The National Carnival Commission (NCC), is not jumping on the virtual events bandwagon, and will not be organising any such events during the period that would have been allotted for Carnival 2021.
NCC chairman Winston “Gypsy” Peters said since Government announced there would be no Carnival 2021, the organisation has not been planning any Carnival activity per se.
However, he said they intend to compile at least 100 years of extant Carnival material, “So we will have a kind of antecedental look at what Carnival in TT is all about, historical as it is.”
In an interview he conducted with the Newsday, Gypsy said TT can’t have a virtual Carnival, as that was an oxymoron.
He said private organisers and promoters were free to host their events, but they would be getting no money from the NCC.
He added that the NCC got no government allocation except for recurrent expenditure, to the tune of about $32 million.
Peters said Carnival, to the NCC and the Government, was much more than a party and a fete, but rather a foreign-exchange earner and a way of providing jobs.
“If we are having something virtual, it is not doing anything for anybody other than the people who are putting it on.
He said entities like Pan Trinbago, Trinidad and Tobago Carnival Bands Association (TTCAB) and Trinbago Unified Calypsonians’ Organisation (TUCO) were independent bodies which received a subvention from the Government. If they wished to do something they could find ways to do so.
Peters told the media house: “People should condition their minds that there will be no Carnival in 2021. We are going to be looking at 2022…we are hoping that these conditions get better and if they do, we are going to be making all preparations and efforts to have one of the best Carnivals we have seen in years and years and years.”
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