ST. LUCIA – Two of St. Lucia’s Government Ministers have hailed this year’s Carnival celebrations a huge success. The Ministers of Culture and Tourism both spoke with the GIS following the climax of Carnival celebrations last week.
Minister for Education and Culture Honourable Arsene James, for his part, commended highly, the level of public support for all of the activities.
“And I think the reason for this is because a lot of money was pumped into this year’s carnival activities and I must say thanks to the Ministry of Tourism and the foresight of the Minister of Tourism, who by all indications, was the one who ensured there was enough money to go around to increase prizes and so on, said the minister.”
Meantime Minister for Tourism Senator the Honourable Allen Chastanet said, as one of the leading cultural events in the country, every effort should be made to advance carnival’s development. He announced that a three year financial plan has been put in place to allow for greater expansion and development of the island’s main cultural show-piece.
According to Mr. Chastanet, much of the investment for carnival this year was to improve overall production of the event.
He said, “I am of a personal disdain for whenever we conduct anything and we see St. Lucian talent having to perform on a mediocre stage—bad lighting and bad sound—so it gives the impression that we are all third world. I think the talent here and the commitment is too strong to have had this happen. The writers came out in a very big way and the music received international recognition.”
The Tourism Minister is of the opinion that St. Lucia has the potential to develop a unique product fitting for the international market. He said the process has begun and the level of local participation is clear evidence of that direction. Government pumped over 1 Million dollars into the 2007 carnival festivities.
