The Steelband Champions prize distribution ceremony turned political as Pan Trinbago president Beverley Ramsey-Moore pledged her support to Prime Minister Stuart Young, and Minister of Tourism, Culture and the Arts Randall Mitchell encouraged members to support the government that did much for the steelpan movement.
Speaking at the event at Radisson Hotel, Port of Spain, on April 15, Ramsey-Moore thanked Young, whose father, she said, paved the way for him as a “pan jumbie.”
She said when Richard Young was managing director of Scotiabank, he and Keith Simpson, Scotiabank’s former manager of retail and small business and former president of Pan Trinbago, ensured unsponsored bands received a grant ever year.
“Your father was there for over 65 steelbands every year. And so he sowed the seeds so that today you could reap the benefits of the steelband community by supporting you in the fight (the general election.)”
She said Pan Trinbago paid attention to which leaders in society support it and they saw him. She said because of that, Pan Trinbago knows he was a leader who was on the ground and who was concerned about the “grassroots young people.”
Ramsey-Moore also expressed gratitude to former PM Dr Keith Rowley and all he did for the steelpan movement over the past two years, such as encouraging the organisation to revive the National Steelband Music Festival after an 11-year hiatus, putting pan on the coat of arms, getting it formally declared the country’s national instrument and encouraging the United Nations to declare August 11 World Steelpan Day.
“Pan is more than the music, pan is a social force. It impacts our lives, our communities and therefore, we are extremely important to TT.”
Thanking the government and corporate sponsors for their support, she said $4.9 million in prize money was distributed to the 2024 National Steelband Music Festival winners and $14.6 million for the Junior and Senior Panorama competitions.
But, she said, Pan Trinbago asked for an increase in prize money when it submitted its 2026 budget to the National Carnival Commission.
Mitchell said the government worked with Pan Trinbago to make a World Steelpan Festival, make the movement attractive enough to corporate stakeholders to get involved in the movement and get intellectual property for the steelpan.
Government financial support for steelpan also increased this year. Sixty unsponsored steelbands got $10,000, an increase from $7,000; 89 conventional bands got $20,000, up from $15,000; and remittances to all the players who participated in Panorama 2025 were increased from $500 to $800.
A total of $25 million in prize money and remittances were distributed.
Mitchell said the event was a celebration of the winners, and all that was accomplished in the steelpan movement through hard work and accountability, good governance and partnership.
“There is a lot more that we must accomplish. Give us the opportunity to continue to build upon what we have been doing together.”
In his address, Young said citizens should do everything to protect and to grow the steelpan, and if he returned to government he would ensure a permanent headquarters was built for Pan Trinbago.
“You are part of something that is extremely important to the DNA and the fabric of who we are as citizens of TT.
“Steelpan is ours. We must claim it, we must own it, we must love it, we must market it, we must grow it.”
He said the steelpan was initially forged in struggle and a lack of recognition, but it was now the only musical instrument produced in the 20th century, was internationally recognised with a global steelpan day and was identified on the country’s coat of arms.
He said his return would be a new chapter for arts, culture and entertainment which would be promoted because it had the potential for employment opportunities for the youth, for growth and for earning foreign exchange.
Young said it was a positive movement for the youth and it would have the government’s full support. He said even if the government could not give Pan Trinbago an increase in budget, it would work with the organisation to engage corporate TT to get more prize money.
