THE INAUGURAL International Reggae Day suffered a financial setback, but organiser, Andrea Davis, says that will not daunt her plans for making the event an annual affair.
"I can't even begin to talk figures, but we lost money. However, I am totally satisfied with how the event unfolded. We were able to raise awareness about the standard of our music and judging from the looks and the comments throughout the day and afterwards, people thoroughly enjoyed themselves," said Ms. Davis.
Tickets to the event cost only $100. Although there was some level of sponsorship, Ms. Davis said things would have worked out better had more people come on board.
"I believe it is important for the music that people come out and sponsor an event of this nature," she said.
Although the event was marketed as being an Internet interactive affair, the live web cast failed to materialise. "Event-ually we didn't have the sponsorship to do it. But we'll be having a web cast of the day's activities on August 1 and on other dates to be posted," she said.
She expressed disappointment that more of the big name reggae personalities were not present.
"Although it may have lacked some of the big names, there was grounded talent and people got the chance to express the music through craft and dance. We were thankful for all the people who came out and shared. We want to say a special thanks to Diana King who came into the island primarily for the show", she said.
Ms. Davis said that the event still managed to generate a great amount of excitement and plans were moving forward for next year's staging.
"People have been calling from various parts of the world saying they would like to stage events next year that coincide with International Reggae Day. We are planning to expand our base here in Jamaica and incorporate other venues as well," she said.
A.C
