CDC not adopting ideas shared on social media — chairman 

Carnival planners in St. Vincent and the Grenadines will not be adopting ideas shared on social media.

Chair of the Carnival Development Corporation (CDC) Ricardo Adams said that people who want likes and shares can put their ideas on social media.

“And I think if you genuinely want to effect change, if you genuinely have good ideas that you want to get, the CDC is always ready and willing to listen,” he told the CDC’s first press conference on Vincymas 2023, in Kingstown on Monday.

“But we are not going to be going on social media hunting for — or on the media, any one of the media — hunting for people who throwing ideas out there and trying to say ‘Well, you know, this is my great idea and CDC would never adopt it.’ So that CDC would then come to try to adopt it for you to then say, ‘Well, you see, this was my great idea that CDC didn’t want to adopt but I forced them to adopt it because I went on social media’,” Adams said. 

“We don’t operate that way. I don’t think there’s any serious business that operates that way. So, and I am saying if you have great ideas, bring them to us,’ he said, adding that the CDC is open to embracing ideas.

“Because we don’t pretend, again, to have all the brains and all the knowledge of what is Vincymas and what can be Vincymas. But we are charged with a difficult position of trying to ensure that Vincymas continues to grow within the limited budget that we still have, which we’re fighting to increase all the time.”

Adams said the CDC believes that this year, if all goes well, “we can have a fantastic Vincymas with a lot of people coming home and a lot of people coming to understand and enjoy the energy of Vincymas”.

He implored people to invite their friends and neighbours to the festival. 

“… when you cussing me, put the date for Vincymas on it one time so that we can help to get the message out while you cussing me, which of course we will hear all the details and the dates and everything like that,” Adams said.

“But send the message out that there’s this wonderful thing called Vincymas,” he said, adding that the country now has air access and limited hotel rooms still available for people hoping to attend the festival.

“We have the bands that are doing really well. A lot of them that are out of the gates are selling costumes like they haven’t sold before. And let us all go to the world and say come and see why Vincymas remains the hottest carnival in the Caribbean,” Adams said. 

CDC not fighting against promoters – Adams  

Meanwhile, Adams said that the CDC is not there to fight with any promoter. 

“We have no vested interest in promoters not having events,” he said, adding that some people come to SVG during Vincymas to attend 14 to 21 events during carnival. 

“The CDC does not put on 14 or 21 events in the carnival week. And so, therefore, it is important for us as a nation to recognize that everybody has a part to play,” Adams said, adding that while some visitors would want to masquerade, others might want to visit the volcano or a nature trail.

“Everybody has a part to play. And the CDC has no vested interest in trying to kill everybody to say, ‘Well, we’re going to put on four shows for Carnival and so that is all that should happen.’

“So, we really think that it’s important that we work with the private promoters and the private promoters work with the CDC to ensure that we’re selling this thing as a package of Vincymas.”

He said Vincymas is a package, a cultural expression of St. Vincent and Grenadines and not just 10 CDC events.

“So, I think again, let’s get it out there that that is where our mind space is. We are not in the business of trying to kill or tamp down private promoters during the period of Vincymas.”

Adams said the CDC has had discussions with private promoters regarding how they can work together to promote the festival.

“… because at the end of it, the more people who come into St. Vincent and the Grenadines, the better we all do and the better we all do not only the CDC and the private promoters but the better we all do as a nation,” Adams said.

“Because at the end of it, I keep stressing [that] Vincymas is about St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Finn syndrome culture. So, I think that is something that is important that we get.”