BAM willing to participate in November Crop Over

Minister for Culture John King has given tentative support for a scaled-down Crop Over festival later this year, which carnival band leaders suggest could happen if medical experts agree and the public is for it, Barbados TODAY has learned.

The Barbados Association of Masqueraders (BAM) said it would be willing to participate in a November mini-festival to coincide with the nation’s 55th Independence anniversary.

BAM president Anthony Layne told Barbados TODAY that with financial assistance he was certain that band leaders would go for it, even if the set-up was more geared towards t-shirt bands instead of the flamboyant costumes normally associated with the festival that traditionally marks the end of the sugar cane harvest in July.

King, citing carnivals as a necessary part of human socialisation, especially for Caribbean people, said his Ministry and the National Cultural Foundation (NCF) are mulling the idea of having such events.

“Those are things that we ourselves have been looking at and have been discussing between the team at the Ministry of Culture and the NCF,” King told Barbados TODAY.

“Again, most things depend heavily on where we are with the protocols, what we can or cannot do based on the medical experts and their advice, but we don’t rule out anything at all. Because once we open back up we’ve definitely got to have a way to get people energised and [for] people who have been carrying a lot of mental fatigue from being in lockdown and not having things to do.

“You see carnivals and events, these are necessary things for human beings to socialise and to interact because that is who we are. So I certainly would support anything like that as long as the okay is given from the medical experts that these things are possible.”

In his interview with Barbados TODAY, Layne also emphasised that several variables, particularly COVID-19 and the restrictions, would determine if a mini festival with a shortened carnival route was feasible.

“I don’t dismiss proposals or looking at something that would make things better for the year to come, but it all depends on what is happening with the pandemic,” he said.

“It all depends on the vibe of the public; that is very important. It is alright to say we can do a mini carnival but when you go and put it on and at the end of the day you are out money and you’re in the red, then you’re still back at square one. And right now I don’t think we the bands can take that . . . . It is okay to say to put it on but you got to make sure that you benefit from it in terms of making a little profit because how do we recover then to come to the bigger Crop Over in 2022?”

“It depends a lot on the pandemic and if it makes sense at this point in time. And it got to make sense to do it. We can’t just do it because we want to do it.”

Layne also disclosed that the Government had begun to roll out its promised subvention for band leaders to cover losses from abandoned events during the lockdown and the cancellation of Crop Over 2020.

He could not state the sums paid or how many band leaders had received cheques thus far, but expressed gratitude for the gesture, given the fact that this was the second straight year that Crop Over has become a casualty of the pandemic.

And, according to him, some of his membership are in “dire straits”, especially those that are totally dependent on masquerade as a revenue-generating stream.

Layne told Barbados TODAY: “It is a help to band leaders and you must remember that for some band leaders… Crop Over is their only source of revenue and there are some band leaders that obviously would be in more need than others. I think the NCF would have addressed those first but I would have to get an update… but it is a process.

“Persons would have invested monies before 2020, in 2019 and before. In this industry, it takes time to recoup your return on investment. So some persons would obviously need it as quickly as they can get it but when it comes it is welcomed, and it takes time. It is still a good gesture on the part of Government to offer the subsidy, so you have to be thankful for that.”

Layne said he remains hopeful of a full Crop Over festival in 2022, declaring that the industry cannot withstand the severe blow of another cancellation.

“It is very hard to rebound from three years straight when you are talking about branding and now carnival is worldwide, so there is competition,” said the BAM president.

“So you now got to fight battles to get Crop Over back to the level where it was and that will take a lot of money, advertising, marketing and so on to get it back up there.

“So we are very hopeful there will be a [Crop Over] 2022. I can’t imagine what will happen if there is none in 2022 and then you got to look to come in 2023. It’s going to be really tough,” he added. (KC)