Barbados' Prime Minister is Pleased With CARIFESTA

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados – The Barbados government says it will sponsor for one year, every vendor who was registered at the Grand Market to sell their products on the Caribbean Marketplace electronically.

Barbados Prime Minister speaking at the close of CARIFESTA on Sunday night (CMC Photo)Prime Minister Mia Mottley speaking at the closing ceremony of the 15th edition of the Caribbean Festival of Arts (CARIFESTA) on Sunday night, said that this would allow  the work and products to be sold not just to the rest of the region who did not come to CARIFESTA, but to the rest of the world.

“CARIFESTA must not be a single event. It must be able to cast a strong legacy. And if we talk about the orange economy and we talk about the creative industries, then our people must benefit from it. So my friends, when… that happens, I invite all of us, Christmas is coming, you will have an abundance, and I want to salute them in every instance for the quality of workmanship.”

Mottley said that she had also listened to the call made during the 10-day event for the CARIFESTA Village to remain a permanent fixture and “as a faithful and obedient servant that village shall now be known here and after as CARIFESTA House, to celebrate the arts and creativity of Caribbean people forever”,

She said there is also  the beginning of a heritage district taking place here and that over the last six years, she has worked with the Ministry of Finance “little by little by little to make sure that what you will soon see and fall at Newton will be the heritage district, starting with the monument, celebrating the lives and resilience of the 570 slaves that were buried on that plantation”.

She said on reflecting on the construction of the National Performing Arts Centre,  the first production there was Mansa Musa celebrating the great kingdom of Mali and Mansa Musa from Africa.

“”… the second production was that in tribute to our own Irvin Berge, not just the writer of the Barbados Anthem, but indeed the great prolific Caribbean songwriter with songs like Deo and Jamaica Farewell and Island in the Sun. And that is to speak to what must come there when that is finished,”  she said, adding  “eventually you will see the National Genealogical Research Centre and hopefully the museum that will speak to the world about what we went through for over three centuries with respect to slavery and colonialism”.

She said that this edition of the region’s premier arts and cultural festival must not stand in isolation saying it “is about building a people, building a region, building a civilization, and reclaiming our destiny….”

She said that the 300 students from the Caribbean who attended CARIFESTA will participate in a competition providing the best literary exposition on the event with a cash prize US$5,000 going to the winner.

In addition, the student who produces the best song will equally be awarded US$5,000 and the recording of that song.

“And those who give us from any territory the best multimedia exposition of CARIFESTA XV will be awarded US25,000 because the memory of CARIFESTA XV must not just live, but it must live in the heart,”  said Mottley saying “this has been an emotional CARIFESTA.

“The emotion also came when we saw Africa on Broad Street, next to the Carinage, going down to Parliament. showing the best of the fashion and as I looked at it I remembered that that was a site where our people were separated, some stayed here and some were shipped on to other islands …and that we, 400 years after the British first settled this island in 2025, could rise to host this event shows me that the confidence in Barbados and Bajans and by extension the confidence in Caribbean civilization is well justified.”

The CARIFESTA was held under the theme “Caribbean Roots, Global Excellence”  and featured an estimated 366 events including for the first time, performances from the African continent. At least 34 countries participated in the event, including 300 young people from across the Caribbean.