Minister of Arts, Culture and Community Development Nyan Gadsby-Dolly says T&T is looking to South America as a potential market for steelpan and steelpan services.
Gadsby-Dolly said this during an interview yesterday at her Nicholas Towers office in Port-of-Spain as she distributed cheques to unsponsored steelbands.
The 180 small and conventional bands received cheques valued at $10,000 and $20,000, respectively. The total cost of sponsoring the bands is $2.9 million.
“We are also looking to spread pan to different countries. We have a lot of South American countries indicating interest and we want to be able to get into those markets because they are typically countries with the large orchestras,” Gadsby-Dolly said.
She said one of the ministry’s goals was to get the pan into the orchestras. “If we can do that then we can focus on the business of the instrument itself, being able to market it and all that goes along with it, for example, the tuning and all those things.”
Gadsby-Dolly said monetising Carnival was one of the priorities of the ministry.
“Getting the pan out there is one of our main thrusts.”
She said the Government would also be working more closely with Pan Trinbago on a number of developmental programmes.
“We have agreed that as soon as Carnival is finished, we are going to have discussion about their development programmes and how we can support them and how they can support the ministry in its work as well.
“We have a cultural camp that goes on and they have shown interest in getting involved in that camp.”
She said the ministry also had a programme called Music Schools in Communities.
The programme, based on the pan, is expected to expand in the coming year.
“We are looking to see how we can get that to be more widespread. With the economic situation we have to look at how we can do it, but we want to ensure that we spread it so the children in our country can get accustomed to pan and can love the steelpan.”
Gadsby-Dolly told pan organisers the ministry was committed to the culture and the art form.
“I want to commend the unsponsored steelband because of the investment it takes to run a steelband.
“I know what we are able to contribute at this time is a small drop in a large bucket, but you do this for the love of the art form. I am glad to be in a position to give support.”