Cultural activist, Selah Poitier has launched an online petition at Change.org which provides a proposal to The Bahamas Government's Ministry of Youth, Sports & Culture.

She writes, "Despite the immense amount of overqualified and experienced Cultural advisors in The Bahamas, our Government has refused to take any of the advice given to them and spent $9 million dollars on creating a Carnival here instead of investing any of that much needed funds into our own authentic Bahamian Folk traditions, Arts programmes or Cultural festivals like Junkanoo. Ironically, Trinidad just recently invested $9.7 million dollars to further develop their own Carnival in hopes of having their festival held every month."

"According to Somali archaeologist Sade Mire, "Cultural heritage is a basic need'. If that need is not met, there will be an identity crisis. The last time the Bahamas Government recognized the urgency and importance of establishing 'identity' or had any vision of preserving 'authentic' cultural heritage and expression, and the development of it was all the way back in the 1960s during the Tourism Golden age of The Bahamas. It wasn't only our sun, sand and sea that drove visitors to our shores; it was also our 'CULTURE' being presented at a high level on an international and local platform that drove them here and produced International Bahamian legends such as George Symonette, Eloise Lewis, Maureen DuValier, Blind Blake and others.

"Governments around the world who’s countries have the strongest cultural aesthetics in the world all had historical time periods and movements when they strategically used their cultural experts, ethnomusicologists and anthropologists to help determine and document the national and ethnic identity of the Country.This included the most identifiable folk traditions as their foundation, and over the course of history this resulted into what we see and recognize as their culture today. Cuba, America, Trinidad and Jamaica are great examples of that.

"Our leaders have repeatedly failed because there aren’t any persons in leadership position any longer who possess the passion for preservation of ‘authentic’ Bahamian culture. Jamaica's former Prime Minister Edward Seaga went from being one of the most important and successful Producers and record company owners in Jamaica to becoming Prime Minister of his country and set the stage for the 1960s boom in Ska, and the explosion of interest in reggae music in the '70s by identifying, developing and investing heavily in Jamaica’s folk traditions and cultural heritage. His establishments of the Jamaica Festival gave the music and culture of the island an annual showcase and pushed what it needed to hit the world stage with their own authentic culture. We need that same exact passion within our Government.

"Our West African tradition of 'Junkanoo' is our largest cultural expression other than Rake ‘n’ Scrape and is the essence and soul of Bahamian culture that also played a large part in political and social development. Over the years it has deteriorated as our language and dialects have simultaneously been decreolizing. Since folk music and dance is the heart, voice and spirit of the common people, then we as the common people must fight for our cultural survival and very ‘identity.’

SIX (6) Proposals and Initiatives the Government should take into serious consideration.

1. JUNKANOO IN JUNE Festival (REINSTATE IT AND DEVELOP IT)

The Bahamas Government has made assertions that Carnival was needed in our Country because there wasn’t anything on a large scale to feature a series of activities including concerts, cultural shows and street parades to boost the economy’s revenue but failed to mention that Junkanoo in June had similar features.

However, like many other initiatives geared towards our culture, it didn’t get the economic attention it deserved.

The Bahamian taxpayer’s money was spent on Government cultural officials including Nicolette Bethel, former director of Culture and Bahamian musician and Cultural expert Fred Ferguson to travel to Barbados’ Crop over, Trinidad’s Carnival and The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival where various studies were taken to look at the templates that made them successful in order to improve our festivals. Instead of the intended purpose to simply expand our festival, the only result noticed was an abundance of feathers, beads, music and even stilt walkers which as a result caused our festival to look and sound more like theirs.

The Junkanoo in June Festival was held at Arawak Cay and consisted of a series of activities including Junkanoo rush outs, Bahamian food from various vendors and local restaurants, the selling of Bahamian clothing including our national dress of ‘Androsia’, Bahamian art by local artists on display, high school bands, police marching bands, cultural performances by various popular Bahamian acts, headliners, artists promoting Bahamian rake ‘n’ scrape music and Junkanoo that many tourists and locals thoroughly enjoyed.

A Song Competition was established in an effort to stimulate the music industry through songwriting and to possibly add to the songs that were performed during the annual Junkanoo Parades, much like the competitions in Trinidad and Barbados.

Original songs that were traditional or contemporary Bahamian Rake ‘n’ Scrape and Junkanoo were required.

On the final night of the Festival, the winners are crowned after a series of judging and the contestants performed for large crowds backed by live bands. The entire format which took years to develop was eventually changed and is now practically non-operational due to lack of vision from the Government’s Ministry of Tourism who is responsible for this event.

