18 August 2015 - Business View Caribbean
sion among the artistes who were involved. Critical to
this discussion were two of the region’s most senior
artists, novelist George Lamming and acclaimed Guya-
nese poet, Martin Carter. The then Guyanese Prime
Minister Forbes Burnham supported the idea of a new
Caribbean Arts Festival and offered to host the event;
and so, Carifesta as we know it, was born.
That first Carifesta in Guyana lasted for three weeks.
The next Carifesta was held in Jamaica in 1976 and
lasted eleven days, while the third took place in Cuba
in 1979 and lasted for two weeks. Carifesta was not
held for eleven years after this, though it resumed in
Barbados in 1981. Since then the festival has been
held fairly regularly.
It is important to understand that though we look
forward to the ‘celebration’ of ourselves, this regular
coming together of well established and up-and-com-
ing artistes and performers of the Caribbean is impor-
tant for our own development as a regional force and
presence. It is indeed unfortunate that we remain so
isolated from each other, and are still strangers in our
own archipelago. These cultural interminglings and ex-
changes are meant to break down some of the knowl-
edge and information barriers and open us up to our-
selves.
The two Carifestas held in Trinidad and Tobago have
widely been acknowledged as two of the most exciting.
In fact, the concept of the Community Festival began
out of the T&T experience, marshalled by the ultimate
community activist, John Cupid. These Carifesta ‘gen-
eralled’ by Lester Efebo Wilkinson and Alfred Aguiton
were ably assisted by the insights of Earl Lovelace and
the hard work of people such as Janet Stanley Mar-
cano, Eric Butler, Clarence Moe and a host of cultural
workers and ambassadors.
The artistry of Carifesta is further supported by the
Symposia which take place as part of the celebrations.
Indeed it is in Trinidad and Tobago that Symposia be-
came the central force in “introducing new topics, per-
spectives and outlining strategies for the future”, to
quote former Symposia Director, Poet Laureate of Port
of Spain, Eintou Pearl Springer. She further describes
the symposia component as ‘the intellectual womb,
creative crucible, catalyst for vision’.
These fora for discussion and recommendations have
been led by some of the most significant minds in the
region – Professor Kamau Braithwaite of Barbados,
Ravi Dev of Guyana, Dr. Maureen Warner-Lewis of Trin-
idad and Tobago, George Lamming, world renowned
Caribbean author and intellectual, Dr. Joseph Palacio
of the Garifuna people of Belize and Professor Rex Net-
tleford, founder of the Jamaican Dance Company – to
name a few. For Carifesta 2006, the youth component
of Carifesta will include Symposia as well, incorporat-
