Comments on: CARIFESTA: Arrival in Guyana

By: Nicolette Bethel

Nicolette Bethel — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 11:50:05 +0000

Malcolm, thank you for stopping by, and thanks for your kind, and very useful, words. I have passed some of them on to the Minister of State for Culture, the Hon. Charles Maynard, who is charged with the overall responsibility for CARIFESTA. Clearly, our government is nervous about the cost of hosting, given these uncertain economic times, but I believe that if we indeed follow your advice we could remove some of that uncertainty now.

Take good care, and thanks again.

By: Malcolm A. Hall

Malcolm A. Hall — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 02:32:21 +0000

I am very to happy to have stumbled unto your blog. More importantly I caught a few of the pod casts and will make sure that I get to listen to the earlier ones. Your reflection on Carifesta really did provide a clear narrative on the Carifesta model, as we know it, and a first hand insight on the complexities of hosting this festival in the various countries. With respect to the Diaspora you indicated that folks were inviting themselves. That is true to some extent. However, in the Guyana model this was a very organized process by the Guyanese to engage the Diaspora on several fronts. Skills transfer, performances, marketing to the Diaspora, etc.. The Guyanese were able to utilize a team of University of Ohio media students to help with their broadcast as part of an exchange program organized by a diaspora professor.
What we can take away from that example, if we juxtapose it with cultural industries, is the opportunity to properly leverage the diaspora- in terms of media exposure in the Global marketplace. I really do believe that this festival has the qualities to capture the attention of the global market place.

Further, I think this is the big bang for your buck opportunity that needs to be in place from year one of the planning process. The signal programs could very well be the key components for an extensive media promotion leading up to Carifesta. The list of performers you provided are the gems of the Caribbean and if they used effectively in a pre-Carifesta campaign hosts coutries will be able to build a large audience base for future festivals.
I really did enjoy being at the festival and would like to see the issue of travel hammered out well in advance of the next festival.

Peace. One world…

By: Global Voices Online » Guyana: Regional Travel

Global Voices Online » Guyana: Regional Travel — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 12:24:38 +0000

[...] for an astounding 14 hours to get to Guyana for the Carifesta celebrations, Bahamian blogger Nicolette Bethel says: “The biggest barrier to Caribbean integration is the difficulty of moving around in the [...]

By: haitianministries

haitianministries — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 22:01:18 +0000

Actually, the side trip through Miami is more like three to four hours out of the way since one rarely has a layover of less than two hours and, then, it is still necessary to fly BACK across the Bahamas (often with the pilot announcing that “We’re now going over Andros” forty-minutes into the flight) en route to one’s actual destination.

Apparently, Bahamas Air briefly offered direct flights from Nassau to Santo Domingo a few years ago but, alas, they’ve been discontinued. Given the growing number of Puerto Rican tourists who visit the Bahamas, I’m surprised that one of the major airlines has yet to offer direct flights from Nassau to San Juan.

Unfortunately for those traveling further east, most traffic between the Greater and Lesser Antilles (with the exception of Liat) gets bottled up in the San Juan hub (along with the inconvenience of passing through U.S. customs and immigration between two non-U.S. points of travel) in much the same way that outgoing and incoming air traffic from Nassau gets routed through Miami.

As you’ve noted, new routes and travel options from Caribbean and foreign carriers alike would greatly enhance travel in the region.