Not our fault

Bandleaders complain about organisation of Junior Kadooment as parents demand refunds By Sheria Brathwaite Several bandleaders are distancing themselves from what they said was the confusion that occurred during Junior Kadooment as scores of parents demand refunds. In an interview with Barbados TODAY, president of the Barbados Association of Masqueraders (BAM) Jason Thompson said that as far as his membership and several other costume designers are concerned, last Saturday’s event had “failed” but what transpired was no fault of theirs. Among the issues that left bandleaders discontented were the late advertising of the event; children having to wait up to five hours before parading on stage, which lead to some fainting and having to seek medical attention; children not receiving any water in the heat; lack of proper communication between the National Cultural Foundation (NCF) and bandleaders; “rude and disrespectful” attitudes of NCF marshals; and how prizes were awarded. Thompson said bandleaders were not responsible for those situations and if they were forced to issue any refunds, they would have to “seek reimbursement from somewhere”. As he sought to clear the air in an attempt to diffuse the situation between bandleaders and upset parents, Thompson explained: “The day after Junior Kadooment, many bandleaders would have reached out indicating that they were not satisfied with what took place. Based on the amount of bandleaders, I saw it to be a very important matter which needed immediate attention. So we had a meeting [yesterday] where we came together to be given the opportunity where we could all explain and discuss our challenges and problems that we would have encountered. “The reason for taking the conversation to the public is so the public understands that it is not the fault of the bandleaders that these negative impacts took place but rather that of the logistics and the organisation of the NCF. “This is the way for the bandleaders to allow the public to know that it’s not their fault so that hopefully they would be able to understand and maybe drop some of the asks for the return of the funds. However, if it does get to the stage where they have to refund the specific masqueraders then we would have to then seek reimbursement from somewhere. But it’s not at that stage yet where we have had to actually reimburse anyone; persons are just asking,” Thompson added. The Hijack Inc. bandleader added that he wanted the NCF to meet with the bandleaders before the end of the week so the organising body could shed light on what occurred and the designers can make recommendations to prevent a recurrence. When contacted, other bandleaders said they were put at a great disadvantage and what had transpired at Junior Kadooment had left them disappointed. “It was a great loss for me,” said first-time bandleader Teigra Rodgers-Francis of Angelic Band. “I was disqualified and I don’t know why. The rules state that you have to have at least 25 people in your band and I had 50-plus [of which] 39 [were] masqueraders. But the children had to wait so long and were so thirsty that the parents took them and left. About half of them left . . . . My children didn’t get any water or snacks that they were to provide and we didn’t get any sponsorship because we didn’t want any conflict of interest with the sponsors . . . so it was a mess . . . . It was just craziness. We had to get cups and go to the water stations, which were beyond our meeting point and bring them back for the children. “It was not enjoyable . . . . We were treated like dogs . . . like we are worth nothing . . . and as a first-timer, I wanted to quit, but in the association meeting they asked me not to give up on it.” Another bandleader, who did not want to be named, said he was also disappointed, pointing out that the logistics of the event were “problematic”. “Even the songs that you sent in weren’t played and the children had to cross the stage to music not planned for or choreographed to,” he complained. Efforts to get a response from the NCF were unsuccessful. sheriabrathwaite@barbadostoday.bb]]>