THE National Cultural Foundation (NCF), as part of its new emphasis to look to the regional and international frontier for sponsorship, has been given more than $100 000 by a Caribbean group to assist its 2010 Crop-Over programme.NCF chairman Ken Knight made this disclosure after attending a NCF service at the All Souls Anglican Church in Bank Hall that signalled the official start of the Crop-Over season. announced that Caribbean Money Market Brokers (CMMB), a subsidiary of the Trinidad-based First Citizens Group, made a contribution last week to Minister of Culture Steve Blackett of $115 000 for the literary arts. NCF board chairman said the sponsorship was vital in the midst of a global economic downturn and a 20 per cent slide in local sponsorship.“CMMB, through First Citizens Group out of Trinidad, has played a very integral role in sponsorship. They are among the biggest sponsors for Crop-Over and this bodes well for the future of Crop-Over from a sponsorship perspective.“We at the Foundation have undertaken a new strategy for sponsorship. We feel that we have to go beyond the shores of Barbados for sponsorship in order to market Crop-Over overseas. In so doing, we will have to find sponsors overseas,” he said.Knight said they have had discussions with Nike, the giant American athletic shoe and sports equipment manufacturer.“We have had queries from people like Nike over the past two years on how they can become involved in Crop-Over and those discussions are still on-going.“We have had put in a lot of work to attract these kind of international sponsors and that is one of the reasons why we feel that the extended route that now involves Warrens will make our product more marketable for the international cable networks,” he said.Knight reiterated that changes had to be made to the route on Kadooment Day, with revellers and masqueraders now starting their parade from Warrens instead of the National Stadium.“One of the major constraints in going through the stadium is that the music cannot accompany the respective bands through the stadium. What you find is a partial congregation of that band entering the stadium. “I know of one band that had 1 200 persons but according to our count, only 57 came through the stadium. So we had to revisit the issue relating to the stadium, and that is why we have had that extended route, and also making it more attractive for selling that package for television for the future.”
