Since the August Emancipation Festival concluded on Saturday, there has been much discussion about the quality of this year’s celebrations and the way forward for the annual event. As long as such dialogue is constructive, it is healthy.
To our thinking, this year’s activities were fairly successful overall — many events were relatively well attended by enthusiastic crowds — but there is certainly room for improvement.
The parades in Road Town and East End, for instance, didn’t attract as much participation as they have in the past, even though the performers who did take part worked hard to put on a good show.
Moving forward, it is essential to remember the importance of teamwork. There is sometimes a tendency in this community to sit back and expect a handful of organisers and public officials to shoulder the full responsibility of hosting Festival. But the task is hard work, and to achieve optimal success, government agencies, businesses, non-profit organisations, and other individuals must pitch in however they can.
At the same time, organisers should do everything they can to accommodate such participation.
To that end, many suggestions have been floated that bear consideration. For example, some residents have suggested encouraging national organisations in the territory to take part in the August Monday Parade. Though others have opined that the event should focus exclusively on local traditions, in today’s multicultural Virgin Islands we see no reason why expatriate groups shouldn’t be encouraged to participate as they see fit. Emancipation, after all, was not a victory solely for the VI: It was a victory for the world.
Funding is another point of contention each year: VI Festivals and Fairs Committee members perennially complain that government should provide more money for the festivities.
On the one hand, they may have a point: The government has cut back significantly on Festival allocations in recent years.
On the other hand, neither the VIFFC nor the government has been sufficiently transparent about Festival spending. The committee is required by law to submit a report on its spending to the minister of education and culture, who is required by law to provide that report to the public. In recent years, however, this has not happened in a timely manner — if it has happened at all.
Indeed, to date, the public has seen no report for last year’s celebrations. Moreover, when reports have come, they typically have been insufficiently thorough.
If organisers want more taxpayer money, they need to do a better job of telling taxpayers exactly how they are spending it. Only then can the community have a meaningful discussion about whether an increase in funding is in fact merited.
To be sure, any of the above steps will require dialogue, commitment and substantial elbow grease. For this reason, perhaps the most important ingredient of a successful Festival is careful advance planning.
That’s why public discussions and preparations for next year’s festivities should start in the coming weeks, with an eye toward a bigger and better August Emancipation Festival in 2017.
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