MASHRAMANI 2010 has proven that by working together Guyanese can accomplish a great many things and Minister of Culture Youth and Sport, Dr. Frank Anthony said Guyana is carving its own niche in advancing the marketability of the festival.
“Trinidad has Carnival and Barbados has Crop Over. We have Mashramani and once we work together we can have a festival that is marketable,” he said, in an invited comment yesterday.
Reflecting of the day’s celebrations, Dr. Anthony said it was a great day that saw the participation of many Guyanese, across the board.
“I think we met the expectations of many Guyanese. We promised a bigger and better spectacle and we delivered,” he said.
While the Ministry was unable to get the targeted 40 bands on board–this year there were 31; Anthony lauded the participation of the private sector.
Entities like Digicel, Banks DIH and Ansa McAl’s Carib delegation were among those the Culture, Youth and Sport Minister mentioned.
“The private sector invested a lot of money for this year’s Mashramani…Banks DIH has a band that was 500 strong. Costumes for that large a band are costly,” he opined.
Anthony reiterated that the participation was good and expressed the hope that the same is increased next year.
The minister acknowledged that there were minor hiccups during the day but observed that they were just that, minor.
He pointed out that there were gaps between the floats since some of the bands had difficulties.
“The Guyana Power and Light (GPL) float had a problem so they delayed a few floats from entering the National Park…Outside of this all went smoothly,” Anthony said.
Recognizing the effort, creativity and innovation involved with each presentation, the Culture, Youth and Sport Minister said the ministries, particularly, had impressive floats.
The regional presentation also received mentioned and Anthony said they did “nice…quite well.”
He observed that there is always the criticism that there are not adequate resources to invest into a good presentation.
However, Anthony said, “They did surprisingly well and the level of work they showed up was good.”
The Culture Minister reaffirmed that once efforts are pooled the outcome can only be positive.
One partnership Dr. Anthony pointedly recognised was the one forged between the local artistes; namely those participating in the Calypso, Soca and Chutney competitions.
“The partnerships worked well for us,” he said.
He made clear that the same will be an ongoing effort throughout this year as the art forms are advanced and given the national spotlight at next year’s Mashramani celebrations.
“We have a working relationship with those in the Calypso, Soca and Chutney arenas,” he said.
He added that the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport has demonstrated that engaging stakeholders and having efforts made early leads to a better festival.
The minister said too that the work of the Central and Regional Mashramani committees were quintessential to the successful staging of the Mash celebrations.
“Without these efforts we could not have been successful,” he posited.
The Central Mashramani Committee, he noted, will be meeting with him in another two weeks to do a review of Mashramani 2010.