Barbados has called off two of its most popular celebrations as the Caribbean nation continues to battle the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
“Crop Over” The music has gone silent at 2020 Barbados festivities.There will be no Crop Over festival or National Independence Festival of Creative Arts (NIFCA) IN Barbados this. The Ministry of Creative Economy, Culture and Sports announced on April 19 that Cabinet had approved its recommendation to cancel the 2020 edition of the highly anticipated annual festivals, which would be replaced with two initiatives.
“This decision was made in light of ongoing global efforts to contain and manage the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as government’s negative short-term projections for the local economy, regional and international travel and trade, and weakened public confidence in attending mass gatherings in the current environment, and immediately thereafter,” the ministry stated.
“Cabinet has further agreed that the ministry, through the National Cultural Foundation (NCF), would replace the two major festivals with a national training program in schools and communities, and a wide-reaching campaign to both fund and produce radio, television and digital content, which would be accessible across multiple delivery channels, including the Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation.”
MISSION
The ministry added that it remains committed to its mission of creating opportunities in the cultural industries and, to this end, the NCF will soon convene a series of stakeholder consultations to discuss ways in which cultural practitioners could participate in, and benefit from, the programs identified as replacements for the Crop Over festival and NIFCA.
The development came even as the Ministry of Health and Wellness reported that four consecutive days had passed with no new confirmed COVID-19 cases.
“Although this is indeed an encouraging sign, we are not yet out of the woods. We cannot take our guard down … We are encouraged but we know very well that there is no certainty as to whether or not we have cases out there in the community,” Minister of Health and Wellness Lieutenant Colonel Jeffrey Bostic said.
He added that public health teams were working to track down any cases which may have gone undetected.
