The idea of Culturama was first conceived in February 1974 during a meeting of the Nevis Dramatic and Cultural Society (NEDACS). The main point of discussion during this meeting focused on the general decline in the customary folklore troupes on parade during the Christmas festival. It was felt that much of the customary indigenous Christmas traditions and activities were dying and that there was an urgent need to revive these traditions so that they can be handed down from generation to generation thereby ensuring the posterity of our Nevisian cultural heritage. 

Lengthy discussions ensued in the following weeks and months ahead, to find ways in which Nevis’ rich cultural heritage could be kept alive through the preservation and promotion of the cultural art forms and traditions. The then Vice-President of NEDACS the late Calvin “Cabu” Howell spearheaded the charge. He set about to put things in place for the urgent revival, preservation and promotion of our traditional customs and folk art. It was felt that a Cultural Festival highlighting and promoting Nevisian heritage would have been the most appropriate way forward. 

After the name “Culturama” was secured, the next step was to find the most suitable time on the calendar to stage this festival. The August Monday Emancipation weekend was looked at as the most appropriate time as it coincided with a very significant period in the lives of the African descendants living in the Caribbean region. 

The main objectives of Culturama from a NEDACS prospective were as follows:

The first Culturama program was therefore held over the Emancipation Day/August Monday weekend in 1974 and the program included dancing, drama, a display of old fashioned troupes, folk singing and an art and craft exhibition. A local recipe competition along with a Miss Culture Talent Show and a Calypso Contest also formed part of this inaugural festival. Special mention must be made of the first Ms. Culture Talent Queen, Lucina Stapleton-Wade and the first Calypso King of Culturama, Lanston “King Zero” Knight.    

Some of the more prominent persons who were responsible for the success of Culturama in the early stages were, the late Calvin “Cabu” Howell, the first chairman of Culturama, Irma Johnson, Victor “Jay” Martin, Lyra Richards, Tyrone “Bahowlah” O’Flaherty, the late Melford Henville and Clifford “Boots” Griffin. 

Once Culturama got started it did not take a very long time to take root. The festival therefore grew from strength to strength from1974 onwards and in now seen as the ideal platform for showcasing Nevis’ cultural heritage. 

The inaugural festival was held on the grounds of the Charlestown Secondary School and this venue was used for a few years then the venue was changed to the grounds of the Nevis Club for many years until 1980 and 1981when the venue was changed to Grove Park then back to the Nevis Club in 1983 and from 1984 until now the home of Culturama has been the Cultural Complex which was built from funds raised by NEDACS. 

There were no Culturama celebrations in 1983 due to the pending Independence celebrations, which were being planned for September the same year. Since then Culturama has continued unbroken from 1984 up to this present day. 

During the late 1980’s Culturama seemed to be on the decline due to a lack of sufficient funds to adequately sustain the festival and the late planning of the festival due to a declining interest from the members of the NEDACS group. In 1990 the Nevis Island Administration nationalized the festival thereby saving it from further decline. Culturama was provided with a staffed secretariat at Culturama time to assist the newly assigned committee with its clerical work. The Administration also provided an annual subvention to the committee to help defray expenses incurred in the staging of the festival. This subvention has continued up to this present day. When the Department of Culture was established in 1993, the Culturama Secretariat was attached to and housed at this department. Halstead “Sooty” Byron, the then Director of Culture was assigned to the position of chairman, a position he held until 1998. Mr. Byron therefore has the distinction of being the longest serving chairman of Culturama to date. Nuff respect to you “Sooty” for the excellent job you did at keeping the Culturama Ship afloat. 

In September 1998, the Nevis Island Administration through the initiative of the then Junior Minister of Culture, the Honorable Colin Tyrell, established a fulltime all year round Culturama Secretariat, staffed with an Executive Director and an Administrative Assistant. The Secretariat continued to operate out the offices of and under the umbrella of the Department of Culture with Halstead Byron still lending his experience and expertise to the planning of the festival. In June 1999 the Culturama Secretariat moved to its own offices at the Cotton Ginnery Mall Charlestown and still continues to operate from this location up to this day.   

However, 2002 saw the separation of the Culturama Secretariat from the Department of Culture and there after the Secretariat began operating as a separate department under the Ministry of Tourism and Culture. It has since then been provided with its own annual budget in the Nevis Island Administration’s Estimates. 

The Silver Anniversary of the festival (CULTURAMA 25) was celebrated in 1999 and two new events were added to the calendar of activities for this milestone celebration. These activities were the Soca Monarch Contest and the International Night. The King of Kings contest was also held as part of the CULTURAMA 25 celebrations in 1999. Crefton “King Meeko” Warner was crowned as the CULTURAMA 25 Kaiso King of Kings. 

