By Tarnia Green,
Government Information Service
The Dominica Festivals Committee has officially unveiled its line-up for the 15th edition of Dominica’s World Creole Music Festival (WCMF), to be staged at the Windsor Park Sports Stadium from 28th – 30th October 2011.
The Festival, which was launched at the Krazy Coconutz, on the evening of Thursday, 14th July, 2011, will be held under the theme “make a memory, come dance with us!”
The fifteenth edition of the WCMF is set to feature some of the premier international bands of creole music such as Kassav, Third World, Ub40 and Carimi, while continuing to provide a stage to showcase local Dominican talent. Four local bands will perform at this year’s Festival.
Featured speaker at Thursday’s official media launch, Hon. Tourism Minister, Ian Douglas, urged Dominicans to embrace the WCMF and to continue to support the Festival in its entirety.
 Hon. Tourism Minister,
Ian Douglas
“As we lunch this 15th World Creole Music Festival, let us once more embrace what we have created. Let us feel proud of our collective endeavours and achievements. Let us all begin from today and onwards to prepare to attend all three nights of this Festival. Let us come out and support the Festival because by doing so, we will help to sustain for another fifteen years and to ensure that our artistes find a stage to expose their craft to the world while at the same time providing us with the opportunity to witness top class acts from all around the world.
From here on, the work of the Dominica Festivals Commission and many other partners will be about ensuring that we put together a world class event that will meet with every expectation of the patrons who will come for it; the Caribbean and international and our local patrons who will meet at the Windsor Park Stadium from the 28th of October to the 30th of October, 2011 for yet another enthralling period of celebration of our music and our culture. Permit me, therefore, to implore all the supporters of this event to prepare themselves for what will be another three magical nights of pulsating creole rhythms.”
The Minister took the opportunity to thank the many sponsors who continue to make the Festival possible. DIGICEL is the headline sponsor to this year’s Festival.
“I want to also congratulate and to thank DIGICEL, our headline sponsor, for the last seven (7) years, for their deep commitment and unflinching support and their amazing level of technical input in helping us to make the region’s most indigenous music Festival possible. DIGICEL, you have been a special partner to the World Creole Music Festival and we thank you very much for that.”
Night one of this year’s Festival will feature Kolo Barst from Martinique, Harmonik, Ali Campbell of Ub40, the legendary Jeff Joseph and Grammacks new generation, and the bouyon pioneers, WCK.
Night two, Saturday, October 29, will feature Dobet Gnahore’, Jean Philippe and Jocelyne Beroard of Kassav, Third World, Carimi and Midnight Groovers.
The fifteenth edition of the World Creole Music Festival will culminate with Swinging Stars, Gyptian, Bunji Garlin & Faye-Ann Lyons, Alex Cartin, Jocelyne Labylle and Triple K Global on the Sunday night.
Events Director of the Dominica Festivals Committee, Nathalie Clarke-Meade, has a hard working team working with her to make this year’s Festival a success.
 Events Director of the
Dominica Festivals
Committee,
Nathalie Clarke-Meade
Meade promises a great spectator experience this year.
“We are going to have the best site built, the creative spectator experience ever for the 15th anniversary.”
Chairman of the Dominica Festivals Committee, Colin Piper, said that the world creole music Festival has contributed to stimulating the local economy over the years. A recent value for money audit has had some favourable results.
“We recognise that many have given to the Festival to but so, too, has many received and in the 15th year of staging the World Creole Music Festival, as we go to businesses, we will be asking every business the question, “What if there were no World Creole Music Festival this year? How would that impact your revenue streams and probably more importantly, your psyche and the Dominican people?” The question of the relevance of the Festival is broached every year around this time and we respond again, that on two occasions, we have done a value for money audit and the results have indicated that the return to Government on its expenditure is up to nine times. So we will continue to speak to the relevance of the Festival economically through hard data given by such research and analysis.”
Piper notes that the greatest profits from gate receipts were realized in the reunion year 2008.
“The lowest total expenditure to state the Festival was about 1.3 million in 1998 and the highest was just about 4.4 million in 2008, again in the reunion year.”
Government subventions towards the Festival in 2008 was $974 000.00.
Piper reported that the Festival proved to be a profitable venture when it was staged at the old DGS grounds.
 Chairman of the Dominica
Festivals Committee,
Colin Piper
“The Festival has been profitable on two occasions: in 1998 when it netted just about $16 000.00 and in 1999 when it netted some $500 000.00 Now, you would recognise that those stagings took place at the old DGS grounds which to a certain extent, had a permanent stage and venue and after three years of stagings would have benefit from investments over the previous years.”
Piper said that while the Festival has been kept afloat over the years through gate receipts, sponsorship and Government subventions, the Festivals committee continues to be challenged financially in staging the Festival.
“I felt it important to reveal these financial numbers so the Dominican people can appreciate the quantum of investment in the Festival over the years. But also the challenge that we have in trying to stage each event under budget. The Festival needs a three million dollar budget but each year we have about two million dollars that we can count on $700 000.00 in Government subventions which we are grateful to the Hon. Minister of Tourism and his Cabinet colleagues for providing each year. We project approximately three hundred thousand dollars in cash from sponsorship and we than the preventing sponsor DIGICEL for making up about seventy percent (70%) of that amount. We also project about a million dollars in gate receipts net of that for which we are grateful to the patrons. That means that we are in search of another million dollars in kind sponsorships.”
Organisers of the Festival have confirmed that pricing for the Festival will not increase this year. A two hundred and fifty dollar season ticket special will be offered during the month of August. |
