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Caribana

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Scotiabank Caribbean Carnival Toronto
Formation1967
Typefestival organization based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Legal statusActive
PurposeCelebration of Caribbean heritage
HeadquartersToronto, Ontario, Canada
Location
  • 263 Davenport Road, Toronto, ON M5R 1J9
Region served
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Official language
English, French
CEO
Denise Herrera-Jackson
Parent organization
Festival Management Committee
AffiliationsCity of Toronto [1], Toronto Mas Bands Association [2], Ontario Steelpan Association
Budget
1.2 million
Staff
12
Volunteers
1,000+
WebsiteScotiabank Caribbean Carnival Toronto

Scotiabank Toronto Caribbean Carnival, formerly known as Caribana, is a festival of Caribbean culture and traditions held each summer in the city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is a Caribbean Carnival event, that has been billed as North America's largest street festival, frequented by over 1.3 million visitors each year for the festival's final parade and an overall attendance of 2 million..

The entire event, which is one of the first Caribbean Carnivals along with those in New York City, Notting Hill and Boston to be held outside of the Caribbean region, brings in over one million people to the shores of Toronto and over $400 million into Ontario's economy, annually.[1]

Following a trademark law dispute between the original operators of the festival, who still owned the Caribana name, and the current organizers, the festival was renamed Scotiabank Toronto Caribbean Carnival in May 2011.[2]

Overview

Caribana was introduced to Canada by immigrants from Trinidad and Tobago, Grenada and Jamaica. Much of the music associated with the event, such as steel pan, soca and calypso originated from Trinidad and Tobago. Caribana reflects the Carnival events that take place in Trinidad and Tobago, such as the Trinidad and Tobago Carnival.

While Caribana runs for two weeks, the culmination of the Caribana event is the final weekend which is punctuated by the street Parade of Bands. This weekend traditionally coincides with the Ontario statutory holiday Civic Holiday.

Centennial College, 2010
Caribana parade, 2010
Caribana parade participants, 2006

Mission Statement

Scotiabank Toronto Caribbean Carnival is a dynamic cultural explosion that showcases Caribbean music, cuisine, visual and performing arts and tradition. Since its inception in 1967, the Festival continues to be a major tourism attraction for the City of Toronto resulting in international media coverage that spotlights Toronto and the Province of Ontario to the world.

The goal of Scotiabank Toronto Caribbean Carnival is to showcase the true essence of Toronto as the greatest multicultural city in the world.

Themes

Scotiabank Caribbean Carnival Toronto ( formally called Caribana ) had several themes for the past 5 years and they were:

  • 2008 - Still on Jumpin
  • 2009 - Feel De FiBE [3]
  • 2010 - Feel De FIBE [4]
  • 2011 - Keep on Jumpin [5]
  • 2012 - Caring for the Community [6]

History

Caribana has run annually since 1967, and was originally performed as a gift from Canada's West Indian community, as a tribute to Canada's Centennial. In previous years the main Caribana events have been run by a nonprofit Toronto-based organization named the Caribbean Cultural Committee (CCC). Its board members are mostly made up of expatriat-Caribbean nationals living in Canada. In 2006 the Caribbean Cultural Committee ran into financial troubles and due to lack of financial accountability it was fiscally cut off from the City of Toronto, pending that it gets its financial house in order. During the RIFT the body claimed that it legally held the trademark for "CARIBANA" and in response the City of Toronto fronted the money to put on the Carnival event however it was forced to temporarily change the name to the Scotiabank Toronto Caribbean Carnival (Caribana) Festival.

Festival was previously named Scotiabank Caribana, but was renamed in May 2011 as a result of an order from the Ontario Superior Court Of Justice ruling that the Caribana Arts Group (CAG), the successors of Caribbean Cultural Committee (CCC), have legal rights to the name Caribana, so that the court ordered the FMC to rename the festival. On May 25, 2011 the festival released its new logo and new name, "Scotiabank Caribbean Carnival Toronto".[7]

Year Attendance Notes
1992-08-01 1.1 M[8][9] or 1.5 M[10][11] or 1.2[12] After the event, the City of Toronto forgave its outstanding debt.[11] Hotel partnership formed.[13]
1993-07-19 1 M[14] In May, Caribana fired its operating chief.[9] At launch in Nathan Phillips Square, Premier Bob Rae calls the event a "beacon of hope" for all Canadians, as a symbol of racial harmony. "Carry a Can to Caribana" launched, in support of Daily Bread Food Bank.[15] Caribana Marketplace covered market added at Marilyn Bell Park.[16] A well-behaved crowd and barricades along the entire parade route contributed to an incident-free parade.[14] With attendance down, the board chair blamed the federal and provincial tourism ministries for not funding their American advertising campaign.[12]

