‘Make Summer Festival permanent’

MAKE SHOWCASES  of Barbadian skills, such as the Summer Arts Festival now on at Hastings Rocks, a permanent fixture.
That suggestion was made yesterday by Dr Chelston Brathwaite, who served as director of the Inter-American Institute for  Co-operation on Agriculture from 2002 to 2010.
Brathwaite said the primary reasons behind the recom­mendation were that jobs were dwindling and entrepreneurs needed  to exhibit their talent that could be linked to tourism, and that foreign exchange would be earned and saved.
“Opportunities like this should not be a one-on, one-off [affair]; this should be a continuous opportunity. This should be on all the time because when people  get accustomed to the products they would come here looking for them,” Brathwaite told the SUNDAY SUN  at the esplanade while viewing an exhibition  of local works including fabrics, paintings depicting Bajan life, jewellery and pottery. (GA)