Minister of the Creative Industries, Daryll Matthew, is expressing much satisfaction with what he termed ‘a very successful’ Carnival 2025 noting that the festival is now at a stage where it is reaping the rewards of years of hard working and planning.
The minister spoke with Point Express Newspaper at Wednesday’s Prize Giving ceremony held at the John E. St. Luce Conference Centre.
“I am quite pleased with Carnival 2025, a lot of work went into the Carnival product over the last few years and we are now beginning to see the results of all that hard work. That hard work involved collaborations with different government entities such as the Tourism Authority as well as our media and our corporate partners. It required a collaborative effort and a ‘buy-in’ from Antiguans and Barbudans into this festival. It came together nicely this year; our music was on point, our pageantry was there, the support from the public was there as we saw record turnouts at most of our events and I think overall Carnival 2025 was a tremendous success,” he declared.
Asked what stood out for him about Carnival ’25, Minister Matthew said the participation of the people of Antigua and Barbuda. He said it became obvious to him when he saw the turnout at the Calypso Semi-Finals. “Calypso Semi-Finals is not a place that you would expect to see a large turnout, however, this year we did it as a ‘cooler-fete’ as we had done for the Party Monarch semis and the numbers where shocking to me,” he reported.
The minister noted that it has become the norm to see large turnout for shows such as the Melting Pot, but he was pleasantly surprised this year with the support which the Calypso Monarch competition received, which signals to him that ‘Calypso is alive and well’.
Already the dates for Carnival 2026 have been released with the minister announcing that ‘the vibe continues’ with the Festivals Commission already in place to begin the work off planning next year’s events.