Incidents

Violent incidents have sometimes occurred at the festival, though organizers have long disassociated themselves from the violence. Said Lennox Farrell in 1992: "We as a board abhor any kind of violence whatsoever. If violence occurs outside a Blue Jays game, it is not ever associated with the Blue Jays game. We wonder why in the mind of the press... that shooting has become associated with Caribana."[17]


1993: On July 28, a 29-year-old jumped off a Caribana cruise boat at 11 pm, telling friends that he would meet them on shore at Ontario Place. The Trillium, the boat they were on, was about 300 feet (100 metres) from shore. Police recovered his body on the 30th.[18] The victim's mother was hurt by speculation about his sobriety.[19]

While there were 60 case of heat exhaustion, the only one arrest was made, after an adult assaulted a teen with a baseball bat. Another man was stabbed in the finger.[14] When barrier dropped at one point, the crowd helped lift them back up.[12]

1996: Aug. 3, 1996: Elrick Christian, 23, is shot and killed and three others, including a nurse visiting from Britain, are wounded during the Caribana parade. Three men are also arrested on weapons-related charges after a volley of shots are fired in Marilyn Bell Park, beside the parade route.

2011: A man died in a 2011 shooting, while the woman he was with suffered multiple gunshot wounds. putting her in critical condition. Another man was hospitalized after the bullet grazed his eyebrow.[20]

Main event

The festival is highlighted by a street parade, which is held the first weekend in August. It consists of costumed dancers (called "Mas players") along with live Caribbean music being played from large speakers on the flat-bed of 18 wheeler trucks. The genre played is mainly soca calypso, and steelpan, but you can also find floats which play chutney and reggae.

J'ouvert

In addition to the main parade, the Caribbean community also celebrates a smaller pre-dawn parade known as J'ouvert (Pronounced "Jou-vay"). This to has been modelled after and taken from Trinidad Carnival. In Caribbean French-creole this means "day open" or morning. The J'ouvert portion of Carnival is the more rhythmic part of the Carnival celebration and is usually featured with steel bands, and persons using improvised musical instruments. It is not usually accompanied by any singing, but will have a lot of whistles and other music makers. Spectators and or persons "playing Mas" will occasionally get themselves covered from head-to-toe with mud, flour, baby powder, or different water-colored paints in the tradition of the Caribbean-based J'ouvert celebrations. In many instances everyone in the band is supposed to resemble evil spirits while parading around at night. There are some common characters[21] that are a part of Afro-Caribbean folklore[22][23] and include things like Red Devils (people covered in red paints), Blue Devils (people covered in blue paints), Green devils, Black devils, Yellow devils, White devils, (usually people throwing baby powder or flour.) or people just covered in other concoctions which are supposed to resemble mud[24] or oil.[25][26]

Fêtes

Leading up to the main parade a number of Caribbean music artists perform in Toronto. These parties are generally called "fêtes", for a French-Creole Caribbean word meaning "festival", and usually start in June–July.

Bands

The bands are the most important part of the main Carnival parade. The bands are actually in competition with one another during the parade. They must pass a judging spot which will rate each band section for its costume design, energy of masqueraders, creativity of presentation and so on. Work on the costumes begin soon after the previous year's celebration and usually takes one full year to complete all of the costumes.

Carnival developments

  • In September 2004, the consul general of Trinidad and Tobago pledged to work more closely with the city of Toronto to jointly promote Caribana and to provide direct-knowledge on how Toronto can more effectively grow the festival.[27] Trinidad and Tobago holds an annual Carnival celebration of their own from December until Ash Wednesday, on which Caribana was originally based. Industries and sectors which stand to benefit from more collaboration with Trinidad and Tobago include Toronto's tourism product, the hotels, storeowners, caterers, airlines, transport services and the business community.
  • In early 2006, Toronto municipal government did not renew the funding for the Caribana Cultural Committee (CCC) which has organized the festival in past years citing recurring accounting problems. Instead, the funding was given to the Toronto Mas Band Association which organized the festival in 2002. Due to an ongoing dispute about the ownership of the trademark "Caribana", the 2006 festival is being promoted as "the Toronto Caribbean Carnival (Caribana)". This distinction seems unimportant to most Torontonians, who continue to call the festival simply "Caribana."
  • In April 2010, a panel for the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) ruled that Scotiabank, as the sponsors of the Caribana festival, did not have grounds for being awarded the domain name caribana.com from its current owners the Working Word Co-operative.[28]
  • In May 2010, Caribana occurred under a new initiative created to involve post-secondary schools. The only college to participate was Centennial College School of Hospitality, Tourism and Culture, where they created a costume theme of the Tropical Amazon. [29]
  • As of September 1, 2010, new management took over the Festival Management Committee (FMC) which names Denise Herrera-Jackson as CEO/Chair of FMC and Chris Alexander as CAO.