The Soca Monarch contest was however short lived. It was staged for three years 1999, 2000 and 2001 and has since been removed from the calendar due to a lack of sufficient participation in the contest over the period of its existence. We must however commend the efforts of the three winners namely Earl “Sweetees” Walters in 1999, Carlisle “Raba” Maynard of the Kasanova Band in 2000 and Chris “Ras” Browne of the Ultra Sonic Band in 2001. 

The International Night which features mainly top reggae and soca performers has however enjoyed much greater success and has become one of the most anticipated events of the festival. To date it has featured prominent international stars such as the legendary Joseph Hill and his Culture Band, Freddie McGregor, Everton Blender and the soca King of the world the Mighty Arrow. 

Still seeking to add more variety to the calendar of activities and to make the festival more appealing and unique, a Mr. Kool Contest was introduced in 2001. This event although it was met with much opposition in its early years, has now become another high light of the festival as the contest gives the males and opportunity to “show off” their talents and physique. 

Another featured event which was added to the calendar of activities over the years is the Mr. and Ms. Talented Youth Pageant. This event was introduced in 1987 under the then NEDACS group and was called the Mr. and Ms. Teenage Pageant. However in an effort to increase the number of participants in the contest the focus was shifted from the teenagers in the Secondary Schools and now targets the fifth and six grade students in the Primary Schools. 

The main events of the inaugural festival in 1974, namely the Senior Calypso Contest, the Ms Culture Talent Show, the Cultural Food Fair, the Jouvert Morning jam session and the Cultural Parade, have continued to be a part of the Culturama activities from then up until now. Some of these events have however taken on a new look. The Senior Calypso Contest has been renamed the Senior Kasio Contest and the topics of the calypsos have shifted from cultural to social and political commentary. 

The Ms. Culture Talent Show has been renamed the Ms. Culture Queen Pageant and now has a Swimwear segment added to the contest. The competition however still focuses on the talent segment but the traditional “flour and crocus bag” costumes and the “dry banana leaves” costumes are no longer a popular site on stage during the contest. 

In spite of this however, the contestants still place special emphasis on keeping the culture alive by show casing the way of life of Nevisians over the years.The Cultural Food Fair is now a major event of the festival and has outgrown its previous locations of the Rookery Nook, Chapel Street, Grove Park and the Charlestown Waterfront. The present location is the Charlestown Secondary School Villa Grounds which offers much more space for this growing event. The Jouvert Morning jam session is now known as the Emancipation Jouvert Jump Up and has grown into a huge event with thousands of revelers taking to the streets from the wee hours of the morning right up until mid day. A four mile road jam from Gingerland into Charlestown has now become a feature of the Emancipation Jouvert Jump Up. The Cultural Street Parade has seen major changes as well. The traditional costumes of flour bag, crocus bag and dried banana leaves have been replaced by colorful sometimes shinny costumes. The costmary site of the colorful masquerades and clowns can still however be seen on parade day dancing in the streets to the sound of the sweet Big Drum. The sweet strings of the String Bands are also still apart of the parade even though the numbers have declined over the years. 

In an effort to recognize the outstanding contributions of past cultural icons to the development of culture and Culturama on Nevis, the 1998 Culturama planning committee decided to introduce the honoring one such cultural icon each year there after. The first cultural icon to be bestowed with this honor was the late Darrel Dore of Bath Village.  Mr. Dore was involved in the preservation and promotion of a wide variety of Nevisian folk dances in Nevis for well over fifty years and was more popularly known for perfecting the Cake Walk and Quadrille over the years. Other cultural icons that have since been recognized for their invaluable contribution to the preservation and promotion of Nevis’ rich cultural art form are Mr. David Freeman in 1999, Mr. John Liburd in 2000, the late Georgina Mills in 2001, Eglantine Duberry in 2002, Joseph Brandy in 2003, John Jarvis in 2004, Wilfred Hamilton in 2005, Inetha Lawrence in 2006, Nehemiah Neale in 2007 and Norman Liburd will be honored for the 2008 festival. 

Today, Culturama has become a permanent feature on the calendars of regional festivals. It has cemented its place as the “the Caribbean’s only unique cultural festival”. The festival has now been extended to 12 sometimes 13 days and is still based on the primary objective for which it was formed i.e. to revive and promote our cultural traditions.

We at the Culturama secretariat say a big thank you to the forerunners “NEDACS” for the bold initiative taken at creating what can now be termed as a mega festival and to all others who have similarly contributed we say a big thank you.