TDC Group of Companies joined the list of corporate sponsors for Nevis’ largest cultural annual festival Culturama, when TDC Nevis Ltd. presented a $30,000 cheque to the Nevis Cultural Foundation through the Culturama Secretariat, on July 24, 2008, at its Pinneys Industrial Site location.

(L-R) Managing Director of TDC Nevis Ltd. Managing Director Mr. Ernie France hands over the $30,000 sponsorship cheque to Chairman of Culturama Mr. Halsted “Sooty” Byron 

The Company’s Managing Director Mr. Ernie France said while he presented the cheque to Culturama Chairman Mr. Halsted “Sooty” Byron, that TDC Nevis Ltd. had been associated with the Festival throughout its 34 years of existence, having provided assistance in the form of gifts and prices for all the participants.

He explained that the chance to assist with the Festival presented a unique opportunity for the Company.

“This is the highlight of the Culturama Festivity and by our sponsorship of this event [senior calypso (kasio) competition], we see this as an opportunity to ensure that a show of the highest and most professional standard is brought to all the patrons who year after year look forward to and attend this event.

‘Our sponsorship also assists in ensuring this very important art form is preserved for the benefit of our children and their children’s children,’ he said.

In the past, the Company had provided sponsorship for the Mr. and Miss Talented Youth Pageant but switched sponsorship to the Senior Kaiso Monarch Competition in 2006.

Mr. France thanked the Culturama Committee for the opportunity to sponsor the contest and thanked them for their collaboration as the negotiations were long and hard but cordial.

Meantime, Mr. Byron praised the Company for its consistent partnership with Culturama over the years and voiced his delight with the response to this year’s sponsorship of the calypso contest.

“TDC is once again on board with us with our Senior Kaiso Competition this year and certainly it is one of the biggest events for Culturama. We are happy to be associated with TDC. We are happy to have them being associated with this important event, this important aspect of Culturama the calypso. I think everybody would agree that calypso is the heartbeat of any Caribbean festival,” he said.

Mr. Byron also underscored the need for partnerships to work toward the development of the calypso art form in Nevis and to find ways to attract young persons to get involved in calypso.

“One of our biggest concerns right now in Culturama and also in the Foundation, is that we need to work towards ensuring that we have our young people both males and females coming through in the calypso art form. We need to be doing a lot more during the year between Festivals to ensure that the Kaiso art form continues to develop and to ensure that over the years we will see young calypsonians graduating in to the Senior Kaiso contest,” he said.

The Culturama Chairman also noted that the Foundation had encouraged the reigning Junior Kaiso Monarch “De Inspirer” to participate in the Senior Kaiso Monarch. He described the reigning Culturama Junior Kaiso Monarch and the St. Kitts/Nevis Carnival Junior Kaiso Monarch as having great talent and potential which was undisputed by everybody in Nevis and St. Kitts and Nevis.

“He has great potential but we want to use him as an example to our young calypsonians to depict just how far he can go and how far other junior calypsonians can go as well and also to use him to encourage other young people to become involved in the art form.

“We would want to partner with TDC not only at Culturama time but throughout the year, to ensure that the calypso art form continues to develop. Certainly Mr. France, we would want to continue some discussions with you once this Festival ends to see how we can work towards ensuring the calypso art form develops because it would benefit us as a Cultural Committee and as a Cultural Foundation as well as TDC,” he said.

Also present at the event were Manager of the Festivals Secretariat Mr. Antonio Liburd TDC Marketing Assistant Mr. Dominic Matthew.

Culturama 2K8 commences on July 25, 2008 with an opening ceremony on the Charlestown waterfront and later in the evening the Caribbean Culture Queen Pageant takes places at the Cultural complex.