Dawn of a new day
The Barbados Crop Over Festival remains one of the main drivers for economic growth in the industry; it is with this in mind that the revamping of the festival was done to ensure that it gives Barbados a competitive advantage on the international market.
This comment was made by Minister of Creative Economy, Culture and Sports, John king, as he delivered the feature address at the opening ceremony of Crop Over X-plosion, which took place at King George V Memorial Park yesterday evening.
“Given the precarious state of the Barbadian economy, going forward it will prove increasingly mission critical for us to become less reliant and more self-sufficient, not only within the Festival, but also the sector,” he said.
“With greater reason, we will explore the consistent potential of this burgeoning Festival and the wider cultural creative industries to stimulate the economy and to accelerate revenue generation.”
As the Ministry and the National Cultural Foundation (NCF) strives to grow and redevelop this Festival, King noted that there is a need to innovate and strive to meet the demands of the public.
“In addition to the usual modifications to the concepts or venue changes that allow the NCF to diversify its product offerings from year to year, there are a few significant adjustments to the scope of the 2018 Festival beginning right here this evening with the welding of yesterday’s traditions, today’s technology and tomorrow’s aspirations,” he said.
King revealed that the NCF was poised to commemorate the 45th Anniversary of the Crop Over Festival in 2019, through partnering with the Barbados Museum and Historical Society, with the installation of a techno-interactive Pop-Up Museum.
“The Pop-Up Museum is also expected to anchor the Festival over a three-day period from August 3rd to 5th at Bridgetown Market,” he said.
“The intention is to merge the combined collections of footage, image narratives, sound samples and edited clips from the archival repository of the Barbados Museum and Historical Society onto interpretive panels, bringing them to life.”