Call to sponsors

Grand Kadooment bands are struggling to get their 2022 productions on the road due to limited sponsorship.

President of the Barbados Association of Masqueraders (BAM) Anthony Layne, who described the situation as “dire” at this time, told Barbados TODAY that while the $10 000 subvention from the National Cultural Foundation (NCF) for each eligible band has helped, corporate Barbados has not been forthcoming with sponsorship.

Criticising the unwillingness of some companies to assist, Layne said that should not be the case since all businesses benefit from the Crop Over Festival.

“This is not just about the bands, this is about Barbados. This is about putting on a spectacle, and when the planes come here in the droves as has happened in 2019 and 2018 and 2017, all aspects of business in Barbados gained from it . . . . So that is where we want to get back to,” he said.

Layne noted that over the years, sponsorship in Barbados has significantly fallen which is not the case in some other Caribbean islands where, he said, “there is an influx of sponsorship . . . from corporate businesses”.

“Why not in Barbados? We have the same corporate businesses here, and I am saying to these businesses that they need to get involved, they need to sponsor. Crop Over is once a year.

“The same way that they say that ‘we made $150 million’, well then we want to make $500 million. It will trickle down to every aspect of society in Barbados, every business would gain from it,” he insisted.

Layne said some bandleaders have communicated to him that sales are slow, things are tough and they need assistance.

He said while people complain about the cost of costumes, bandleaders cannot sell them at cheaper rates because of the lack of sponsorship.

Layne contended that about 15 years ago, when there was more corporate sponsorship, costumes would have been less costly.

“So you could subsidise the cost of the costume then. You cannot subsidise the cost of the costumes now because you have to pay for the production of your costume. And you can’t sell a costume for $100 and it cost you $200 to produce it, you would be crazy.

“At the end of the day, you are in the same struggle. So sponsorship would help significantly when you look into the price of costumes because it would help to subsidise the price of costumes,” he said.

Meantime, the BAM president expressed gratitude to the NCF for helping out the bands this Crop Over season.

“The NCF has been trying to assist the bands tremendously where they can help with advertising. As a matter of fact, the Festival of Bands that was put on a couple Sundays ago at Ball Park [Entertainment Centre], Christ Church, the NCF really facilitated that, they made it happen. They have gone beyond the call of duty, let me say that, and we appreciate their efforts in trying to ensure that the bands do as well as they can for 2022,” Layne said.

anestahenry@barbadostoday.bb