The art of compromise
It’s a pity that this year’s Carnival, the major cultural celebration of the people of St. Maarten, has been marred by problems that threaten to take away some of its flavour. A calypso contest with just five participants and without the reigning Calypso King is not exactly an inspiring thought.
Without going into the details of the conflict, it is hard to believe that a solution could not have been found with a little more patience and mutual understanding, and cannot even still be found today. The calypsonians understandably want more prize money because of the cost they incur in preparing, recording and promoting their competing songs, while St. Maarten Carnival Development Foundation (SCDF) says it has already increased the prize money for the three finalists by US $1,000 each and obviously can’t afford any more.
Anybody who has ever been involved in negotiations will tell you that practically every deadlock can be broken if one uses creativity, has the absolute will to find a solution and is prepared to compromise if needed. In this case, for example, with an entrance fee of just $5, why not consider increasing the ticket price by, say, $1 and sharing the extra revenues among the participants? If it turns out fewer people come to watch the show, the calypsonians would have only themselves to blame, but it can’t be much worse than a contest with just five participants.
And it’s not only the calypsonians. There is the cancellation of the annual St. Maarten Cable TV party on the Great Bay beach promenade because agreement could not be reached with SCDF on the time so it would not interfere with the official Carnival concert in the Festival Village.
Here again it’s hard to believe no understanding could be reached, so that the island could still receive the St. Maarten Cable TV guests, many of whom would no doubt have headed to the Festival Village after the party. If 4:30pm is too early and 7:30pm is too late, why not cut it right down the middle and make it 6:00pm, for example, rather than disappointing people coming to enjoy the islands and its Carnival?
Especially when it comes to the most popular cultural celebration of the people known as Carnival, a little more compromise certainly seems called for.
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