CROP OVER is becoming too indecent so bands such as Youth Explosion are more important than ever.
Minister of Education Ronald Jones, speaking at the band’s annual service at St David’s Anglican Church, praised the band for remaining decent in an industry where clothes were appearing to be more and more optional.
“You have demonstrated decorum over the years and I hope you will continue to lift young people up. Crop Over is about creativity but costumes are getting smaller and smaller and unless a creative stand is taken, we will soon have a bunch of naked people wining and grinding down the street,” he said.
Jones told NATION NEWS he was satisfied enough was being done in the education system concerning the creative arts but lamented more still needed to be done to create outlets for that creativity.
“It is being taught, that is why you are seeing Youth Explosion. The focus we see is that there are significant cultural talents emerging due to the exposure to trained people. The evidence is there every year at Junior Kadooment when you hear the buoyancy of youth steel pan orchestras or the work of the Barbados Community College.
“[However] I don’t think it is enough to have NIFCA once a year, although I understand the restraints because there are so many demands on time and resources, but we have to find the space on weekends to showcase the talents of our young people,” he said. (CA)
