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Mas Camp Performance Introduction at Wadsworth Atheneum First Thursday Caribbean Block Party, 2014

PerformerPerformed by Linford Miller (Jamaican)

Date2014 August 7

Mediumborn digital video

DimensionsDuration: 2 Minutes, 17 Seconds

ClassificationsGraphics

Credit LineConnecticut Cultural Heritage Arts Program collections

CopyrightIn Copyright

Object number2015.196.488.1

DescriptionVideo of the opening remarks by Mas Camp co-director Junior Miller and the entrance of the masqueraders with Exotic One's band banner at the Wadsworth Atheneum First Thursday Caribbean Block Party on August 7, 2014.

NotesSubject Note: From 2011-2020, the Connecticut Cultural Heritage Arts Program at the Connecticut Historical Society partnered with the Connecticut Caribbean International Carnival Association to offer an annual summer youth employment program that trains Hartford youth in Carnival traditions central to their ethnic background. At the six-week “Mas Camp,” participants learned about the history and role of Carnival and masquerade. They designed and created their own Carnival costumes under the guidance of experienced Mas artists. The teens along with over two dozen volunteers, formed a Carnival Band that participated in several summer events showcasing Mas costumes totally made in Hartford. The beauty of the costumes displayed by Hartford’s own masqueraders in the parade and festival, along with the excitement of their dance routines, bring a tremendous energy and pride to the city’s West Indian communities. Mas Camp has helped to ensure that the Carnival tradition continues by training a new generation in the art of Mas making. In 2017, Mas Camp was selected as one of 50 exemplary youth programs nationwide by the National Arts and Heritage Youth Program.

Mas Camp was both a jobs program and an arts learning experience with social impact. The program mentored students in workplace readiness, social engagement, and cultural knowledge, offering alternative creative activities that fostered community involvement while providing fulfilling employment. Participants learned new skills including Caribbean cultural history, costume design, garment sewing and construction, creative movement, and teamwork. The teens experienced first-hand how to follow an artistic idea from background to completion and presentation, working both individually and collaboratively. Through the program, youth discovered that giving back to their community is an essential part of becoming a productive citizen. They experienced the joy of being part of a larger cultural group, and contributed their new skills to community activities.

During Mas Camp, the teens created their own costumes following themes and color schemes that they chose. The students and staff, along with volunteers from the community, formed a Carnival band they named Exotic One’s. Hartford costume maker Keimani “Q” Delpeche, who grew up in the Mas tradition in Trinidad and Boston, taught design and building of all the types of costumes. Choreographers including Clerona Cain and Coryse Villarouel developed dance routines with the students to train them in “displaying” their costumes in a parade. Some former students became peer educators helping to supervise Mas Camp activities in later years. The mentorship of several committed community educators and cultural leaders supported the teens and provided positive role models.

Mas represents an important and beloved art form in the West Indian communities that make up a vibrant component of Hartford’s population. The costumes and the traditions behind them serve as central expressions of cultural identity and heritage. The beauty of the costumes displayed by Hartford’s own masqueraders in the parade and festival, along with the excitement of their dance routines, bring a tremendous energy and pride to the city’s West Indian communities. During Carnival parades and festivals, groups of masqueraders form bands and dance to calypso or soca music. The bands have sections each led by a “frontliner” wearing a costume with a “backpack” frame that supports a headpiece. “Individual” character costumes are bigger still, with wings created from fabric stretched over a wire frame. The most elaborate costumes, the King and Queen, require bent steel frames on wheels so the person carrying the heavy costume can lead the band through the parade.

During the summer of 2014, twenty-one young people and over eighty volunteer and returning students participated. Costume maker Keimani “Q” Delpeche created the designs along with experienced assistant Lerry Cooper, and many volunteer parents. Artistic director Harold Springer, dance teacher Coryse Villarouel, and dance assistant Asher-Lee Plummer trained the students in “displaying” their costumes in a parade. They formed a Carnival “Band” called the Exotic One’s, with five sections of masqueraders in different color schemes portraying the theme of “Carnival is Colors – We are Carnival.” The Band performed with their costumes in the Taste of the Caribbean Festival at the Riverfront on August 2, the Wadsworth Atheneum for First Thursday August 7, and the West Indian 52th Anniversary Independence Parade and Festival on August 9.

Subject Note: In 1962, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago claimed their Independence from Great Britain. Since that year, the West Indian Parade and Independence Celebration has been a highlight of Hartford’s summer activities. The week of activities includes many events taking place at the different island clubs around Hartford and features headlining musicians who perform at the West Indian Social Club. The celebration concludes with a parade and festival in Hartford featuring floats, steel band performances, and masqueraders displaying brilliant costumes.

Subject Note: For several years the Wadsworth Atheneum held events in their “Art After Dark” series that took place on First Thursdays in Hartford. Many of these events during the summer took the form of outside “Block Parties” held in front of the museum’s entrance and on Atheneum Square, and sometimes on Burr Mall. Beginning around 2012, the August event was styled as a Caribbean Block Party, held during West Indian Independence Week in association with the Taste of the Caribbean Festival. In 2014, 2015, 2017, and 2018 the Mas Camp Band “Exotic One’s” performed their dance routine at the Block Party. In 2015, Mas Camp choreographer Clerona Cain and the Mas Camp masqueraders led a workshop for visitors attending the event, teaching them the steps of Caribbean dances.

Biographical Note: CICCA President Linford (Junior) Miller from Jamaica has been active in many Hartford-area community organizations, including the Sportsmen’s Athletic Club of Hartford (President, Business Manager, and Sports Captain over the years), the Jamaica Ex-Police Association of Connecticut (Founding Member, Secretary, and Scholarship Coordinator), and the Connecticut International Cultural Carnival Association Inc. (CICCA) since 2000 (Founder, Auditor, Board member, President). He was elected President of the West Indian Independence Celebration Committee of Hartford in the year 2000, and served in this capacity for three years. He is also a Board Member of the World Council of Carnivals and Auditor of the International Caribbean Carnival Association based in Montreal. Mr. Miller has organized many Carnival mas bands for Hartford, Toronto, New York, Jamaica, Boston, Orlando, Atlanta, and Trinidad parades, and organized costume production for Hartford, New York, and Boston. He has participated in Carnival seminars and workshops in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1999, St. Lucia in 2000, New York in 2001, Miami in 2002, Montreal in 2006, and also hosted a two-day seminar/workshop in Hartford in June 2001, and one in Dominican Republic in 2015. He worked in the Security Department at the Learning Corridor, and later at Hartford Hospital. Junior Miller believes that cultural expression is an instrument of social harmony to be achieved through educational programs, public forums, and cultural events. As co-founder and co-director, he managed all day to day details of the Mas Camp from 2011 to 2019, including purchase of materials, supervision of artists and students, safety and security, preparation of work space, and travel arrangements for the dancers and costumes, working closely with CCHAP.

Additional audio, video, and/or photographic materials exist in the archive relating to this community and these events.

Cataloging Note: This project was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services MA-245929-OMS-20.

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