The 14th edition of the Caribbean Festival of the Arts (Carifesta XIV) has taken off in the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago where it is running from August 16 to 26. This unique festival, which aims to excite all people, has had a very interesting, but also a mixed and very unstable history. Carifesta has failed to meet all the great visions for it, has fallen short of what it was designed to be and has not done what it promised for the participating nations.
It has seen a number of significant trends in its patterns and performances. Carifesta reinvented itself between 2003 and 2005, but still did not achieve its new goals. Yet, there are changes, and these are to be seen in Trinidad right now, as the hosts try to realise many aspects of the refashioned festival and effect changes in the trends developed during the past 10 to 15 years.
Trinidad and Tobago is hosting Carifesta for the fourth time (1992, 1995, 2006, 2019), more than any other country in the history of the festival. No other country has held two consecutive Carifestas. It is not surprising then, that Trinidad will also upset a few of the trends because of what it is doing this year.
