It is a great honour and pleasure for me to be present here today and a participant at the Opening of the Ninth edition of the Caribbean Festival of Arts (CARIFESTA) in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. Just three months after the “Soca Warriors” performed as real warriors at the Soccer World Cup in Germany, winning the hearts of the world and lifting the spirits of the Caribbean people, the Twin Island Republic of Trinidad and Tobago is again at the centre of the World Stage.

While hosting our own regional mega arts and cultural festival, CARIFESTA, I must mention for the records, that this is the third time in CARIFESTA history, that Trinidad and Tobago is hosting this festival.  This really shows great commitment on the part of the Government and people of Trinidad and Tobago for which I have the privilege of thanking you and congratulating you at the same time.

CARIFESTA IX is the first festival to incorporate elements of the new model as envisaged in the Strategic Plan, which was approved by the Council of Ministers for Human and Social Development and subsequently endorsed by CARICOM Heads of Government in the year 2004.

You will recall that during CARIFESTA VIII at the Symposium, “Cultural Connection: Linking the Past with the Future through the Creative Arts” it was recommended that after thirty years of having celebrated our arts and people at eight CARIFESTAs, there was time for a change, time to move toward a New CARIFESTA, which takes into consideration the lessons learned from the old format and which ensures that in our quest to modernize the Event, we keep the focus on strengthening our authentic Caribbean forms and talents.

I am proud to say as CARICOM Lead Head for Culture that our “culture people”, in government as well as in the private sector, have worked hard over the past three years to bring us to this point this evening where we can truly “celebrate our people and contest on the world stage”. In this regard, I extend my warm regards and appreciation to the delegates on whose creative talents this success of the Festival hangs.

Among the main elements in “REINVENTING CARIFESTA”, a strategic plan for the New CARIFESTA are:

• Establishing a permanent Festival Directorate

• Securing a fund to ensure the sustainability of the Festival Directorate and support artistic developments

• Making the festival a World Class event.

Implementing the new model is not without many challenges. We are grateful that an Interim Festival Directorate was established as a transitional arrangement which involved a regional advisory body to CARIFESTA whose members had been working very closely with the National Festival Committee in Trinidad and Tobago in the planning and organization of CARIFESTA IX. In this regard, I offer gratitude to the Hon. Joan Yuille-Williams, Minister of Community Development, Culture and Gender Affairs in Trinidad and Tobago, Ms. Joy Caesar, Festival Director, and Dr. Earl Lovelace, Artistic Director, and their respective staffs for the outstanding effort in presenting this opening and the festival events to follow over the next ten days.

Thanks to the efforts of stakeholders in government and private sector, artists, cultural workers, cultural entrepreneurs, young and old, people of our region, we are here “to stage for a period of ten days, a mega multidisciplinary roving festival that develops Caribbean Arts and Culture, to position CARIFESTA as a world-renowned, hallmark festival of Caribbean cultural and artistic excellence, that generates economic benefits, unites the Region and excites all peoples.”

Let CARIFESTA IX be a celebration of our heritage, our civilization and our creativity.