After 300 years - Carnival fallout

July 23, 2001

Carnival, the art of mimicry, extempore, vaps and spontaneity, after some 300 years is such a major basis of our national psyche that unless and until we learn to harness and manage Carnival we may just never be capable of socially transforming this civilisation of Trinidad and Tobago.

The day we prove successful in harnessing Carnival is the very day that a new Trinidadian and Tobagonian man and woman shall appear. Believe me.

It is all about comprehending process; understanding how project management moves from planning to implementation and to maintenance and the processes involved in the inter-linking of these stages. Our national malaise is precisely the failure to interlink these stages in our way of seeing and doing.

This surely is a glorious land of vaps! For how else can we explain a Minister of Culture and his Cabinet colleagues approving or not approving a Carnival budget on Carnival Friday? And yet all and sundry, from captain to cook, seriously desiring and expecting improvements and development in the activity?

And this happens in a society that has had 300 years in which to practice. 300 years of involvement in what we call Carnival and yet still there are no precise ways of organising, structuring and functioning laid down over the years and tested by time to guarantee the thing works, regardless of whosoever rises to take hold of governance.

It is even more tragic when one considers that in recent times, post-mortems on Carnival are held every, single year. The post-mortems are, in themselves, big mas. What manner of people are we? Or better yet, to quote the only searching question that Trinidadians and Tobagonians historically ask of each other: "What we playing"? Because, you see, mas is something to hide the face and nobody "plays" whom and what they really are.

In the mean, with another Carnival 2002 only six months away, everything continues to go belly-up.

The Minister accuses the managers of mismanaging his "day for today" measly 2001 budget, so key people resign and he goes looking for managers of better "calibre". Another "play"! Everyone knows now that Carnival, mas, pan and calypso, bring to the coffers of the nation some $150-plus million annually and yet the representatives of these art forms have to beg for the pittance of government subventions year after year.

In August 1999, in a column titled "Stop the Bloody Begging", the following was outlined:
"...What these artists create are "culture products", "works of art" and "works of mas" that are second to none internationally and must be valued and paid for accordingly in the international market place. "Every "roti" made and sold here leads to revenue and income to the maker, who in turn extends his connection to the survival and wealth generation process. So too must it be with the 'works of art'.

"Over three years now the research was done in a study commissioned by Tidco titled 'The Entertainment Sector of T&T: Implementing an Export Strategy' by Dr Ralph Henry and Dr Keith Nurse.

"There is evidence the Entertainment Industry of T&T grossed in1995 earnings of approximately $253 million in foreign exchange of which some 75 per cent or $180 million was directly attributed to the handmaidens of calypso, pan and carnival.

"There is virtually no tourist industry here outside of Tobago, calypso, pan and Carnival. Tourists come to these shores for the peace, tranquillity, sun and sea of Tobago throughout the year; recently yachties have begun to come for the safe haven of hurricane-free inlets, but by far the great influx that really makes the difference is between January to March each year for the festivities involving calypso, pan and mas.

"Government taxes on the tourist dollar from airport to hotel and back is yet to be quantified for these three months but it can be easily done to show the contribution of calypso, pan and Carnival to the State coffers, and if that is ever extrapolated over a 10-year period one can very well imagine the astronomical sums.

"In addition the export of Carnival, and its main ingredients, mas, calypso and pan, has been extensive in the last decade. There are reputed to be presently some 60 carnivals around the world that are direct outgrowths of T&T's.

"The biggest events are as follows according to the Henry/Nurse study: Toronto/Caribana, attendance of one million people, with tourist expenditure accruing to the city of some Can$200 million; New York/Labour Day, attendance of two million, accruing some US$70 million; London/Notting Hill, attendance of two million, accruing some £20 to 30 million.

"According to our estimates in TT dollars that is a grand total of some $3.7 billion. Add the other Carnivals in the Western Hemisphere and we may very well end up with a figure of some $4 billion annually. "How can TUCO, Pan Trinbago and the Mas Associations organise themselves to tap into these revenues that now accrue to foreign cities, hoteliers and privateers, State Exchequers and others, as a result of our culture-products and works-of-art?

"But as they say, charity begins at home! If the artists drop their begging approach and negotiate with the State to have each year for the three key months a small specialised tax that shall accrue to the accounts of the various organisations, then that shall be a start in the right direction.

"Every bottle of rum, bottle of beer, soft drink etc sold at Carnival fetes, every paid patron to the fetes, to the shows, to the calypso tents, to Panorama, every tourist entering the country, every hotel reservation or actual occupancy in those months of festivity, etc, to be taxed at a small percentage ­ say between one per cent to two per cent ­ to be collected by the relevant State agencies and extracted, after deducting administrative costs, for the coffers of the various organisations, then by God, TUCO and Pan Trinbago et al will not have to beseech and beg for a mere $3 million each.

"In the past, sponsors of the art like Sa Gomes, Christopher, Roodal etc, not only invested and made money off the art but in a very real way they contributed to the actual day-to-day welfare and upkeep of the artists who fell within their camp.

"No one individual has made more money off pan, or contributed more to its worldwide exposure, than Amral Khan, a travel agent, who took splintered groups of Guinness Cavaliers players all over the Far East, Australia and New Zealand, and today has retired a spiritual guru. Nothing is wrong with that, in all business transactions there is give and take and no one invests time, energy and money unless profits can be had.

"It is up to the artists concerned to negotiate with private investors accordingly. The same applies to William Munroe and Eddie Grant.

"Foremost in mind in the course of these negotiations must be the enriching of the exponents themselves and the instituting of social infrastructure essential to the future development of the said art forms.

"Once calypsonians, pannists and mas men are so organised to negotiate on the local front, then similarly we can envisage a new approach internationally in tandem with interdependent brother organisations out there. That will undoubtedly gross massive sums..."

If William Munroe is stepping forward today to unite the Carnival special interest groups and negotiate with Government on the very basis that we outlined in1999, then we have no choice but to offer solidarity and wish that eventually the exponents of the art-forms themselves take charge of their own destiny.