The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

PRIME Minister Perry Christie said yesterday that the Government has allocated $1 million for the development of a week-long  Bahamian Carnival or ‘Mardi Gras-style festival’ that will kick off in 2015.

Mr Christie said the event would create a “burst of entrepreneurship” from cultural tourism. During the 2013-2014 Budget Communication, the Prime Minister, who recently returned from Trinidad, said: “We begin, through public and private sector partnerships, work on the development of a major, week-long national cultural festival oriented to the start of the Lenten season.

“This will mark the start of the Bahamian Carnival or Mardi Gras. The Budget allocates $1 million to this initiative next year. The festival is targeted for start-up in 2015 and could incorporate a cultural village, public processions and song and costume competitions.”

Mr Christie added: “We believe that this stimulus to Bahamian music, art, entertainment and other cultural forms will reap inestimable rewards for generations to come.

“Various groups, such as the Saxons or the Valley Boys, could become corporate entities.

“These entities, officially in the business of cultural tourism, could sell costumes, including sales on-line, both here and abroad. There will be specific stipulations that a certain percentage of the contents of costumes will be made of straw and sisal.

“Such stipulations would stimulate and provide a much-needed boost to those domestic industries. We foreshadow a burst of entrepreneurship from cultural tourism, including costume design and creation, writing and performance of music, dance and choreography, visual arts, lighting, stage design and the protection of the intellectual property emanating from this arena.”