See also

References

Citations
  1. ^ "The Caribana success story". Toronto Star. 2010-05-03. Retrieved 2010-06-01.
  2. ^ "Caribana now Scotiabank Toronto Caribbean Carnival". CTV News, May 25, 2011.
  3. ^ http://wn.com/CTV's_CP24_Caribana_promo#
  4. ^ http://article.wn.com/view/2010/07/15/MORE_THAN_THE_PARADE_Scotiabank_Caribana_kicksoff_its_43rd_y_6/
  5. ^ http://torontocaribbeancarnival.com/2011
  6. ^ http://www.torontocaribbeancarnival.com
  7. ^ http://caribflyer.com/carib/it%E2%80%99s-no-longer-caribana-festival-unveils-its-new-name/
  8. ^ Armstrong, Jane (5 August 1992). "Crews took 3 days to clean up streets". Toronto Star. Toronto ON. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  9. ^ a b "Caribana fires operating chief". Toronto Star. Toronto ON. 21 May 1993. p. A07. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  10. ^ Brent, Bob (4 August 1992). "Organizers fear violence might thwart '93 Caribana". Toronto Star. Toronto ON. p. A06. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  11. ^ a b Small, Peter; Jane Armstrong (11 August 1992). "Caribana expecting bigger profit". Toronto Star. Toronto ON. p. A06. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  12. ^ a b c MacKinnon, Donna Jean (5 August 1993). "Caribana draws grumbles and rave reviews". Toronto Star. Toronto ON. p. A06. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  13. ^ Henton, Darcy (1 May 1993). "Tourism faces new economy". Toronto Star. Toronto ON. p. A2. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  14. ^ a b c "A million revellers soak up Caribbean beat". Toronto Star. Toronto ON. 1 August 1993. p. A01. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  15. ^ Wright, Lisa (20 July 1993). "Caribana bumps and grinds". Toronto Star. Toronto ON. p. A06. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  16. ^ Turnbull, Barbara (30 July 1993). "Party time!". Toronto Star. Toronto ON. p. A06. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  17. ^ Brent, Bob (4 August 1992). "Organizers fear violence might thwart '93 Caribana". Toronto Star. Toronto ON. p. A6. Retrieved 31 July 2011.
  18. ^ "Body of man, 29, found on bottom of lake". Toronto Star. Toronto ON. 31 July 1993. p. A04. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  19. ^ Wright, Lisa (1 August 1993). "Police find body of man who leapt from ferry boat". Toronto Star. Toronto ON. p. A13. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  20. ^ Hannay, Chris (30 July 2011). "One dead, two injured in shooting along Caribbean parade route in Toronto". The Globe and Mail. Toronto ON. Retrieved 31 July 2011.
  21. ^ "Old-Time Carnival Characters (ARCHIVE)". Trinidad Investment and Development Co. (TIDCO). Archived from the original on 2004-09-07. Retrieved 2009-07-31.
  22. ^ "Trinidad & Tobago's Folklore and Legends The Mayaro Soucouyant (ARCHIVE)". Paria Publishing. Archived from the original on 2002-03-13. Retrieved 2009-07-31.
  23. ^ "Of Myths Folklore and Legends – The Story of Lougarous and Soukouyants". TheDominican.Net. Retrieved 2009-07-31.
  24. ^ "Artiste: 3 Canal, Song: Mud Madness". YouTube. Retrieved 2009-07-31.
  25. ^ "Photo of some "Blue Devils" during the 2007 Cricket World Cup-In the Caribbean". Flickr. Retrieved 2009-07-31.
  26. ^ "Artiste: 3 Canal, Song: Blue, 1997". YouTube. Retrieved 2009-07-31.
  27. ^ The Trinidad Guardian -Online Edition Ver 2.0
  28. ^ El Akkad, Omar (26 April 2010). "Scotiabank fails in bid to snag Caribana domain name". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 9 May 2010. Scotiabank's unsuccessful attempt to gain control of the potentially lucrative website name became the basis for a case before the global tribunal that resolves such domain name disputes – a case that lawyers say could have set a wide-ranging and controversial precedent. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters: |pmd= and |trans_title= (help)
  29. ^ http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/July2010/27/c6887.html
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