Lyndon Arnold
Tasked with the management and production of Lucian Carnival 2014, the Carnival Planning and Management Agency (CPMA), a body operating under the constitution of the Cultural Development Foundation (CDF), is already moving ahead with preparations for the event, which is due to take place this summer.
The CPMA was established a few weeks ago and has since met with “all” stakeholders with a view to getting plans in place to bring forth a better product this year with its limited budget.
Chairman of CPMA Lyndon Arnold said to media on Monday that “to date we have has some very successful meetings with all of the stakeholders”.
“I must say the outcome of these discussions have been very, very enlightening and successful. We’ve all come away from these meetings with a good understanding as to what we must do to make Carnival 2014 a success,” he added.
Financing, he said, continues to be an issue.
“We’ve looked at the reality of financing because that continues to be an issue for carnival in years gone by and the current times that we’re operating forces us to look at how we manage that limited purse that we have because we have to be realistic… we cannot expect any level of increase in the budget for carnival production. So we must look inward and see what can we do. [We should] think outside the box [and] be creative in managing that limited purse of financial resources from government in putting on the one of the largest festivals in St. Lucia,” he said.
Arnold said the CPMA recently signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the St. Lucia Tourist Board to undertake the marketing of carnival on a regional and international level. As a result, all stakeholders have been asked to provide a full calendar of events for the season by next week. This information will be passed on to the Tourist Board by month-end so that an official calendar, inclusive of all related events from public and private groups, can be formulated.
“When we put this out, persons will get a fair idea of the depth of the Lucian Carnival product and can be well informed as to the activities,” Arnold said.
The chairman further spoke of “new initiatives” which will come on stream this time around.
“We’re also excited about some new initiatives that we’ve talked about at a very high level… and hopefully within the coming weeks, once we’ve finalised those, [we will] share them with the media and the public at large,” he said.
Arnold said the CPMA plans to establish a secretariat comprising of an administrative manager, a carnival director and finance officer to help with preparations. A number of working committees will also be formed to help with the process.
The carnival budget is $2 million.
More on this in a subsequent publication.