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It’s an idea just taking root, and having thrown it out last week, I figure I could try to see how it could take shape.
By headlining that column “A Ministry of Festivals” people got locked inside an idea of an entity akin to the existing Ministry of Culture, although I had tried to make a distinction.
Photo: UK Telegraph
I have been looking at the concept of an arts council to see if it would more readily embrace the idea of something along the lines of a gayap: people working together to fulfil a purpose.
It has a homely feel to it, coming from the indigenous Karinya word “kayapa”, as I discovered. But that is generally an informal community grouping, and for achieving the goal of something enduring and sustainable, it would require a more structured approach. We not looking to build a parlour on the corner.
It turns out that there is a body called the International Federation of Arts Councils and Culture Agencies (IFACCA), located in Australia, with membership from 70 countries. Surprisingly, Trinidad and Tobago is a member.
Interestingly, there is one right here: the San Fernando Arts Council, founded in 1969 and still going strong. It could be a model to follow, given its track record. You can look up both bodies online.
Photo: San Fernando Arts Council
It seems worth studying to find ideas of how to make our own relevant concoction.
For instance, on the IFACCA website, there is a heading called Themes, and there are some fascinating subjects. I was particularly curious about the one headed Promoting Participation and Partnerships.
Frankly, this is new to me. I imagine that many of the people who are professionals and experts in the area are familiar with these concepts, but I think it might be helpful for anyone who wants to be party to the idea of creating something substantial out of the ephemeral events we have so sadly taken for granted.
Photo: IFACCA
What I had initially been thinking about was assembling collections for regular showings, something like a monthly fashion show featuring multiple designers. It could become a significant aspect of our tourism industry, and it would provide work right through the year.
They need not all have the same elements, but different permutations could be the base for special themes. (I would love it if steelbands could always be present.)
Imagine if around the time of Hosay, a visitor could buy a package that allows them to witness the spectacle, but also a range of other activities in St James perhaps. A week or a ten-days of food, music, shows, a parade of characters—you know, a variety of things that are clustered together to give a broad taste of our numerous delights.
(Copyright Stefan Falke)
I suppose my deep concern is really about protecting what might become our dying art forms. I would love to see a concerted effort to make it feasible to train people in the skills required. A guaranteed platform to showcase their work would then make sense for creative persons to invest themselves in careers within this framework.
I also have a stubborn belief that none of this can be of creatively high quality without knowledge of our history. The antecedents, what were the early forms and why they came to be. We know so little; it is a shame.
I am not saying that we have to stagnate in the past. Everything evolves. It just seems to me that you cannot build anything that has substance without basing it on a foundation. Its roots.
Most of the negative comments surrounding this past Carnival have been directed towards the actual Monday and Tuesday mas. The repetitive components—the indistinct “costumes” and the Road March contenders—made it ironically humdrum for spectators.
What was obvious was that this aspect has strayed into what someone described as a runway extravaganza. There was little botheration about anything except showing off personal form and getting drunk.
For the slicked down controllers, it was the peak all-inclusive event. I was going to say the elites, but that goes against the core of what I think, the crass monied creatures who prance around within their costly cocoons have practically excluded the essence of Carnival from their preening antics. I don’t really want to focus on that, although it seems to be the biggest challenge facing Carnival celebrations.
Photo: Allan V Crane/ CA-images/ Wired868
Rather, I want to keep my head in the space I am imagining, which is one that is not about Carnival alone, but about our marvellous capacity to celebrate everything in our midst.
There is so much that still belongs to us as a collective. This is what has carved out an identity for us in a world that still doesn’t know how to get along.
True, we have the buffoon class, people who spend their time wastefully inciting ethnic divisions and preaching for power at every opportunity. Peter Minshall’s Mancrab, greedy and selfish, still stalks our lands.
(Copyright Carnival Institute of Trinidad and Tobago)
But we have life and strength, and we still have the capacity to find joy. This we must harness. There are many ways to go forward. I believe that one of our paths has to come through our recognition and appreciation of the power of our creative imagination.
We took the oil money and smeared ourselves with it. In a time when the planet needs to save itself from complete annihilation, it’s time we walk towards a light. Do you agree?
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