Caribbean News Now!

Dear Sir:

White in the Moonlight would like to thank all our loyal supporters who braved the controversy and supported the event this year.

As we close yet another seemingly dismal Carnival season, as it relates to a profit margin, I deeply empathize with the soca artistes and cultural contributors of Grenada, Carriacou and Petite Martinique. It is a crying shame that every year we have the same experience. These hard working individuals put all their money, effort and time into fostering and building the culture and yet could never get their just rewards.

The Spice Mas Corporation’s claim of revenue loss came as no surprise. The SMC board is ill prepared and cannot effectively run carnival. The board comprises the same set of failures with a different name. I've previously stated that SMC has no experience in running cultural activities “to make a dollar”. The chairman has been in the position of leadership for over four years now and to date the Carnival Committee or SMC as it is now called hasn't made a single dollar profit. SMC is a colossal failure, and it’s time for change!

Carnival should be put in the hands of private entrepreneurs and the stakeholders including government would make money by collecting taxes. It is also a crying shame that the chairman had the nerve to tell the nation that, had the government given the SMC the $800,000 they were promised, then carnival would see a net $4,000 profit. Whaw! What a return on an investment and how could you run business for an entire season to realize such a dismal profit? Waggy T can do one cruise on a Friday night and realize more than a $5,000 profit.

Did the chairman inform the public that he gave all the bars for the Carnival season to his friend to operate? Who received the profits from that venture?

The SMC spent so much money, time and energy trying to stop WITML, which has become a fixture on the Carnival calendar, that it neglected to properly advertise carnival this year. More time should have been spent by SMC recruiting other sponsors. SMC missed the mark this year by a long shot.

There were a lot more visitors on the island this year, as carnival coincided with the Diaspora Homecoming celebrations. The minister of culture lacks conviction and vision; hence the chairman of SMC was able to manipulate him into believing utter nonsense. The corporation was given bad advice by a couple overzealous attorneys, one of which is a member of SMC and we now know the result.

WITML went ahead as scheduled andd despite covert and open attempts by the SMC to hinder many local artistes from performing at the show this year, we prevailed. The promoters of WITML are happy to report that to date they have met all their financial obligations as it relates to the show. All the artistes, DJs, sound system, local band, and others were paid within the week following the show.

WITML 2013 is already in the planning stage and I'm certain we will return to high esteem without all the controversy. I promise you the show will be bigger and better.

Once again my profound support for the entertainment industry especially the soca artistes as they battle the incompetent SMC for their wages and prize monies. I hope these selfish greedy board members do the right thing!

WITML Promoters

If you missed Trinidad's report on White in the Moonlight 2012 see the link http://www.guardian.co.tt/entertainment/2012-08-23/white-moonlight-spices-grenada-mas

Reads: 2935


Tweet