Caribbean Export OUTLOOK 3rd Edition

Our Competitive Advantage 58

Grenada? Doubles and bake and shark is almost a rite of passage for any visitor to T&T. When in St. Vincent &The Grenadines, you must try a little Vincey rum and what’s a visit to St. Kitts/Nevis without dancing the night away at the beach bar strip? Heritage Retention In the words of Dr. Tull, “ Commercializing pays the bill, but sustainability comes from the hub and that must be kept alive. ” The hub being referred to is our culture. Without it, the Caribbean Carnival would be no different from other festivals. Thus, Carnival and particularly the cultural sector ‘throws itself up as a viable alternative because of its global growth and success’ (Burke, 2013). Its power rests in its source being intrinsically Caribbean and thus reliant on Caribbean expertise – a viable, marketable, sustainable resource. The recent introduction of Carnival Arts at the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) level now allows for more cross-generational engagement with some students deciding to go into tertiary Carnival Studies or become

artisans. The 2013 First Meeting of Caribbean Carnivals in Barranquilla by the Association of Caribbean States (ACS) which dealt with the history of Caribbean Carnivals led to the revisiting of their Caribbean Carnival Network Project which “ promotes an exchange in cooperation and shares successful stories and best practices related to the development of the cultural history of Carnivals [….] and strengthen the Carnivals in the Greater Caribbean .” (Ortiz, 2015). Though CARICOMhas yet to place specific focus on Festivals, 2015 saw 14 member-nations participating in an Organization of American States (OAS) project seeking to expand the socioeconomic value of regional cultural heritage by monitoring and incentivizing their protection. Moving Forward Carnival as an annual mainstream income earner will require a multi-layered strategy at both local and regional levels of advocacy, proper analytics, marketing, incentives and subsidization. But how do we begin to move Carnival forward into a full-fledged regional resource?

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