This Junkanoo in June’s festival can be expanded from the initial two days and two nights to a Junkanoo festival week featuring all things authentically Bahamian without importing any outside influences.

The Festival can include a participatory Junkanoo Rush Out where visitors and locals can purchase Junkanoo costumes and be a part of the parade to bring back crowd participation capturing the essence and Spirit of Junkanoo without the competitive aspect. The Festival should also include bringing in winners from the Cat Island Rake ‘n’ scrape festival to perform, Andros Regatta and Eleuthera Pineapple Festival to be crowned and featured. The winners of the Clement E. Bethel National Arts Festival can also be featured performers.

The template is already there in the Ministry of Tourism, but the onus is on the Government to reintroduce the festival at a National and International level with the same energy used to establish the Junkanoo Carnival Festival.

2. National Junkanoo Museum

Every year, following the major Junkanoo Parades, we see costumes left on the side of the street, wasted. Many man hours are used creating masterpieces only for them to be discarded as garbage. This begs for the possibility of creating a National Junkanoo Museum for storing and preserving these pieces. Junkanoo preservation groups including the Doongalik Studios Art Gallery and Educulture Bahamas should be included in this venture.

This National Junkanoo museum is to secure and exhibit the best costumes from all Junkanoo groups from all of the Junkanoo Festivals to be preserved and used to showcase these unique works of art as cultural, historical, educational and artistic attraction for students, Bahamian citizens and tourists to view all year long.

This promotional and marketing tool can be used to excite visitors to want to experience and see these vibrant and colourful costumes each with its own ‘story’ come alive in the actual Festival taking place throughout the year for themselves.

A hall for live music performances from Bahamian musicians and art showcases featuring local Bahamian artists, a cafeteria selling Bahamian dishes and delicacies, a library filled with books on Bahamian history, cultural heritage and a book store to sell them can all be included in this Museum which will in turn produce great exposure for the arts community in The Bahamas.

3. Ministry of Tourism & Culture OR Ministry of Culture and the Arts

Cultural activists, enthnomusicologists, anthropologists, musicians, dancers and artists have been echoing the same sentiments for many years to remove the Ministry of Culture from The Ministry of Youth and Sports and attach it to The Ministry of Tourism since they essentially go hand in hand and because we have proven time and time again that we do not give 'CULTURE' in this country the justice it deserves. OR, create a separate Ministry solely dedicated to development of Culture and the Arts.

4. Hall of Fame

Ronnie Butler, a Bahamian Musical Legend and Cultural Icon, the creator of commercial Rake 'n' scrape and someone who has contributed tirelessly and immensely to Bahamian music being what it is today has yet to be honoured on a National level. He was however honoured at the 12th Annual Caribbean Hall of Fame Awards for Excellence 2014 in Jamaica outside of the country. Since we missed the golden opportunity to honour him firstly, we should feel compelled to call on the Government to build a Hall of fame for Cultural Icons to further educate the Bahamian public on these historical and cultural figures who’ve contributed greatly to our cultural development and honour and appreciate them. (HONOURABLE Mentions: Joseph Spence, Exuma (Obeah Man), Maureen DuValier (Calypso Mama), Eloise Lewis, George Symonette etc.)

5. Cultural advisory board/ National Arts Policing body

These group of qualified persons will:

• Determine the criteria to be inducted into the Hall of fame

• Be the national policing body of the arts as it relates to who is sent to represent the country at international events who must meet the high standards set,

• Determine how we will honour our outstanding youth that represent the country abroad in the arts, like The Bahamas All Stars who made history by being the first international marching band to be invited to perform in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade,

• Ensure that the cultural, musical and artistic standards including those set in Junior and Major Junkanoo parades and the judging systems are not only met but upheld.

This body will be equivalent to the BAAA's who police the Sports affairs of the country.

6. National cultural foundation

This will be the official Government appointed body of qualified persons who will oversee the cultural landscape of The Bahamas. This foundation will be the ones to organize the cultural festivals offering Bahamians and visitors high quality cultural forums, develop and maintain the National performing arts theatres and all other cultural facilities. In short, this foundation will govern all major and National events, promote culture as a tool for national development, promote the National cultural festivals on an international scale, provide various opportunities and jobs for persons interested in this field with proper training and equipping, fuel research, implement educational courses on Bahamian heritage to place in schools and provide opportunities for Bahamian artists to showcase their talents on a local and international level pushing high quality music of The Bahamas.

Our Authentic Bahamian culture is good enough to market on an internationalscale. It has been done before, and it can surely be done again!