MINISTER of Culture, Youth and Sport, Dr. Frank Anthony has announced that Mashramani 2013 will be officially launched next week.

He disclosed, Thursday, that the committee has already had two meetings, over the last months, with both regional and national representatives in attendance and all the sub-committees have been established.
Anthony said preliminary works have begun on all traditional competitions associated with Mashramani and he added:”We are going to have all the traditional things people have come to associate with Mash.”
According to him, auditions for those would commence in November and run into December but the actual competitions will be hosted in January and February.
He revealed that work is being done on creating a calendar of the events expected to be a part of the festivities, for both locals and foreigners.
“Persons coming for Christmas would be able to see all the Mash activities from ahead of time and so we want all the arrangements in place …if they want to come back and participate we will also be able to facilitate them,” the Minister pointed out.
In addition, he said strong emphasis is being placed on targeting new agencies to come on board with Mashramani 2013.
However, he said this is an ongoing process and the Ministry will continue to progress in this regard despite challenges.
“Hopefully, we can encourage more people to be a part of our Mash celebrations,” he stated.
Anthony remarked that next year will be an interesting year, since Guyana will also be commemorating the 250th anniversary since the 1763 uprising.
He said some of the (Mashramani) designers might also want to reflect their floats or costumes in that (1763 uprising) theme, noting that Guyana will also be celebrating the 175th anniversary of the arrival of East Indians to then British Guiana.
“There might be designers who would want to reflect on that theme also…and, right now, we have a theme competition going on,” Anthony revealed, pointing out that, so far, some 50 or 60 entries have been submitted to the Ministry.
The closing date for that competition was yesterday and it will be followed by a panel discussion on the winning theme, which would be made known at the Mashramani 2013 opening ceremony.