Marketing and Publicity crucial to CARIFESTA X

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad – The curtains came down as fireworks went up at the Hasely Crawford Stadium in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago on Sunday 1 October, to mark the end of the Ninth Caribbean Festival of Arts (CARIFESTA IX).

As part of the ceremonial closure of CARIFESTA IX, which ran from September 22 through October 1, the scroll of acceptance was officially handed over to The Bahamas, the host country of CARIFESTA X.

At a recent meeting of the CARIFESTA Interim Festival Directorate (IFD), which is the regional advisory body to CARIFESTA, in Trinidad and Tobago, at which several officials responsible for culture in the Region were present, a number of considerations was explored. These included the earmarking of a ten-day period in the month of August 2008 for the staging of CARIFESTA X, the crucial role of the media in publicising the festival, and an aggressive approach to marketing and advertising for the festival, both intra and extra regionally.

Director of Culture of The Bahamas, Ms. Nicolette Bethel told the meeting that The Bahamas had already commenced planning for the festival, for which she committed to submitting an initial plan by next month, with respect to contingency arrangements for CARIFESTA X.

Ms. Bethel indicated that The Bahamas plans to stage CARIFESTA activities in its capital, Nassau, as well as Freeport, with a view to attracting wide participation.

She also noted that The Bahamas was strongly supportive of a legal framework that would guide the planning, timelines and execution of CARIFESTA X, as well as future festivals, as contained in the New CARIFESTA Model.

An invitation will be issued soon by the Regional Cultural Committee for countries to submit bids to host CARIFESTA XI in 2010.