NIA CHARLESTOWN NEVIS (August 09, 2013) — Chairperson of Culturama 39 Dr. Patricia Bartlett and her team of volunteers in the Culturama Committee and sub-committees, and members of the Royal St. Christopher and Nevis Police Force were among those publicly commended by Deputy Premier and Minister of Culture in the Nevis Island Administration Hon. Mark Brantley for success in almost every area of the recently concluded Culturama festivities.
The Minister’s commendation came in an interview with the Department of Information on Aug. 8, 2013 just after the official two-week festival which concluded on August 6. He thanked them for the overall success.
“I am very pleased to report to the residents and citizens of the island of Nevis that this year’s Culturama 39 was a resounding success. We are very, very happy with the outcome, with the shows, with the final results. I would want to commend the Chairperson Dr. Bartlett and the Central Committee for their excellent work and of course all the members of the sub-committees.
“I would also like to commend the Police and our Security Forces under the leadership of Assistant Commissioner Liburd who did such a wonderful job in ensuring that we are able to report for the first time we had a Culturama that was completely incident free. There was not a single criminal activity happening during this Culturama and we are incredibly proud of that accomplishment,” he said.
According to Mr. Brantley, with regard to security, the NIA had taken some unusual but innovative steps to deter criminal activity which had paid off handsomely.
“We installed Closed Circuit Television coverage throughout the venues and throughout the streets of Charlestown and we believe that went some way in deterring criminal activity.
“The Police also did a surge with help from St. Kitts, with colleagues from St. Kitts and we are very, very proud that the preliminary report from Police yesterday suggests that there was not a single incident of violence or injury during this season. I think that alone makes Culturama 39 a success,” he said.
In addition, the Culture Minister spoke to the satisfactory gate receipts, an issue that had been a sore thumb for the organisers in past years.
“I am very pleased to report that our gate receipts were far better than they had been in the past. Indeed we made, at the gates, over 50 percent more than we did in 2012; over 50 percent more than we did in 2011 and over 40 percent more than we did in 2010. So we had a good year, good turnout and people were willing to come out and to see the shows,” he said.
As far as the vendors were concerned, Mr. Brantley expressed the view that they too appeared to have done well.
“My preliminary reports from our vendors, has been that they did incredibly well. Indeed some told me that they sold out everything that they had and I am hoping that that story is consistent throughout the vending community.
“As we know, the whole purpose behind Culturama, from an economic point of view, is that our people who vend are involved so they can make some money so I am hopeful that that initial report I am getting is true for all of them across the board,” he said.