"We own the spirit of Carnival and the spirit of calypso, pan, chutney, tassa and pickaree, so no foreigner can come here and take it away from us." So said newly installed Minister of Arts and Multiculturalism, Lincoln Douglas, as he sought to defend his stance that Carnival should be privatised to make it more economically feasible. Douglas said for years band owners have been complaining about losing finances for Carnival.
"My suggestion is Carnival has to move to the next level. There may be some people making money but when all of them come to me they say they don't make money. This does not make sense. We have a number of cultural artefacts here that need to be synchronised. As it exists now, most of us just jump up and play mas." Douglas said. He lamented that components of the whole Carnival industry must be integrated into a complete product so "people will make money apart from having fun."
"I think we have the necessary skills here to do this. There are a number of qualified people and we need to bring those management skills to Carnival so it can be organised into a meaningful experience," Douglas said. Douglas said he has not yet taken any firm decision to privatise Carnival.
"I have put the point out there to begin discussions on these issues. I have not made any definitive statement. I have not made final decision but I allowed discussion to begin so we will understand that we need to take our artistic talent and artists very seriously and become the master of the things we do so well," he added.
Asked whether T&T's originality and culture will be eroded if Carnival is tendered to a foreigner, Douglas said: "No, I have studied abroad and a lot of professionals have studied abroad. The only thing they can bring is a wealth of knowledge and participation with our people. We are not selling or giving away anything. They are participating with our people to make something better."
He said Carnival was T&T's heritage and patrimony. "Nobody will take Carnival away from us. What we talking about here is management skills and ability to run something better. The cultural knowledge as it relates to that, we possess. We own the spirit of Carnival and the spirit of calypso, pan, chutney, tassa, pickaree. So no foreigner can come here and tell us how to play pan or make mas or sing chutney or (celebrate) Hosay," Douglas said.
He said more than 20 groups have already met with him to discuss the idea of Carnival privatisation. Instead of "running around like headless chickens and being totally disorganised," Douglas said proper management skills are needed to make Carnival better.
Last week, Douglas caused a stir during the launch of Tribe Mas Band's C2K13 presentation Butterflies, Beasts, Bacchanal when he announced that he wanted to franchise Carnival to individuals or organisations, including foreigners. He said he intends to invite proposals from anyone who believes they can produce the best Carnival in Trinidad, including people from New Jersey, USA whom he said he visited recently.