The curtains came down on the thirteenth edition of the Caribbean Festival of Arts CARIFESTA XIII on Sunday evening.
The ten-day event ended with a closing ceremony at Kensington Oval Ground, President Kennedy Drive, Bridgetown, Barbados.
The Department of Public Information (DPI) said that the night’s activities included performances from various Caribbean countries that have performed throughout the festival and the passing of the baton to next host country.
There were also closing speeches from Minister of Culture of Barbados, Stephen Lashley and Assistant Secretary-General in charge of Human, Social Development at the CARICOM Secretariat Dr. Douglas Slater among others.
“An important legacy of CARIFESTA XIII is the way in which Barbados has placed the development of our culture and creative industries at the centre of the festival through the platform of the buyer’s shopping mall in the Grand Market.
Through this component which showcased the region’s exquisite collection of home and décor, fashion, gourmet, film, music literature and more; Barbados has further expanded the concept of Caribbean market base for the arts which was introduced in CARIFESTA XI in Suriname in 2013,” Dr. Slater stated.
He also expressed his condolences to the family and friends of late Guyanese participant Petal Frank who passed away during CARIFESTA.
Lashley noted, according to DPI, that even though there was not a perfect start to CARIFESTA due to tropical storm Harvey the team pulled together and “CARIFESTA XIII was a resounding success” with the participation of the 22 Caribbean countries.
The Minister of Culture and Art of Trinidad and Tobago, Dr Nyan Gadsby Dolly accepting the baton, thanked the host country Barbados for hosting an enjoyable and successful CARIFESTA XIII. CARIFESTA XIV will be held from August 16-25 2019 under theme “The tangible and intangible; connect share and invest.”
