NCF CEO on Crop Over changes: ‘Not my decision alone’

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the National Cultural Foundation (NCF) Carol Roberts is defending the changes to the Crop Over Festival, maintaining that the adjustments followed stakeholder consultations and were not made solely at her discretion.

Speaking to the media during Monday’s Grand Kadooment celebrations, she pushed back against the perception that she single-handedly made changes to the island’s biggest cultural event.

Roberts said that “contrary to popular opinion, changes are not within my purview”. She said decisions were reached through discussions with the relevant stakeholders.

Commenting on the move for this year’s Grand Kadooment party bands not to be judged, she said this decision came from the bandleaders.

“It was discussed collectively and was agreed on. If the band leaders who invest in the bands are of the opinion that a better option to get them to move quicker on the road and give the patrons a spectacle [is] that they will forgo the prize monies and spread them collectively amongst each other, what is there to be disturbed about?” she insisted.

Roberts noted that there had been several adjustments to the festival in recent years, some of which had displeased some members of the public while satisfying others.

“People will complain about changes regardless. There are some who like the [Pic-O-De-Crop] semi-finals, some who do not; some who like the one song and others who do not. At the end of the day, fortunately or unfortunately, it is the Foundation who must seek the consultation and then seek Cabinet’s approval for a decision that makes sense,” she said.

Roberts assured that the NCF remains committed to ensuring Crop Over evolves to remain relevant, especially as it competes with an expanding regional carnival calendar.

“We must never lose sight of the fact that there are several other carnivals in the region and they follow in a chronological order—from St Vincent to Saint Lucia, Barbados to Antigua, Grenada to Jamaica and, of course, Trinidad, which is earlier. Therefore, how do we remain competitive? To do this, the festival must evolve,” Roberts insisted.

A key area of focus, she added, is the need to develop music that can travel beyond local shores and appeal to international audiences.

“I will never tire of saying that we need to ensure we are on that competitive edge music-wise, and we need to ensure that our music can travel. 

“There will be songs that capture our imagination and provide the soundtrack of the festival locally, but then how can the songs then travel from Barbados to other carnivals and other events around the world?” Roberts argued, noting that the foundation was actively involved in working with artistes in this area.

She also noted the need to close the gap between those who enjoy the party aspects of Crop Over and others seeking a deeper cultural and heritage connection. 

Roberts said the success of this year’s Crop Over season would have to be assessed on several areas, including event patronage and how effectively any issues were resolved.

“You would have seen that they [events] were extremely well patronised. They have been largely incident-free to date, and we keep our fingers crossed that this trend will continue right into Wednesday morning,” she stated.

On the delays experienced by patrons entering the Pic-O-De-Crop Finals last Friday, Roberts explained that a seating issue caused a temporary holdup in opening the venue gates.

“We had to swap out several of them [seats] because we realised that several were not as sturdy as they could be and that delayed the opening of the gates, but that did not delay the start of the actual event,” she said.

Looking ahead, the NCF CEO confirmed that planning for the 2026 Crop Over Festival will begin later than usual due to the island’s hosting of CARIFESTA IX later this month. Roberts is festival director for that August 22 to August 31 event.