The Chief Executive Officer of Barbados’ National Cultural Foundation (NCF) has mounted a robust defence of this year’s Crop Over festival, despite acknowledging significant production issues at key shows.
Carol Roberts, speaking to Barbados TODAY, asserted that while there were indeed problems, they did not mar the ‘Sweetest Summer Festival’.
The NCF has faced heavy criticism in recent days over disruptions at major Crop Over events. Patrons complained about the quality of the Pic-O-De-Crop calypso monarch contest, citing a late start and technical difficulties that led to one performer having to repeat their presentation. The Soca 5.0 event at the National Botanical Gardens was postponed to late Tuesday owing to potential inclement weather, whilst the Grand Kadooment saw a two-hour delay.
Critics also chided the NCF for not incorporating more traditional and historical aspects into the festival, particularly given it was the 50th anniversary.
But Roberts maintained that the festival’s successes were “beyond measure” and that the issues “took nothing away from the overall season”. She declared that the NCF was taking the criticism “in stride” and would use it constructively.
“We have and we will continue to not only examine ourselves and our role in the festival, which obviously as festival producer is absolutely critical, but also our relationships and partnerships,” Roberts said. She added that the NCF would “take what is constructive and useful” to prevent similar “snafus” in future.
The CEO emphasised that this was not unprecedented, noting that in previous years, the NCF had successfully addressed issues by going “back to the drawing board, listened, talked, learned, amended, tweaked and came back out again”.
When asked to grade the season, Roberts demurred, arguing that the festival’s success couldn’t be measured so simply. She pointed to various factors, including employment opportunities for the creative industry, foreign exchange earnings, visitor arrivals, stakeholder engagement, and security.
“I don’t think that you can just give it a grade. I think you need to look at all of the disparate elements that come together to make the festival what it was,” Roberts said. “It’s much deeper than that and it’s much bigger than the foundation or who leads the foundation at this time and your opinion of that person or of the foundation, it’s much deeper than that.”
Despite the challenges, Roberts remained optimistic about the future of Crop Over. She pledged that the NCF would immediately begin work to improve future events, starting the very next day after Soca 5.0.
She said: “There were elements of the festival that are certainly worthy of mention and that came off well and that achieved aspects of the mandate and remit of the foundation. Then there were those elements that left a lot to be desired and we get back to work from tomorrow morning to ensure that our next outing is even better than this one.”
(sheriabrathwaite@barbadostoday.bb)
