The Bahamians are coming

Today, over at Ringplay Productions, a blog devoted to the Bahamian arts scene, Nicolette Bethel writes about Carifesta IX:

And then there’s the Caribbean Festival of the Arts, which is getting back on its feet after a longish hiatus, and which is opening its doors to private people as well as governments. The next one is to be held in Trinidad and Tobago this September; you can check out details here:

http://www.carifesta.net

We’d like to encourage people who are interested to make inquiries and to make plans to attend. The government is likely to put together a contingent, but that will be selected by auditions, and space will be limited. Independent participants in CARIFESTA are both welcome (the Trinis are making arrangements for them) [emphasis mine] and encouraged. So click on the link now!

Who are the Trinis making arrangements to welcome independents, I wonder? Could Nicolette be referring to the organisers of the Fringe?

And let me take this opportunity, on behalf of the members of the Carifesta IX Fringe Blog, to say welcome to all Bahamian artists, independent or otherwise!

ART ALOUD!

So Nic arrived with his brainstorm ... he'd been kinda talking about it for a while now, even before my working holiday in the Queen's country ... so there I was, back at the office on the first day barely settled in and we're organising a Fringe Festival for Carifesta.
Nicholas is right. The time is now. Now is the time.

Here we are young, rebellious, non-conformist even ... breaking the taboos of our forefathers, asking the questions that have not been asked ... yet, still living under the umbrella of the "allowed art".
For all their good intentions, those who have gone before us have just about managed to cage us ... locked us into this imaginary world where the only thing that makes us real is if we continue to dance and sing and write and paint about the sun and the sea and the sand and the coconuts and ... but massa day done ... so dey say ... done ... and yet...

So soldiers ... we arise from tribes schooled in the art of war ... in this time of war ... and seek to claim ... to reclaim our spaces and reflect our identity ... live Art Aloud! ... Art Allowed here!

Towards a manifesto of sorts

Why a fringe festival? Why is now the time? Why us?

Last night I went to the Carifesta IX "pre-launch" event at the Hilton Trinidad, attended by cultural officers from 15 Caribbean territories and various other dignitaries. I listened to the speeches, I talked to some of the festival officials, I tried to figure out what was going on. I was particularly struck by a few things.

1. How few people under the age of fifty were at the launch, if you subtracted the energetic performers there to provide entertainment and the Hilton wait-staff.

2. The fact that no fewer than two of the official speakers reminisced about being at the first Carifesta in 1972--three years before I was born.

3. The fact that, give or take the mention of a few dates and the odd stray buzzword, the official speeches could just have easily been delivered at that first Carifesta 34 years ago.

4. The fact that many of the key organisers of Carifesta IX could have been--were?--key organisers at Carifesta I.

All this despite the talk about Carifesta IX being a "new" Carifesta, an arts festival for the 21st century, reflecting contemporary realities.

We owe an incalculable debt to the generation of artists and writers who came of age in the 1960s. They fought incredible battles, achieved amazing things. Their works are now recognised as classics. They have won prizes, awards, honorary doctorates, Chaconia Medals or even Trinity Crosses. They head committees or institutions. They have the attention of ministers and permanent secretaries. They are called on to give speeches and write forewords. They are icons. They have their place in history.

But surely, after thirty or forty years, it's time for them to loosen their grip a little. Loosen their grip on the power, the narrative. Realise the Caribbean has changed enormously in the last forty years. We're not fighting the same battles. We're not trying to answer the same questions. And another generation full of bright minds and talents is doing extraordinary things. We of that generation see that, know that. It's time for the official power structure to know that too. Maybe Carifesta IX can be another chance to make this point. And if the official festival bureaucracy won't let "us" in, let's do what bright, ambitious people in the Caribbean have always done: find a space, however small, however modest, and use it to make something big.

This blog, in the first place, is such a space: a space to start talking, exchanging ideas, figuring what we can do and how. We have five months to go, more or less. No time to waste. Now is the time.

Thoughts? Ideas? Leave a comment. Jump in. Let's go.

Now is the time. The time is now.