SIX QUEEN CONTESTANTS FOR CULTURAMA By John Denny (Charlestown, Nevis) – This year’s Miss Culture Queen Pageant participants were paraded through the streets last Friday afternoon. All in matching pink attire, waving Federation flags and chauffeured on the back of all-terrain buggies, the would be queens ended the procession at the waterfront for a brief ceremony. Sub-Committee Chairman Garrett Skeete named the would-be queens the Sensational Six during a ceremony following the parade, noting the increase in contestant from last year’s four. The girls will be competing in 10 different categories over two nights this year including one segment to raise breast cancer awareness titled Pretty in Pink, where the contestants model pink, two-piece swimwear. The first night of the competition will be July 26. Featured that night will be Cultural Attire and Speech competitions and all swimsuit segments. The second part of their competition, August 2, the girls compete in Promotional Speech, National Costume, Talent, Evening Wear and Interview competitions. Each segment carries a maximum of 35 points. Each girl was introduced at the ceremony and given a stamp of approval by her respective sponsor. They are: Miss Island Tyres and Hardware Tamerelle Browne; Miss Carib Brewery SKN Ltd. Mika O”Brien; Miss LIME Tatiana Dore; Miss Coastal Air Transport Masinda Nisbett; Miss Nevis Culturama Committee Kishandra Williams; and Miss NAGICO Insurance Cindy Liburd. As a reflection of the trying economic times, the Culturama festival is going to be scaled back this year. Instead of a 13-day festival season this coming summer, the event will only be running for six days – from July 30, to Aug. 4. Culturama Chairman Sooty Byron said at a press conference several weeks ago it will still be an exciting time, but done in a more compact manner. Last year, the NIA funded Culturama by about $300,000. This year the funding will be less. Mr. Byron announced that the slogan chosen for Culturama 2009 is “Culturama 35! Keep De Culture Alive!”He said that this winning slogan was presented by Ercia Blake, a teacher at the Joycelyn Liburd Primary School and that it was selected from among some eighty five entries. The Patron for Culturama 35 would be Mr. Owen Bussue-Hendrickson a resident of Butlers Village, St. James” Parish Nevis. He went on to state that Mr. Bussue-Hendrickson has been involved in the preservation of Culture on Nevis for well over sixty years. His contribution to Cultural Development on Nevis includes him being a musician who plays all of the instruments in the string band and him being a craftsman making of all of the instruments which are played in the string band. The headline act for the Culturama 35 Freedom Concert would be the Musical “Messenjah”Luciano out of Jamaica. He said that binder fees have already been paid to the artist and that the contract for Luciano to perform in Nevis would be signed over the next few days. Minister of Culture, Hon. Hensley Daniel spoke at the conference expressing the NIA’s commitment to the festival, even if the Administration had to cut back. “We had hoped with this being the 35th anniversary we could make this a bigger, better Culturama,’said Minister Daniel. “It may not be bigger, but that does not mean it can’t be better.”He outlined some of the areas which have been very costly in the staging of the festival and indicated that innovative measures would be undertaken to eliminate some of these high over heads costs. He also encouraged persons using the venues to take care of the facilities provided as large sums of money have to be spent annually to maintain these venues. He also asked for more persons to volunteer their services to the festival in 2009 and applauded the members of the Ms Culture Queen Pageant Sub-committee for coming forward and offering to organize the pageant this year. Minister recommended everyone who participates to do things to cut costs, such as getting out some of the old costumes and redesigning them and using less expensive materials. He also asked that service providers who normally raise their prices during the festival, to keep them the same or provide them at a reduced price. I think this year we are going to say those services have to be provided at cost,’said the Minister. “This will be some compensation for (the money) they made over the years.”Another cut made to the budget was marketing and advertising. “Everyone knows when Culturama is and it can sell itself,”he said. “Two miles away from us in St. Kitts we have brothers and sisters. We can stage an activity there that is far less expensive than things we have gone overseas to do. It is far cheaper to bring a boatload of people from St. Kitts than to bring a plane load of people from the Virgin Islands. We need to target the local market as much as possible.”Food and beverage vendors are one of the biggest money makers for the festival and the Minister said this was going to be a good year for them too, which is why they should help pass some of that onto the festival. One of the bigger costs for the NIA was repairing damage done to the facilities at the Cultural Complex/Cultural Village. A new set of bathrooms were built from money earned from Culturama, but those same bathrooms were vandalized later. Tens of thousands of dollars were spent last year in repairs and renovations to the Cultural Complex most of which was to fix damage done through vandalism. “We cannot continue to reinvest the profits into buildings that are destroyed, defaced and vandalized, by the public that uses them,”he said. Another cutback may be in some of the shows. String band, steel bands, drummers and masquerades are shows the Administration traditionally pays for, but Minister Daniel said few people show up for these events and they are considering scaling them back and scheduling those activities in conjunction with others. “They do not generate the kind of money needed,”he said. “That is why we are only going to pursue those activities that break even or turn a profit.”Also present at the Press Conference were the reigning Ms Culture 2008/2009 Ms Tanisha Hendrickson, members of the Nevis Culturama Committee and the Manager of the Festivals Secretariat Mr. Abonaty Liburd. The second Press Conference for Culturama 35 would be held on July 3rd 2009 during which the Culturama 35 activities would be officially launched. CULTURAMA 35 ACTIVITIES SCHEDULE Pre Culturama Activities June 5th: Introduction of Ms Culture Queen Pageant Contestants July 3rd: Press Conference Launch of Culturama 35 July 4th: Am: Breakfast and Cake Sale Pm: Street Bash July 5th: Fashion Show featuring ALL Contestants July 11th: Pm: Senior Kaiso Quarter Finals July 24th: Ms Caribbean Culture Queen Pageant July 25th: Senior Kaiso Semi Finals Contest July 26th: Ms Culture Swim Suit Contest Culturama 35 Activities July 30th: Official Opening Ceremony for Culturama 35, Mr. and Ms Talented Youth Pageant July 31st: Culturama 35 Clash of D”Bands August 1st: Culturama 35 Food Fair and Junior Kaiso Contest, Senior Kaiso Finals August 2nd: Ms Culture Queen Pageant August 3rd: Emancipation J”ouvert Jump Up, Culturama 35 Drag Racing, Culturama 35 Freedom Concert featuring Reggae’s Mega Superstar LUCIANO-the Musical Messenjah August 4th: Culturama 35 Cultural Street Parade and Last Lap August 15th: Culturama 35 Prize Giving Ceremony
