Mas Camp Performers at Taste of the Caribbean Festival, 2015
SubjectPortrait of
Keimani Delpeche
(Trinidadian)
SubjectPortrait of
Alwin Cooper
(Trinidadian)
SubjectPortrait of
Mellissa Craig
SubjectPortrait of
Ashley Francis
Date2015 August 1
Mediumborn digital photography
ClassificationsGraphics
Credit LineConnecticut Cultural Heritage Arts Program collections
CopyrightIn Copyright
Object number2015.196.520.1-.18
DescriptionPhotographs of Mas Camp performers at the Taste of the Caribbean Festival on August 1, 2015.
(.1) Image of Mas Camp costume designer Q Delpeche standing with the Junior Queen costume.
(.2) Image of Mas Camp educator Lerry Cooper helping to adjust the headband for a costumed masquerader.
(.3) Image of a Mas Camp participant standing in front of the Junior Queen costume.
(.4-.8) Images of the Mas Camp masqueraders posing in their band sections and in a group portrait.
(.9) Image of the Mas Camp masqueraders gathering at Mortensen Plaza to parade into the festival.
(.10) Image of the masqueraders making their entrance at the Taste of the Caribbean & Jerk Festival led by Moko Jumbie, Mellissa Craig.
(.11) Image of stilt walker Moko Jumbie, Mellissa Craig.
(.12) Image of Mas Camp Junior Queen, Ashley Francis.
(.13) Image of stilt walker Moko Jumbie, Mellissa Craig.
(.14) Image of stilt walker Moko Jumbie, Mellissa Craig with Mas Camp Exotic One's Band following.
(.15-.16) Images of Mas Camp participants performing their dance routine.
(.17) Image of a food booth for R&S Jamaican Jerk Palace at the Taste of the Caribbean & Jerk Festival.
(.18) Image of the St. Lucia Dancers from Brooklyn, New York who were performing at the festival.
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. 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.(.1) Image of Mas Camp costume designer Q Delpeche standing with the Junior Queen costume.
(.2) Image of Mas Camp educator Lerry Cooper helping to adjust the headband for a costumed masquerader.
(.3) Image of a Mas Camp participant standing in front of the Junior Queen costume.
(.4-.8) Images of the Mas Camp masqueraders posing in their band sections and in a group portrait.
(.9) Image of the Mas Camp masqueraders gathering at Mortensen Plaza to parade into the festival.
(.10) Image of the masqueraders making their entrance at the Taste of the Caribbean & Jerk Festival led by Moko Jumbie, Mellissa Craig.
(.11) Image of stilt walker Moko Jumbie, Mellissa Craig.
(.12) Image of Mas Camp Junior Queen, Ashley Francis.
(.13) Image of stilt walker Moko Jumbie, Mellissa Craig.
(.14) Image of stilt walker Moko Jumbie, Mellissa Craig with Mas Camp Exotic One's Band following.
(.15-.16) Images of Mas Camp participants performing their dance routine.
(.17) Image of a food booth for R&S Jamaican Jerk Palace at the Taste of the Caribbean & Jerk Festival.
(.18) Image of the St. Lucia Dancers from Brooklyn, New York who were performing at the festival.
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. The beauty of the costumes displayed by Hartford’s own masqueraders in the West Indian Parade and other festivals, along with the excitement of their dance routines, bring a tremendous energy and pride to the city’s West Indian communities.
During the summer of 2015, twenty-two young people and eighty-four adult and student volunteers, children, and students from Our Piece of the Pie participated. Costume maker Keimani “Q” Delpeche created four large costumes – a spectacular Queen and three Junior Queen outfits along with experienced assistants Lerry Cooper and Tanya Bynoe, and many volunteer parents. Artistic director Harold Springer, dance teacher Clerona Cain, 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 nine sections of masqueraders in different color schemes portraying the theme of “Hollywood in Colors.” The Band performed with their costumes in the Taste of the Caribbean Festival at the Riverfront, the Wadsworth Atheneum Block Party, and the West Indian 53rd Anniversary Independence Parade and Festival.
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.
The Taste of the Caribbean and Jerk Festival began as a single evening event and expanded into a day-long festival held since 2006 at the Riverfront Plaza at the beginning of Celebration Week. Billed as a “One day festival of Caribbean food, culture, music, games, traditions” the festival includes local and visiting performers, food vendors from a variety of Caribbean cultures, information booths, arts and crafts vendors, local and visiting dance groups, and since 2011, a procession of Mas dancers from CCHAP’s Mas Camp program in collaboration with CICCA, the Caribbean International Carnival Cultural Association.
Biographical Note: A Trinidad native and now a Hartford resident Keimani “Q” Delpeche was a member of the world renowned D’Midas and Associates Mas Band for 25 years. He started at age 11 hanging around the Mas camp like many Trinidadian kids do and took a liking to making carnival costumes. He learned from the teaching of master artist Stephen Derek and other workers around the camp. Q has mastered all aspects of the art of making costumes: designing to the theme, wire bending, braiding, gluing, covering, etc. At age 21 he became a traveling instructor, teaching in New York City, San Francisco, Miami, and most Caribbean Islands including St. Thomas, Antigua, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, Jamaica, and St. Croix. He did what he liked most: teaching and passing on the art of making costumes to kids and young adults alike. In 2002, he, along with other members of D’Midas and Associates from Boston, participated in the Hartford Carnival Parade. Q was the main designer and builder for the Queen costume made in the 2011 Mas Camp and since then designed and constructed the large and flamboyant multi-part wire-framed Queen, Junior Queen, Section Leader, and Frontline costumes, with input and assistance from the students who help to position and attach trim, beads, and feathers. Q also curated the Mas costume exhibits each year. His ultimate goal is to pass the art on to young Caribbean people and to educate other ethnic groups so they may aid in spreading the cultural heritage of Trinidad and Tobago.
Biographical Note: Ashley Francis carried many Junior Queen costumes in the Exotic One's Band, in most of the years of the program. She was a gifted mas performer. From Hartford, Ashley attended the Classical Magnet School and the University of Hartford. She works as a makeup artist and model in Hartford.
Biographical Note: Alwin “Lerry” Cooper, a part-time project educator in 2011, took on a wider role in 2012, and has been a key educator in 2013-2015 and 2020, teaching the teens how to work with the fabric, glue, decorative materials, etc. to bring their designs and the master artist’s designs into being. He is a record producer and event promoter, as well as an advisor on the West Indian Celebration Committee and President of The Mad Man Crew Mas Band that performs in the West Indian Parade every year. Mr. Cooper is a founding member of Connecticut International Cultural Carnival Association (CICCA), serving as its Director of Administration and Planning for several years. From Trinidad, he has produced costumes for carnivals in Hartford; Toronto; New York; Jamaica; Boston; Orlando; Washington, DC; Atlanta; and Trinidad.
Biographical Note: Mellissa Craig is a long-time dance educator and performer based in Hartford. She has taught and danced with Sankofa Kuumba Dance Collective, Cultural Dance Troupe of the West Indies, is Principal Dancer and Founding Member at Island Reflections Dance Theatre Company, Ensemble Member at Justice Dance Performance Project, Inc., Arts Instructor at Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts, and a performer with FriendzWorldMusic. Mellissa is an experienced stilt walker and participates as Moko Jumbie for many West Indian events including the Taste of the Caribbean Festival. She carried the Queen costume for the Mas Camp Exotic One’s Band in 2014.
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.
Status
Not on view
Mellissa Craig
2017 August 3
