CARIFESTA, the Caribbean Festival of Arts, will take place this year 2019 in Trinidad and Tobago.  CARIFESTA  is held every four years and before the four-year cycle ends, Caribbean nations bid to host the next.  Trinidad and Tobago was successful in its bid to host the 14th CARIFESTA this year.

The CARIFESTA Committee in Trinidad has already started work in earnest and dispatched the necessary documentation inviting Guyana’s participation.  The Guyana Department of Culture has not wasted any time, has been formulating plans and will soon be presenting its necessary Memorandum to Cabinet.

Guyana, in the person of President LFS Burnham was the initiator of the festival and as such, it is particularly close to the hearts of Guyanese who have done all they could over the years to ensure the continuity of the festival and to make it impacting and successful.  When Guyana, under the leadership of Mr Burnham propounded the CARIFESTA idea, it was done firstly to further Caribbean unity and secondly, to develop and enrich the national culture of each territory leading to an overall richer Caribbean culture.

The thinking of the time, that is in the 1960s and 1970s, was that Caribbean unity was an imperative if the Caribbean was to have any relevance and prosperity in the new world of globalisation and when the centres of world power had begun to shift from Europe and the West to the Asiatic heartland, mainly China and India.  Unity in the Caribbean could be achieved firstly by economic integration and secondly, by cultural cooperation and unity leading to the blossoming of a unique Caribbean culture.  The main tool for achieving economic integration was a Customs Union as manifested in the Caribbean Single Market and Economy(CSME).  Today, the emphasis has shifted mainly to the CSME, but fortunately, more intellectuals and even leaders are beginning to call for a balance between CARIFESTA  and the CSME.  The philosophical underpinning of CARIFESTA  therefore remains Caribbean unity.

The first CARIFESTA  was held in Guyana and was an event which attracted notice even beyond the Caribbean, since the participants included writers and performers who were already famous in the wider world.  The first CARIFESTA was a resounding success and the papers presented there are still of relevance.  The first CARIFESTA is a legendary event in the cultural history of the Caribbean.

At each of the 12 CARIFESTAs which followed and took place over the last 40 years, Guyana was represented in the Visual Arts, Literary Arts, Dance, Fashion, Craft, Culinary Arts, Film Animation and Drama.  Guyana’s contributions were always regarded as among the best and have always emphasised the philosophical underpinnings of the festival, which is that it serves as a catalyst for strengthening regional integration among Caribbean countries and more directly among its artisans and cultural practitioners.

The theme of CARIFESTA XIV is “Connect, Share, Invest.”  Each of the three concepts of the theme is pregnant with meaning and does encapsulate the CARIFESTA idea and its manifestation.  The Trinidad and Tobago organisers claim that their intention is to create the space, avenue and hub for participating nations to flourish and ‘connect, share and invest’ in the Arts and Culture of the Caribbean.

The 2019 festival will therefore present and exhibit a multi-talented cultural display in the visual and literary arts, storytelling, fashion, body art, craft, theatre, dance, music, film and news media from participating countries and the diaspora.  The involvement of the diaspora in the festival began to fade away after the first festival and should now be revived.  Such participation would improve the quality and professionalism of the presentations and would again put the festival on the world stage.

We of this publication would enjoin the Department of Culture and all those responsible for Guyana’s participation to emphasise the plural nature of Guyanese society and culture by showcasing the Indian, African, Amerindian and Chinese strands of Guyanese culture as well as the Creole.  Cuisine, dress, music and other facets of the plural cultures will give Guyana’s participation an unmatched distinctiveness, depth and quality and help to create an unforgettable CARIFESTA XIV.