The Tribune

By DENISE MAYCOCK

Tribune Freeport Reporter

dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

GRAND Bahama Junkanoo groups will receive more than $100,000 in increased seed funding for the 2026/2027 season, although the National Junkanoo Authority acknowledged yesterday that funding has not yet reached parity with larger groups in New Providence.

The newly established authority signed contracts with ten groups competing in this year’s parade at Explorer’s Way, including five A Groups, four B Groups and one Fun Group.

The larger A Groups will receive $15,000 each, up $3,000 from the $12,000 previously provided.

National Junkanoo Authority chairman Dr Christopher Curry said the increase was a deliberate attempt to bring greater equity to Junkanoo outside New Providence.

He told Junkanooers that the authority was “striving towards parity” and working towards an “equal and fair spread of the seed funds”.

However, Dr Curry acknowledged when questioned by reporters that Grand Bahama groups are not yet receiving the same amounts as larger groups in Nassau.

The additional funding was welcomed by group leaders, who described the cost of participating in Junkanoo as a longstanding burden that has forced leaders and members to finance preparations themselves.

Chauncey Gray, leader of the Superstar Rockers, winners of last year’s parade, said the creation of the National Junkanoo Authority was something groups had been seeking.

“It is something we had been asking for,” Mr Gray said. “It's taxing on the on the leaders to have to go out there and look for funding. And so, with the Authority it is going help out a lot with the funding.”

He said the expense of participating in Junkanoo has also contributed to groups losing members.

“We need for the members in the groups to stop digging in their pockets to put the parade on,” Mr Gray said. “So more people now will get involved because we lose a lot of people every year because people just can't find the funding and Junknaoo is very expensive.”

“So this is a move in the right direction,” he said, “and we all welcome it with open arms.”

Mr Gray said groups were pleased that the authority had already increased funding only months after coming on board.

Thomas Curry, leader of the Platinum Knights Junkanoo Group, also described the additional funding as “a step in the right direction”.

He said his group had spent the past four months preparing for the parade using members’ personal money rather than waiting for government funding.

He welcomed the increase from $12,000 to $15,000 and expressed hope that Grand Bahama groups would eventually receive funding on par with their counterparts in Nassau.

Dr Curry acknowledged concerns about how late the funding was being provided but said the authority only held its first board meeting about four weeks ago. He said a more deliberate funding timeline is expected in the future.

The groups have now been commissioned and contracted to proceed with preparations, including advancing costumes and pieces in their shops, he said.

The contract signing at Kingdom Worship Center marked the official launch of the Junkanoo season on Grand Bahama.

Minister of Culture, Arts and Heritage Leslia Miller-Brice said her ministry had begun by listening to group leaders and gathering information about the sustainability of groups and the condition of their shops so that government policy could reflect their needs.

She outlined five commitments for the season: “to listen, to protect, to professionalize, to expand, and to empower.”

Mrs Miller-Brice said those commitments include protecting Junkanoo shacks as creative centres, expanding Junkanoo beyond a single parade and season and empowering the people who have carried the culture for generations.

She said Grand Bahama has “its own sound, its own talent, its own Junkanoo story, and its own stage”, arguing that Junkanoo extends beyond the Boxing Day and New Year’s Day celebrations traditionally associated with Nassau.

Minister for Grand Bahama Ginger Moxey said the seed-fund distribution marked the official start of the season and praised Grand Bahama’s Junkanoo community for continuing despite storms and difficult economic conditions.

Mrs Moxey said the creation of the National Junkanoo Authority provides a regulatory framework and organisational structure to “protect, support, and advance” Junkanoo.

Dr Curry said the authority, which only recently became fully operational, will continue consultations and listening sessions with groups as it develops its approach.