Milla Riggio's Presentation on Trinidad Carnival, 2016
SubjectPortrait of
Edwin Carty
(Jamaican, born 1930)
Date2016 August 24
Mediumborn digital photography
ClassificationsGraphics
Credit LineConnecticut Cultural Heritage Arts Program collections
CopyrightIn Copyright
Object number2015.196.528.1-.2
DescriptionPhotographs of the participants at the presentation by Professor Milla Riggio on Trinidad Carnival in association with the Mas Camp exhibition. The talk was held on August 24, 2016, at the Connecticut Historical Society. Edwin Carty is pictured.
NotesSubject Note: A significant wave of West Indian immigration to the United States began in the 1940s. Many settled in the Hartford area because the labor shortage of World War II meant there were available jobs in the tobacco fields along the Connecticut River Valley. Men worked in the fields while women often found work as housekeepers, teachers, nurses, and aides. Local organizations helped transition new immigrants to Connecticut culture and offered friendship, housing, economic opportunities, and community connections. Today, Connecticut’s West Indian community includes immigrants from all the islands in the Caribbean. They have established significant sports, cultural, and social clubs. The community has created vibrant dance and music groups, and produces an annual week-long festival that attracts audiences from all over the Northeast. With Greater Hartford now being home to the third largest West Indian community in the nation, beloved traditions like Carnival have been transplanted and sustained here.In 1962, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago claimed their Independence from Great Britain. Since then, the West Indian Parade and Independence Celebration has been a highlight of Hartford’s summer activities. The Hartford celebration, held for a full week in August, is based on Carnival, a pre-Lenten celebration of spring and renewal in the islands, especially Trinidad. Masquerading, or playing Mas is an essential part of Carnival. Mas represents a theatrical adoption and presentation of roles and characters that originally expressed mockery of upper classes. Colorful, often spectacular costumes designed by traditional Mas artists depict fanciful themes or current issues. Gossamer fabrics, plumes and feathers, braiding, sequins and gems used in previous years are recycled to express the new year’s themes. Mas and Carnival serve as central expressions of Caribbean cultural identity and heritage.
The Hartford celebration is based on Carnival, a pre-Lenten celebration of spring and renewal in the islands, especially Trinidad. Masquerading, or playing Mas is an essential part of Carnival. Mas represents a theatrical adoption and presentation of roles and characters that originally expressed mockery of upper classes. Colorful, often spectacular costumes designed by traditional Mas artists depict fanciful themes or current issues. Gossamer fabrics, plumes and feathers, sequins and gems used in previous years are recycled to express the new year’s themes. During Carnival parades, groups of masqueraders form bands and dance to calypso or soca music. As West Indians have spread out from the islands, Carnival has been transplanted to cities around the world during different times of the year. Mas and Carnival serve as central expressions of Caribbean cultural identity and heritage.
Subject 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.
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.
In the years 2011-2016, 2018, and 2019, CCHAP presented an exhibit of the work and activities of Mas Camp, from 2011-2014 at the Institute for Community Research, and from 2015-2019 at the Connecticut Historical Society. Curated by Mas costume designer Keimani "Q" Delpeche, the exhibits featured over three dozen individual costumes made each year by teens and community volunteers, as well as the more elaborate “section leader” and “Frontliner” costumes. The exhibits included historical and cultural interpretation through signage texts, a slideshow that presented historical images, talks by community cultural leaders at the opening events, and an illustrated lecture on Carnival traditions in 2016. The exhibit projects produced a multi-faceted “Mas” experience that included the art work, exhibit, music, food, informational talks, community leaders, and scholars. Ideas presented by the exhibits included: that the West Indian community has a long history in Greater Hartford; that the community has made many contributions to the state in fields such as agriculture, art, sport, education, and small business; that Carnival embodies tradition, innovation, celebration, and creativity; that “masquerade” as an essential component of Carnival derives from a creative alteration of one’s historical and personal circumstances; and that young people can learn about and carry on cultural heritage in their own lives.
Each year the teens and volunteers who were part of Mas Camp received certificates of participation at a graduation ceremony held during the exhibit opening. Hartford Steel Symphony played at the event, and the students performed their dance routine. Exhibit and project sponsors over the years have included: the Greater Hartford Arts Council, the City of Hartford, the Hartford City Council, the West Indian Foundation, the West Indian Independence Celebration, the UConn Caribbean Interdisciplinary Research and Outreach Institute, the UConn El Instituto/the Institute for Latin American and Caribbean Studies, the National Endowment for the Arts, Connecticut Office of the Arts/DECD, the San Juan Center/Brighter Futures, Fiona Vernal, Hugh Freeney, the Freeney Foundation, Ellen M. Brown, Shipman and Goodwin LLP, and Connecticut Humanities.
During the summer of 2016, sixteen students and thrity-eight adult and student volunteers participated. Costume maker Keimani “Q” Delpeche created the Mas outfits along with several experienced assistants and many volunteer parents. Dance teacher Clerona Cain, and dance assistant Ashely Plummer trained the students in “displaying” their costumes in a parade. They formed a Carnival “Band” called the Exotic One’s, with six sections of masqueraders in different color schemes portraying the theme of “Around The World.” The Band performed with their costumes in the Taste of the Caribbean Festival at the Riverfront, and the West Indian 54th Anniversary Independence Parade and Festival, as well as at an outdoor concert to mark the opening of the Mas Camp exhibition and student graduation at the Connecticut Historical Society.
Biographical Note: Milla Cozart Riggio, Goodwin Professor of English at Trinity College, Hartford, has focused her research and much of her pedagogy since 1995 on Trinidad Carnival and the plays of Shakespeare. She has coordinated world conferences on Carnival, and served as a frequent consultant for the Trinidad and Tobago National Carnival Commission. She currently coordinates the Trinity-in-Trinidad Global Learning site, an exchange program that brings students from institutions in the United States to study in Trinidad each year. Among her books are included an edited volume entitled "Teaching Shakespeare through Performance," as well as three books she edited or co-edited on Trinidad Carnival. She co-edited "In Trinidad," a book of photographs by Trinity Professor Pablo Delano, published in 2008 by Ian Randle Publishers. On August 24, 2016, Dr. Riggio gave an illustrated talk at the Connecticut Historical Society on Carnival traditions and their origins and cultural significance.
Biographical Note: Edwin Carty, one of the early Jamaican immigrants to Hartford, was a founder of the West Indian Independence Celebration that began in 1962 in Hartford. He was instrumental in adding Carnival masqueraders in costume to the Parade, and has a long association with the tradition and its expression in Hartford. In 2016, he advised CCHAP on historical details in the Connecticut Historical Society's Mas Camp exhibition interpretive signage and photographic images.
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
