As it now stands, there will be no International Soca Monarch in Trinidad for the 2024 Carnival season.
National Carnival Commission chairman Winston ‘Gipsy’ Peters stated on Monday that the event, which has been a staple of Carnival events and competitions for three decades, was once again in jeopardy due to a lack of financing.
The Caribbean Prestige Foundation (CPF) for the Performing Arts owns the event, which was discontinued last year due to a lack of funds.
Peters stated that neither the CPF nor the NCC, which had been looking to assist with the project this year, had been successful in obtaining the funding needed to organise the competition.
“We facilitate what would ordinarily be done by a private firm. However, the funds are not currently available. In a phone interview with Guardian Media, Peters remarked, “We’re still trying to figure out how to make it happen.”
A stakeholder close to the company, who asked not to be named, indicated that because to a shortage of finance and the little time remaining in the season, an event of the level of Soca Monarch was nearly impossible to stage. Carnival Friday is 24 days away.
The stakeholder expressed disappointment, stating that several artists, particularly younger ones trying to establish a name for themselves in the industry, had contacted the CPF to inquire whether the event would take place. According to the shareholder, the artistes believed that without competition, they would be unable to further develop their brands. The stakeholder argued that given soca’s importance to Carnival, the state should make greater investments, similar to those seen in the revival of Panorama.
Randall Mitchell, Minister of Tourism, Culture, and the Arts, was also called and stated that the government had allocated funds to the NCC to regulate Carnival festivities, but that Soca Monarch had traditionally been a private event.
