Whoever said that competitions must be antagonistic rivalry should take a page from the Inter-Commercial House Calypso Competition. The event, into its twelfth year was officially launched on Wednesday July 2nd at the Conference Room of the Cultural Development Foundation. Ten (10) participating businesses represented by enthusiastic employees, with light banter, pledged their organisations’ support for the development of carnival as a cultural product.
Director of Events and Production at the CDF, Drenia Frederick announced that vocal training and stage craft sessions will be an added component for this year’s event in keeping with the CDF’s mission to utilise and develop the human resource potential of Saint Lucians for artistic expression. The training exercise, open to individuals who took part in their organisation’s in-house competitions as well as the national competition will take place on July 8th from 6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. at the National Cultural Centre.
The very well attended launch, at which companies and participating performers were presented to the media, included Consolidated Foods Limited and The Royal St. Lucia Police Force, supporters of the initiative from its inception in 2002. St. Lucia Electricity Services Ltd and Radio St. Lucia Company Ltd., participants in recent years have again thrown their hats in the ring for the keenly contested and wildly entertaining competition.
An impressive number of entities will this year take part in what is regarded as “the greatest carnival staff party”. They include the Mental Wellness Centre, Victoria Hospital, 1st National Bank and St. Lucia Helicopters.
Tyrone Harris, Senior Officer of Events and Production, who admitted that registration for participation this year has been challenging, encourages interested businesses to call the CDF office, where every effort will be made to accommodate their entity for the competition slated for Tuesday July 15th from 9:00 p.m. at the National Cultural Centre.