Carnival Challenges

LORRAINE POUCHET, the new woman at the helm of the National Carnival Commission, has begun her chairmanship with clearly marked purpose, encapsulated in the declaration that she wants to take Carnival to a “different level.”A tad hackneyed as the phrase may be, Mrs Pouchet has, however, specifically identified the ways and means to bringing about her objective. For her a “different level” means building an industry that would be sustainable throughout the year, creating constant returns for stakeholders.

Given the bacchanal that surrounds the current Carnival, that may be a tall order. Before we can fashion a Carnival that reaps returns throughout the year, we must make the present event as seamless and controversy-free as possible, expunging the notion that Carnival is bacchanal, without which we seem to think it loses its meaning, if not essence.

Every year there is bickering among the very stakeholders of whom Mrs Pouchet speaks, bickering which often leads to legal challenges of decisions. Last year was no exception with bandleaders Ronnie Mc Intosh and Rosalind Gabriel dispatching legal letters to the NCBA challenging the Band of the Year results, after they were penalised for including masqueraders under 18 in the Parade of the Bands.

It also seems challenging making Carnival sustainable when we have yet to build a permanent Carnival village. Year in, year out, the New Year finds us re-erecting the North Stand, the vendors’ booths and the stage. While temporary jobs are created, the establishment of a Carnival village would see the installation of superior infrastructure and facilities which will bring work that is not seasonal. Then and only then can Carnival conceive of constant returns.

There is also a question of a mentality shift. Carnival for us is now not so much a festival as a fete to which we wine and ramajay between Christmas and Lent. Additionally, we have been brought up to believe that religious mores dictate it must end on Ash Wednesday. Mrs Pouchet will have to market mentality as much as she wishes to market Carnival.

One of her immediate endeavours must surely be addressing the diminishing participation of TT residents, the stated cause for the growing disinterest reportedly the banality of the costumes which annually consist of beads, bikinis and feathers, the majority of the people playing mas now reportedly foreigners and Trinidadian/Tobagonian expats. Thousands of us leave during the Carnival weekend, preferring the beaches of Tobago and other islands to what is no longer the Greatest Show on Earth.

Mrs Pouchet thinks the solution to reviving Carnival lies in helping persons to understand that Carnival is evolving, even as the past should not be forgotten.

“We need to find ways to marry all of what makes up Carnival. Some people don’t like what it has evolved into. However, Carnival is a major event that needs to satisfy many different groupings.”

Pleasing the traditionalists, conformists, mature persons, young adults, and those who want to take mas in a different direction will be a daunting task.

As daunting as is the chore of establishing a Carnival route that is as unobstructed as possible and which does not frustrate masqueraders. Mrs Pouchet has pointed to a scientific study by transport systems engineer Dr Rae Furlonge, and noted that her predecessor Allison Demas has already conducted several meetings with various stakeholders.

However, the various interest groups still needed to name a representative to a soon-to-be-formed Carnival Route Development Committee, this even as construction of the stage and North Stand will be completed this weekend and with Carnival only nine weeks away. Consensus over the route as always seems to be nigh impossible.

Nevertheless hope springs eternal and we are certain that the NCC chairman’s extensive experience in the fields of Carnival and tourism will go a long way toward achieving her stated goals.

Certainly, her zeal is admirable.

“I took up this challenge because I love my country. I love my people. I think they are amazing — all of them. Some have some challenges and therefore they behave in a way they shouldn’t but I love them all because that’s what we were put here to do,” she said.

We wish her well and hope that her love does not go unrequited.

Information Source : Newsday