MASHRAMANI 2013 will be celebrated under the theme “Reflecting creativity, embracing diversity”, and plans in this respect are well underway despite last Sunday’s fire at the Mashramani Secretariat on Middle Street.

Culture, Youth and Sport Minister Dr. Frank Anthony, updating the media with respect to plans for Mash 2013, disclosed yesterday at the Guyana National Museum in Company Path, Georgetown that the Mashramani Secretariat is up and running, and is hoping to get back to some sense of normalcy by the end of the week.
Dr Anthony said that planning for this year’s Mashramani has been ongoing by means of various sub-committees. He pointed out that the chutney finals  have already been completed, and that Roger Hinds, aka Young Bill Rogers, has been named the chutney monarch of 2013, winning for himself $550,000 as well as a chance to represent Guyana later this month in Trinidad at the finals of that country’s competition.
Minister Anthony added that the chutney monarch also receives an additional $2M just to be in the finals in Trinidad, and should the monarch win the title in Trinidad, he/she would receive up to US$150,000.
According to the minister, plans for the calypso competition are underway. The auditioning phase has been completed, thirty persons auditioned, but that figure has been reduced to twenty.
He disclosed that dates have been set for the competition, and the semi-finals will be held in Linden, while the finals would be at Thirst Park in Georgetown.
According to the minister, preparations for the Junior Calypso, Health Song and Steel Band competitions are also ongoing. He said the committee has been working on preparing the Steel Band competition, and has already sent out to the concerned parties the music it would like the bands to play.
This year, Dr. Anthony related, the Mash Secretariat is expecting an increase in the number of bands participating in the steel band competition. He disclosed that Republic Bank would partner with the Culture Ministry to host the competition.
The minister pointed out that this year’s Mashramani activities will coincide with the 250th Anniversary of the Berbice Slave Rebellion, and the ministry would also be adding some other activities during the month to commemorate this signal event.
In response to questions about financing of the celebrations, the minister noted that, generally, it would cost the government about $60M, and that has been a historic figure.
He said an average band would comprise of between 400 and 500 persons in full costume, and it would cost in the range of $15M to put such a band on the road.
“So, on average, I would say (that) for the float parade alone, with about 30 bands, we spend as a festival more than one million US dollars,” he related.
The minister said that while this is a substantial sum of money, for the companies who have been investing, it makes good advertising sense.
He noted that on the actual day of Mashramani, there are approximately 80,000 to 100,000 persons on the road, so these companies have direct contact with all these potential customers.
Dr. Anthony pointed out that Mashramani is also one of the most widely publicized events in Guyana, so viewership (in terms of numbers of persons) is even further multiplied when the television products that will emerge from Mashramani are considered.
According to him, the Culture Ministry has, so far, received clear indications of an intention to participate in this year’s festivities from Digicel (Guyana) Limited and from Banks DIH Limited; and those entities have already commenced the relevant preparations.
He said the Culture Ministry is expecting large contingents from those two companies, but is still awaiting confirmation of participation from a number of the traditional companies. Requests have been sent out to several companies since late last year.
Dr Anthony also noted that various government ministries and other organizations will also be participating in this year’s festivities.