Sponsorship challenges for Crop Over festival

THE summer’s sweetest festival is again experiencing sponsorship challenges due to the island’s economic climate.

However, Chief Executive Officer of the National Cultural Foundation, Cranston Browne, insists that Crop Over 2018 will be successful.

“Since last year, it has been very challenging regarding sponsorship. Some of our traditional partners have stuck with us through thick and thin, so we are on par with last year in terms of sponsorship level, but it is challenging,” he admitted, while speaking to The Barbados Advocate.

As a result, the festival has been slightly downsized, with one of the cavalcades being scrapped from the calendar, which, according to Browne, was due to a prediction of a fall in sponsorship.

“So we budgeted with a fall in mind, but as I said we are on par and we should come out alright in the end. Overall, the bands and the other stakeholders are finding it challenging as well, but we expect things to pick up. The events have been well patronised so far. We were happy with the opening, we were happy with the bus tour, the Junior Monarch tickets are selling well so we are expecting things to pick up and to have another successful festival,” he continued.

He made the comments following the press launch of Pan Fusion yesterday afternoon at Ilaro Court, which is where ‘Pan-perfect’ weekend is scheduled to begin on Friday, July 14 with ‘Chrysalis’.

Sponsored by First Citizens and C&W Business, Browne noted that while not one of the bigger events, Pan-Fusion was now seeing some 1 000 patrons annually, and was making “an indelible mark as a niche market”.

“We are constantly looking for that blend of fusion that will keep this audience captivated so that you can say that we are always in a transformational state and this is the stage on which we often witness emerging talent set to rise from their accoutrements, set to realise their dreams performing alongside local, regional and international greats.”