Carnival consultations begin with public participation

The Min­istry of Cul­ture and Com­mu­ni­ty De­vel­op­ment has be­gun con­sul­ta­tions un­der its ini­tia­tive ti­tled “The Blue­print of Car­ni­val”, with the first ses­sion held at the VIP Lounge, Queen’s Park Sa­van­nah on Mon­day.

Min­is­ter of Cul­ture and Com­mu­ni­ty De­vel­op­ment Michelle Ben­jamin and Par­lia­men­tary Sec­re­tary Dr Narindra Roop­nar­ine are lead­ing the process to col­lect da­ta from cit­i­zens, stake­hold­ers and Car­ni­val par­tic­i­pants to guide pol­i­cy and plan­ning.

The first ses­sion fo­cused on the busi­ness of steel­pan. Par­tic­i­pants dis­cussed safe­ty and se­cu­ri­ty in pa­n­yards and event spaces, ac­cess to fa­cil­i­ties, trans­porta­tion for bands and pa­trons, med­ical ben­e­fits re­lat­ed to steel­pan, mar­ket­ing of events, and stake­hold­er en­gage­ment.

Ben­jamin said the con­sul­ta­tions will in­form de­ci­sions on Car­ni­val and steel­pan. She said the process will in­clude in­put from cit­i­zens, cul­tur­al prac­ti­tion­ers and stake­hold­ers.

Members of the public gathered at “The Blueprint of Carnival” Public Consultation, held at the VIP Lounge, Queen’s Park Savannah, on Monday 16th March, 2026, paying close attention to the discussions and contributing to the future direction of Carnival in Trinidad and Tobago. [Image courtesy Ministry of Culture and Community Development]

Ministry of Culture and Community Development

The ini­tia­tive in­cludes pub­lic con­sul­ta­tions and an on­line sur­vey to gath­er views from na­tion­als, di­as­po­ra, vis­i­tors and par­tic­i­pants in Trinidad and To­ba­go and abroad. The da­ta will be used for de­ci­sion-mak­ing and ex­pan­sion of Car­ni­val ac­tiv­i­ties.

The Min­istry is work­ing with the Na­tion­al Car­ni­val Com­mis­sion, Trin­ba­go Uni­fied Ca­lyp­so­ni­ans’ Or­gan­i­sa­tion, Trinidad and To­ba­go Car­ni­val Bands As­so­ci­a­tion and Trinidad and To­ba­go Pro­mot­ers As­so­ci­a­tion.

Con­sul­ta­tions con­tin­ue at the Queen’s Park Sa­van­nah from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. on March 17, 18 and 25, and at the South­ern Acad­e­my for the Per­form­ing Arts on March 23 and 24.

A To­ba­go con­sul­ta­tion is to be an­nounced.

The pub­lic can al­so com­plete the on­line sur­vey.