Tobago seeks help from NCC for its 2025 Carnival
Tobago Correspondent
The Festivals Commission in Tobago will be seeking the National Carnival Commission’s help to stage its October Carnival in 2025.
Yesterday, chairman of the commission Kern Cowan said the disbursement of funds to bandleaders for the upcoming Carnival will begin next week.
Despite this happening just days before the Carnival, scheduled for October 25 to 27, Cowan assured that the late release will not affect the celebrations.
Speaking to Guardian Media, he said all stakeholders were aware of the $9 million budget although the figure hadn’t been officially released.
He said the largest chunk of the budget will go towards its production.
“The money would be primarily marketing, it would be to the events we are supporting and to the NGO, mas bands. This is where most of the spending will go because we have taken an angle of this Carnival to be a more stakeholder-based approach,” he said.
He added there was a “misreading” of the information shared between stakeholders and the commission.
“A lot of the things we are doing are not just based on money. We are supporting them with music trucks also. It’s not limited to the budgetary conversation, it’s about building the product and driving the entire event,” Cowan stressed.
He revealed that the commission has reached out to National Carnival Commission CEO Davlin Thomas to help with the planning and execution of next year’s event.
“We took front before front took us. We reached out the NCC CEO and we have been having conversations and very good ones. So we will see new things happening as it pertains to 2025. This Carnival season is already planned and locked. What we need to do now is bolster down and ensure execution happens well going into next week and start planning immediately for 2025.”
Meanwhile, Tobago chairman of the Trinidad and Tobago Chamber of Industry and Commerce Curtis Williams expects major returns.
“The nine million dollars we are about to spend, when it trickles down that could probably come down to a nice $15 million. The hotels are excited, the food and beverage sector can’t wait to exhale. I see a lot of tourists on the island already.”
He also welcomed bringing NCC on board for 2025.
“Let not try to reinvent the wheel. We can chat with him (Winston Gypsy Peters). Let’s take the criticism, learn and move forward with a product that is uniquely branded Tobago and unlike any other Carnival.”
Last Carnival, Peters came under heavy criticism for his review of the Tobago’s second Carnival.
Peters was disappointed with the organisation, stating that key aspects of the main events were missing.
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