00:00government is key they definitely play a major role in terms of you know having infrastructure
00:06and stuff in place for us to be able to exhibit our arts and culture um some of the challenges
00:13that we face definitely like a lot of other businesses when you have import and export is
00:17forex co-owner and director of humor vibe limited tanya gomes is speaking about what mass bands
00:23such as humor face in getting their product on the road for carnival this year was discussed
00:28during day two of the 2025 annual international finance and accounting conference hosted by the
00:34institute of chartered accountants of trinidad and tobago at the hyatt regency in port of spain as
00:39there's concern among some carnival stakeholders about the ban of the use of the brown hour stadium
00:44and restrictions of the use of the hazy crawford stadium as part of the government's policy to
00:50reduce noise pollution c15 studios limited general manager lorraine o'connor a producer and promoter of
00:57trinidad and tobago culture expressed optimism i mean carnival lake is expanding so much and um
01:03you know it's a great export product i don't think we capitalize on it enough in trinidad if i had to
01:08throw something in yeah really so what do you think would make it export already well first of all you
01:15know like if we could manufacture our costumes locally that would be a big thing i think you know
01:20like nobody has really looked at a proper local factory facility to you know instead of us having
01:27to import the costumes from china and then it have to be at the whim of these and you know tariffs and
01:34stuff that shouldn't even concern us if we made our costumes here you know you must co-owner took note
01:40of that suggestion you mentioned about local manufacturing and doing production and stuff from
01:45a local level especially accountable it's concerned there are challenges challenges with that because
01:50when you watch the labor force in terms of producing raw materials producing um finished products
01:56it don't have enough trained persons to deliver on it hence the reason why we have to
02:02outsource from china and if it is that you have to outsource from china whether it be again it could
02:07be china it could be india it could be um belgium these are just some of the places that we go to
02:12forex is a big issue and that issue was not the only one concerning the business of carnival so forex
02:19rising costing certain items because again where the creative industries consume we are taxed in the
02:28same bracket like a business that's generating revenue 12 months of the year we receive revenue when
02:36we launch our product and on the back end when persons come to collect so imagine if it is that you
02:41have to basically you know maintain your business again for this 10 to 11 month period how do we
02:47manage that so why are we taxed in the same way so if it is that government can look at something like
02:53that it also helps the creative sector you must co-owner said mass bands and other businesses in carnival
03:00need the help of the government and the private sector to invest in a product that supports tourism
03:05a point made by monk music ceo shay kathari i think people don't understand the opportunity that exists
03:12in what we're calling the orange economy arts and culture it it's still very elusive to a lot of people
03:19and we're ready to pull off the mask and show everyone the books we have it all documented it's all
03:25there it's already and it is very investable it's actually more of a strategic investment than many other
03:31investments the ceo of monk music works with soca icon marshall montano jule brown tv6 news
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