By: Staff Writer
September 2, 2025
Prime Minister of Barbados, Mia Mottley, said at the closing ceremony of the 15th Carifesta held in front of a huge crowd at the Richard Stoute Amphitheatre that any individual from throughout the region who can produce the best multimedia exposition of Carifesta 15 will be given $25,000 USD.
Mottley, who is earnestly wanting to see Carifesta continue, and its legacy remembered, also said: “We are going to open a competition for students, that by the end of December this year, those who give us the best literary exposition on Carifesta 15 from those 300 students will be awarded USD $5,000 US dollars. Those who give us the best song from those 300 students will equally be awarded USD $5000 US dollars and the recording of that song.”
The Caribbean Festival of Arts (Carifesta) was held in Barbados from August 22–31 and over the 10 days, more than 300 events were held at venues across the island.
Mottley also announced the establishment of a permanent Carifesta House where the Carifesta Village and Grand Market currently sit at Waterford, St. Michael, and a website to allow vendors registered at the Grand Market to sell their products online for a year for free—and sponsored by the Barbados government.
Festival Director and CEO of the National Cultural Foundation, Carol Roberts, gave an emotional speech, describing what the festival meant for the region.
“Carifesta XV gave us a most precious moment to breathe deep. We exhaled the pent-up fears, anxieties, and traumas that have tested our resolve, and we inhaled inspiration, motivation, beauty, and joy, as only the arts and culture can do,” she said.
“It touched each of us in untold ways, and we are all the better for it,” Roberts asserted. “We were not just celebrating culture. We were advocating for peace, tolerance, and sustainable change.”
Mottley also said: “You must understand that this Carifesta15 does not stand in isolation. This is about building a people, building a region, building a civilization, and reclaiming our destiny. Irving Burgie asked us to do so, and our national anthem is perfectly reflected. For those who come from the rest of the region, I ask you to take time and see why we are so committed to moving onward and upward, inspired, exalting, free, why we must be firm craftsmen of our faith.”
She added: “I said to the CARICOM Secretary General and the colleagues heads of government and heads of state, Carifesta does deserve to be held every two years, and we will find a way to do it across this Caribbean Community, just as we have found a way to do all other things.
“Let us see people. Give our people a chance. And as I’ve said from the beginning of this festival, let our Caribbean people exhale, enjoy and show the world that we know how to be able to reflect our journey, celebrate ourselves and invite the rest of the world…”