In a spir­it of com­pro­mise, Arts and Mul­ti­cul­tur­al­ism Min­is­ter Win­ston "Gyp­sy" Pe­ters yes­ter­day bowed to pres­sure from Pan Trin­ba­go over the $1,000 stipend to steel­band mem­bers for par­tic­i­pa­tion in next year's Panora­ma pre­lim­i­nar­ies. Pe­ters said ear­li­er this month he was against pay­ing the play­ers for tak­ing part in the pre­lim­i­nary stage of the com­pe­ti­tion. He in­sist­ed he main­tained that po­si­tion yes­ter­day but in­sist­ed in a spir­it of com­pro­mise they would be paid $800.

"Things to­day in T&T are not what they used to be three years ago or even six months ago, as the cof­fers do not hold the same amount of mon­ey as they used to," he added. Gyp­sy said his "ne­go­ti­a­tions with Pan Trin­ba­go" re­sult­ed in a com­pro­mise. "I have de­cid­ed that the min­istry, the Gov­ern­ment, will com­pro­mise... in­stead of pay­ing them $1,000 as a stipend, to pay them $800." He said he took a note to Cab­i­net yes­ter­day seek­ing ap­proval of the lat­est of­fer.

He said the Gov­ern­ment gave ad­di­tion­al as­sis­tance to un­spon­sored steel­bands in T&T. He said that amount­ed to more than $2 mil­lion in grants to as­sist in their prepa­ra­tion for Panora­ma. He said it was not that the Gov­ern­ment was giv­ing the pan­men a stipend of $800. Pe­ters said he had in­di­cat­ed to Pan Trin­ba­go how it could pay their play­ers the $1,000. He said next year the Panora­ma cham­pi­ons would get a first prize of $2 mil­lion. Pe­ters said prepa­ra­tions for Car­ni­val 2011 were well un­der­way. He pre­dict­ed next year's Car­ni­val would be one of the best ever held in T&T.