space for more opportunity for the creatives,” the BACA head said.
Carter further suggested that Barbados should build on the networks and partnerships formed during CARIFESTA to foster greater collaboration in the cultural sector. These, he noted, could enrich both a reworked Crop Over or an entirely new festival, possibly led by private promoters or creative partnerships, rather than government alone.
“What’s happening with Crop Over now is that the commercial aspect is taking over, and we’re seeing less and less of the heritage aspect,” he cautioned.
According to him, a separate festival could help preserve and highlight the island’s cultural identity by showcasing genres that often receive limited exposure during Crop Over.
“I think another festival that showcases poetry, spoken word, dance and the varying expressions of art and culture would be good for Barbados, because we are losing that,” he said. “There are more and more private fetes, even on Kadooment Day, with fewer masqueraders and costumes. We need to preserve our cultural heritage, and I think another festival could do that.”
(SB)
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