Montserrat is set to attend CARIFESTA 2017.
The 13th edition of CARIFESTA, short for Caribbean Festival of Arts, is scheduled for August 17th – 27th 2017 in the island of Barbados. The main purpose of the Festival is to gather artists, musicians and authors, and to exhibit the folkloric and artistic manifestations of the Caribbean region. There are also a number of learning and teaching opportunities presented at the Festival.
According to a release from the Montserrat Arts Council (MAC), the members of the delegation preparing to go to Barbados to represent Montserrat are local Entrepreneur, Christobel Daniel, artist Kelvin ‘Tabu’ Duberry, author and playwright Edgar Nkosi White, Tourism Representatives Rosetta West-Gerald and Cherise Aymer and Head of Planning & Production at MAC, Kenneth Silcott. The delegation will be headed by the Director of the Montserrat Arts Council, Chadd Cumberbatch.
The Director of MAC stressed the importance of Montserrat having a presence at regional gatherings such as CARIFESTA. “While the contingent is not what I personally wanted, I am grateful that we at least have a presence in the Grand Market where the rest of the Caribbean will see that Montserrat is still here. It is also refreshing that we are contributing to the festival by including visual and literary arts at such a level. It is imperative that we attend regional events not only to take part as performers, etc. but also to see what’s going on as so to gauge regional trends. What this does is inform us as to what our position is in the creative industries.”
Montserrat will have a booth in the Grand Market, while Edgar White, one of the Caribbean’s most respected creatives in the field of Creative Writing, will also host a Literary Workshop as well as take part in readings and panel discussions surrounding Literature, etc.. Kenneth Silcott will be lending support to the Junior Calypso Monarch as well as gaining insight as to the staging of this show, as Montserrat is being considered to host it in 2018. He will also use this to gain insight into Festival staging trends. The delegation leaves for Barbados on August 17th.
