Batabano appoints Trinidad 'Mas Man'
Trinidad
Mas Man
Richard Bartholemew
Cayman Carnival, Batabano, 9
April Cayman Carnival, Batabano's official "Mas Man",
Richard Bartholemew from Trinidad, will be designing costumes
for most of the Junior Masquerade (mas) bands appearing in this
year's Batabano parade.
Mr. Bartholemew was virtually born into a "carnival family"
his grandmother produced carnival bands out of Independence
"Marine" Square.
He began designing and producing children's carnival bands in Trinidad from 1973, with the small band "Poui in Bloom", and continued to enter his costume designs in the carnival every year until 1996 when he designed costumes for the band "Down by the River".
Mr. Bartholemew has won the "Band of the Year" award a record ten times in Trinidad carnival, and continues to design and produce "championship children's carnival bands" throughout Trinidad and the Caribbean, as well as for various masquerade bands in Miami Carnival.
He also set up an exhibition of costumes
titled "Festivals of the World" from Trinidad's Junior
Carnival at the Rotterdam Museum of Ethnology in Holland in 1986.
Mr. Bartholemew has also designed costumes for the British Virgin
Islands' festival, winning consecutive awards for "Band of
the Year" and "Queen of the Band" for the past
three years.
Along with designing and producing carnival bands, Mr. Bartholemew also works as co-ordinator, decorator, costume designer, director, and exhibition designer in Trinidad. This includes activities varying from major exhibitions, fashion shows, private and commercial events such as weddings and parties, to decorating offices and shops for different occasions and seasons.
Mr. Bartholemew presently judges several
competitions and pageants in Trinidad and Tobago, as well as judging
St. Lucia's King and Queen competitions.
He is the official carnival workshop lecturer on concept, design,
production, and judging of carnival activities, mainly for students,
teachers, carnival judges and also potential carnival producers.
His collection of awards include the Humming
Bird Silver Medal and the Trinidad and Tobago National Independence
Day Award (1994). The National Carnival Commission of Trinidad
and Tobago also awarded him for his contribution to carnival in
1994, and by the Trinidad and Tobago National Carnival Band Association
in recognition of his "outstanding and cultural contribution
in the field of art and culture".
Having designed the costumes for Batabano's Junior Carnival bands
for participating schools this year, Mr. Bartholemew has already
started work on Cayman's Junior Carnival costumes. He is expected
to be in Cayman to conduct workshops in the schools in the next
few weeks.