Monarchs In Concert To Stay Alive In The Diaspora

MONARCHS IN CONCERT TO STAY ALIVE IN THE DIASPORA

At the end of every Crop Over season there is an influx of requests for souvenir DVDs for one event or other produced by the National Cultural Foundation (NCF).

This increasing interest, mainly from the diaspora markets, in the purchase of DVDs that either memorialise their vacations to these shores or keep them in touch with the land they love, has spurred a recent initiative by the NCF’s Business Development and Marketing Departments to offer a 2 disc DVD set entitled Crop Over Monarchs in Concert – the 40th Anniversary Edition.

The hugely successful Monarchs in Concert, held at the National Stadium back in July, provides the perfect place to start given the high demand for repeat shows and recordings.

One of the objectives of the NCF’s Business Development Department is the export of our cultural industries and by extension the possibility of generating additional revenue opportunities for its stakeholders outside of the season. The production of this commemorative DVD allows the NCF to respond to this need and also recognises that culture, particularly music, plays a huge role in terms of developing and maintaining connections with both the diaspora and tourist markets.

The NCF’s thrust to penetrate the lucrative Brazilian market is another example of the pursuit of opportunities identified for the export of our cultural and creative products and services. The intention of that initiative, much like the DVD project, is to open up new markets for our wealth of talented Barbadian creative/cultural practitioners now bursting the virtual seams of this island.

In addition, the Government of Barbados is seeking to position the cultural industries as a significant foreign exchange earner capable of having a positive impact on the social and economic development of the country going forward.
To this end, we have seen the passage of the Cultural Industries Development Act, soon to be followed by the establishment of a Cultural Industries Development Authority charged with promoting, assisting and facilitating the efficient development of the cultural industries.
The Crop Over Festival already contributes well over Bds $80 million in economic activity nationwide over an 8 week period. However, despite this admirable contribution, much still needs to be done in terms of the commodification of some aspects of the festival in order to ensure financial returns which can accrue in the intervening months between one festival and the next.
The Crop Over Monarchs in Concert – the 40th Anniversary Limited Edition DVD went on sale at the beginning of November 2014 and is available from the NCF, Starcom Network, CBC, A&B Soundz and online through A&B Music Supplies. The cost is Bds $55.00 for the DVD and Bds $75 for the Blu-Ray version. For those living outside of Barbados, the foreign missions in the diaspora are expected to play an initial role in the distribution process of the DVD.