PRIME MINISTER Owen Arthur (centre) sharing thoughts with artiste manager/lawyer Santia Bradshaw (left), businessman Tony Hoyos (second left), promoter Peter Boyce and historian Trevor Marshall.

PRIME MINISTER Owen Arthur is challenging the National Cultural Foundation (NCF) and other Crop-Over stakeholders to go on a retreat to find a way to settle their differences.

He was wrapping up a day-long meeting held at the Hilton Barbados yesterday to discuss the way forward for the cultural industry and the immediate concerns coming out of the just finished Crop-Over festival.

The meeting called by the Prime Minister was not without rancour as cultural players expressed their views in an unabashed manner, most of them painting the NCF in a negative light.

Arthur said he observed during the meeting that the NCF's leadership had come under scrutiny and he called for "an environment of certainty and confidence".

"The NCF and stakeholders should establish a confidence of trust. I don't want to force it, but find a way to break the back of some of this angst," he advised.

The Prime Minister said he was leaving the meeting feeling "grim", as he called "for a climate of change" which he said the Government could not do for the players.

"Whatever is there, face it and fix it," he told the stakeholders and NCF, adding that he wanted to see the cultural sector succeed. (JS)