Montreal’s Caribbean community upset over possible cancellation of Carifiesta – Montreal | 24CA News
Anyone hoping to see scenes of a Caribbean carnival in downtown Montreal this summer season could also be upset.
According to organizers of the town’s annual Carifiesta parade, the City of Montreal has refused to difficulty a allow, which they are saying comes as a shock since, in line with them, they filed their allow software nicely earlier than the deadline earlier this yr.
“If there was something missing, it would’ve been nice to know,” stated Everiste Blaize, president of the Caribbean Cultural Festivities Association (CCFA), which organizes the occasion. “Nobody contacted us to say this was missing or that was missing. It was simply a letter I received after our application. That’s it.”
Blaize says with out the allow, they gained’t get greater than $30,000 in funding, about 80 per cent of the working value.
“For example, the no parking signs is usually about $15,000, which is half our budget,” he stated, including that a lot of the remaining pays for safety.
In a press release to Global News, the City of Montreal says final yr it modified its help packages for festivals and cultural occasions and that the Carifiesta promoter was invited to submit a mission underneath the Programme de soutien aux festivals et événements culturels (PSFEC) – Part III.
“The city says the promoter was notified of these changes and contacted him several times to support him in submitting his project,” the assertion reads. “The promoter didn’t reply to the town’s help provide.
“The City of Montreal grants funding to organizations likely to be able to deploy an event in a viable manner according to realistic budget projections and a history of good governance. The Carifiesta project, as presented, was not deemed viable in 2023, not to mention that the issues experienced in 2022 were not addressed by the promoter.”
The assertion goes on to say that 90 eligible initiatives underneath the PSFEC in 2023 will get funding, together with FestiThéâtreCréole / FestiTeyatKreyol, Festival Haiti en Folie, Mizik Kreyol International Festival of Montreal and A Taste of the Caribbean Festival.
Those who often take part within the parade say they’re unhappy they could not get to take part this yr and that to lose the parade, a staple within the metropolis, could be an enormous blow.
“I thought about what does this mean, how do we move forward from there?” stated Melika Forde, president of the West-Can Folk Performing Company. “What can we as a community do?”
Brian Smith, who has at all times supported the parade, agrees.
“It is very, very important to know exactly what took place and what can be remedied for that,” he stated.
Blaize stated he’s hoping to listen to from metropolis authorities about why the Carifiesta mission was rejected.
© 2023 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
