REVENUE GROWTH

By Linda Straker

THE Board of the Spicemas Corporation was able to collect almost EC$2 million in revenue, but it still continues to be indebted to service providers and plans are in the making to undertake fund-raising initiatives that will not only clear its outstanding debt, but put it in a better financial position as it prepares to co-ordinate Carnival 2014.

Alister Bain, Deputy Chairman of the SMC, said that among the heavy outstanding debts is more than EC$140 000 to Ian “Judah” St. Bernard – one of the major service providers who was owed more than EC$200 000 when the new board was appointed in May 2013.

Alister Bain, Deputy Chairman of the Spicemas Corporation (SMC).

“When we took over, the outstanding debt was around EC$400 000, but we were able negotiate and work out a plan that now see us owing him 70 per cent of his claims for 2013 season,” said Bain, who heads the Finance Committee of the Corporation.

Bain noted that the Corporation is still auditing its books, but he anticipates that the final figure will at the end further reduce the debt. “We will not be able to erode it, but we will be able erode it,” he said, while explaining that the new eticketing system realised more than EC$500 000.

“Through that system, we collected EC$520 000 from ticket sales and this we believe is the most amount ever collected through gates receipts,” he said.

The Soca Monarch competition, which is the “cash cow” of all the Carnival events, realised approximately EC$100 000 than 2012.

Other major contributions were the early payment of Government’s subvention of EC$700 000; and sponsorship and partnership contributions of EC$700 000 from companies such as LIME and the National Lotteries Authority.


Last Saturday, the Corporation for the first time in five years presented prize payments totalling EC$881 875 to winners and participants in Carnival activities, which cover from the Traditional Mas competition held in Victoria on July 27 to the Parade of Bands on the streets of St. George’s on August 13.

Chairman of the SMC, Arthur Hosten, in his remarks, warned that 2014 will not be business as usual, while in supporting his statement, Culture Minister, Alexandra Otway-Noel, said that there will be some shaking up to get things going better.

Major titles were The Band of the Year – “Reef”, a presentation by Andre Garvey and Associates; the Calypso Monarch was Ketura George; the Soca Monarch was Boyzie; and the Groovy Monarch was Blaka Dan.