Cultural festivities set in stone under new calendar

Caption: Gogodala canoe festival participants.

By MATTHEW VARI

Sunday, February 28, 2016 (Sunday Chronicle, PNG)

ALL major cultural festivities in the country will now be pre-set and planned three years in advance with formulation of new three year calendar formulated under the Tourism Promotion Authority and the Office of Tourism, Arts and Culture.

When asked about the programs runs by the soon to be abolished National Cultural Commission (NCC) for various cultural festivities around the country, Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Justin Tkatchenko maintained that the festivities would programs would remain unaffected.

He said that under his direction the cultural festivities yearly calendar would be extended to cater for three years’ worth of event dates to be announced soon.

“We are announcing an event calendar that will be for at least three years, and that will be announced by TPA and the Office of Tourism Arts and Culture as well,” Minister Tkatchenko said.

“We will have an event calendar where we will have every cultural event listed down with a secured date for the next three years.”

“So that tourists overseas can plan their agendas without having any problems. At the moment the dates are changing left right and center it is very hard for a tourist to secure a time to come when the dates are not confirmed. So we have to get our act together.”

He said that under his leadership the sector is to clean up its act in order for it to be more viable to tourists- starting with improvements in the management and administration of events and festivities.

“When I first became minister I made it very clear that we have to clean up our backyard first. We have to make sure we have our dates secured, we have to have our administration, management and staff secured, and we have to get our products properly done.”

“We have to get our industry right before we go out and begin marketing the country.

He said that programs and activities conducted under the NCC would not be affected by the changes afoot, but are to be enhanced and helped out considerably.

“Over the years our cultural shows have fallen to the wayside like the Hagen show now is nearly non-existent.”

“When I first became Minister I heard some complaints given to me by British tourists who said that they went and saw six singsing (dance) groups dance the same time day after day.”

“Now what happened to the magnificent Hagan show where you had hundreds of singsing groups, cultural activities, and everything?”

“It is all to do with management, administration, and the support they get from different institutions. So by amalgamating and putting professionals in the roles that know what they are doing, our cultural events become bigger and better to help us promote here and abroad.”