‘Too pricey’

Award-winning bandleader says NCF partly responsible for expensive Crop Over events

By Emmanuel Joseph

One of the winning Grand Kadooment bandleaders is charging that the Crop Over Festival is being taken out of the reach of the average Barbadian and is now a conglomerate’s playground – a situation which he has blamed partly on the National Cultural Foundation (NCF).

But the producer of the festival has insisted that is far from the truth.

In an interview with Barbados TODAY after his Vintage Ooutraje Collection won Small Band of the Year (Heritage) and the Barbados Manufacturers’ Association (BMA) Brands of Barbados trophy for Small Band, veteran bandleader Trevor Chase said the annual festival was becoming a “business franchise for conglomerates”.

He said the NCF was “fostering” a trend where certain events are beyond the pockets of many Barbadians and big businesses who only care about profits are calling the shots because of their sponsorship investments.

“The conglomerates that are coming into the festival are business people, not people who studying about culture and who sing what. They want to invest to get returns from Crop Over, whatever way they can get it. That is the problem we have right now. I will knock the NCF for it because they fostering that…because once you can get somebody to give you a car and so on, you can give them whatever they want because they have given you X amount of money,” the designer contended.

Chase expressed “serious” concern about the direction the festival was headed and suggested that the NCF ought to take some responsibility.

“They [NCF] don’t know which direction they want to take it. It is growing, you know, but it is growing with the breakfast fetes, the midnight things, jump-up in the quarry, that is what it is growing with. Tell me which Barbadian could afford $300 or $400 tickets to go to breakfast fetes. The average Joe will not be able to afford those things,” he said. “That’s what you have done.”
The award-winning designer who played his last mas this year after more than three decades of creating costumes for the road, said stakeholders must determine the direction in which they wanted to see Crop Over go.

In response, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the NCF Carol Roberts-Reifer said Chase’s comments about events being priced out of the reach of the average Barbadian were “unfortunate and inaccurate”.

“The NCF is not responsible for the activities of private event producers, and none of its paying events fall anywhere near that price range. Indeed, our most expensive event was a mere $50 and the Sweet Limes, Pandemonium, Pan Yard Lime, Folk Concert, Junior Kadooment, Junior Monarch, the CARICOM concert and Grand Kadooment were all free to the public,” she told Barbados TODAY. “This is a deliberate strategy on our part to ensure that quality entertainment is available for everyone to enjoy.”

The CEO further contended: “I can easily tell you which Barbadians can afford to go to breakfast parties and the like – the thousands who patronised these events, including visitors who flew in specifically to attend them.”

Despite his criticism of the NCF, Chase gave the state agency credit for getting people back on the road this year.
“I would say [Grand Kadooment had] one of the biggest crowds I have ever seen on the road, and I was on the road for about 36 years,” he said.

emmanueljoseph@barbadostoday.bb