Win­ston “Gyp­sy” Pe­ters has of­fi­cial­ly ten­dered his res­ig­na­tion as chair­man of the Na­tion­al Car­ni­val Com­mis­sion (NCC).

His ex­it marks yet an­oth­er de­par­ture amid a wave of res­ig­na­tions with­in state-run cul­tur­al in­sti­tu­tions.

The move comes in the wake of sig­nif­i­cant changes at the Min­istry of Cul­ture and Com­mu­ni­ty De­vel­op­ment, most no­tably the re­cent ap­point­ment of Michelle Ben­jamin as the new min­is­ter.

Since her ap­point­ment, sev­er­al board mem­bers from promi­nent cul­tur­al bod­ies, in­clud­ing the Na­tion­al Acad­e­my for the Per­form­ing Arts (NA­PA), the South­ern Acad­e­my for the Per­form­ing Arts (SAPA), Na­pari­ma Bowl, and Queen’s Hall, have al­so va­cat­ed their posts.

Pe­ters, a vet­er­an ca­lyp­son­ian and for­mer min­is­ter of cul­ture him­self, had pre­vi­ous­ly sig­nalled no in­ten­tion of step­ping down. 

As re­cent­ly as last week, he in­sist­ed he would serve the re­main­der of his term, which was set to con­clude in No­vem­ber 2025 when his con­tract end­ed. At the time, Pe­ters stat­ed he had not re­ceived any for­mal re­quest to demit of­fice and ex­pressed a will­ing­ness to con­tin­ue serv­ing in the na­tion­al in­ter­est.

How­ev­er, in a re­ver­sal of that po­si­tion, Pe­ters con­firmed his res­ig­na­tion yes­ter­day.

He was first ap­point­ed as NCC chair­man in April 2018.

Pe­ters made it clear there was no bad blood be­tween him and the Gov­ern­ment.

“I have no ac­ri­mo­ny with the cur­rent ad­min­is­tra­tion,” he said, adding that he re­mains friends with Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar and in­tends to con­tin­ue con­tribut­ing to na­tion­al de­vel­op­ment in what­ev­er ca­pac­i­ty he can.

The Min­istry of Cul­ture and Com­mu­ni­ty De­vel­op­ment has yet to is­sue a for­mal state­ment on Pe­ters’ res­ig­na­tion. — Ot­to Car­ring­ton