The government is moving one step closer to scaling back on its involvement in the country’s major cultural event – Junkanoo. Minister of Youth, Sports and Cultural Neville Wisdom announced Friday that several successful meetings had been held with the recently formed Junkanoo Corporation of The Bahamas (JCB), and strides are being made with regard to handing over the reigns of leadership.
However, he noted that there were several challenges that had to be overcome before the process was complete. He pointed to the fact that discussions were taking place on how to include Grand Bahama and the Family Islands in the JCB. How will the JCB structure itself to ensure that every junkanoo person who would like to be involved is involved?
Mr Wisdom said the JCB also faced the challenge of the inclusion of the Junior Junkanoo parade. “What you see is a partnership where we agree first of all to cooperate, and then we agree to take certain steps towards bringing about the transition,” he said.
“The goverment of The Bahamas is interested that the Junkanoo community in The Bahamas have the overall responsibility for the development and the management of Junkanoo. Obvously that can’t be done overnight, but I am so pleased that we have reached a point where we are able to bring about a gradual transformation; and hopefully in the not-too-distant future, the JCB and the Junkanoo community will be responsible for the overall management and development of Junkanoo.”
At present, the ministry and the JCB, which encompasses representatives from the various New Providence Junkanoo groups, are discussing the planning and management of the 2004 Boxing Day and the 2005 New Year’s Day Junkanoo parades in New Providence. Talks also centre around the judging process – ensuring the judges are properly selected and trained – and reviewing the process of scoring to ensure transparency. Also up for the debate is the long talked about Junkanoo Expo.
“We are now cooperating on the Expo, and we are hoping that in short order the Junkanoo community will assist the ministry in ensuring that the Junkanoo Expo opens. It is expected that the proceeds from the Expo will all go towards Junkanoo,” Mr Wisdom said, adding that, hopefully, the Expo would provide business opportunities and would serve to advance the whole Junkanoo product.
Acting chairman of the JCB, Arthur Gibson, and all the groups are looking forward anxiously to putting on the next two Junkanoo parades. “We have been meeting for the past six and a half months, and I must say the commitment shown by those group leaders to take over the management of the parades is stern, and there is no doubt about them being able and wanting to manage themselves,” he said.
Leslie Johnson, assistant to the chairman, said, “We have put in a lot of time in thinking about how best we think these parades should be structured. We really want to get the Expo up and running and make that into a place where Bahamians and tourists alike can go and learn and understand the history of Junkanoo.”
Keva Lightbourne, The Nassau Guardian
