– Minister Norton
MINISTER of Social Cohesion, with responsibility for Culture, Youth and Sport, Dr George Norton, has urged all persons to use the avenues provided through the Mashramani competitions throughout the country, to develop their skills and talents.
Minister Norton spoke to the Guyana Chronicle while he was at Bartica on Saturday for the Junior Calypso and Soca Monarch finals.
“We launched a campaign where we take Mash to the communities,” Dr Norton said. This campaign, according to him, involves central government facilitating national events – like the Calypso and Soca competitions – in each administrative region.
Further, he explained that it is government’s intention to facilitate avenues for expression, so that the local persons can hone their skills and talents. Taking it into the regions allows focus to be spread across the country, instead of being concentrated in Georgetown.
Added to that, he mentioned that the government will provide additional support, such as financial assistance, to the local crop of talent in an effort to encourage participation in the Mashramani events.
In fact, for the Junior Soca and Calypso competitions, the Ministry of Social Cohesion had assisted the artistes with recording and producing their music in professional studios. This would have otherwise been very costly to the artistes.
“The government can only do so much, but we expect you to be working with your trade [or] product all year round so that you can let other people know about yourself,” he however stressed.
The minister also noted that there are avenues outside of Guyana that would require a well-developed crop of local talent. He gave the example of Carifesta XIV, which will be held in August of this year in Trinidad and Tobago.
This festival is seen as “…a launching pad for the Caribbean to take centre-stage; bringing rich, vibrant, thought-provoking and exhilarating expressions of talent and skill to the world,” according to Ministry of Community Development, Culture and The Arts of Trinidad and Tobago.
“Carifesta is not a Georgetown thing or a Region Four thing, it has got to be all over the country and that’s where it starts from – the youths,” Minister Norton said.
Further he highlighted: “We are hoping that we can encourage the same teams that performed so well [at the regional Mashramani competitions] to continue and reach a level where they could now represent the country at an international level.”
And even if persons are able to participate in Carifesta, either this time or the next, the minister highlighted that there are a myriad of cultural activities that local artistes can showcase their talent.
