The Na­tion­al Parang As­so­ci­a­tion of Trinidad and To­ba­go is call­ing on the cor­po­rate sec­tor to in­vest in their parang fes­ti­val of 2023, La Ra­zon del Par­ran­da (The Rea­son for Parang) and an in­crease in fi­nan­cial sup­port to the as­so­ci­a­tion in gen­er­al.

“We are present­ly reach­ing out to cor­po­rate Trinidad and To­ba­go. We launched our parang fes­ti­val but we all these won­der­ful ideas but we do not have the fi­nan­cial sup­port to con­tin­ue the fes­ti­vals we have planned. We ask for an in­crease in the fi­nan­cial sup­port from the min­istries and the gov­ern­men­tal agen­cies,” she said.

Al­though grate­ful for their head­quar­ters at 22 Hol­lis Av­enue, Ari­ma, ac­cord­ing to Jag­gasar, since 2018, the build­ing’s many in­fra­struc­tur­al is­sues had to be ad­dressed us­ing funds from their sub­se­quent fes­ti­vals. Its lim­it­ed space, which pre­vents large events from tak­ing place, and its poor phys­i­cal con­di­tion pre­vents them from ful­ly oc­cu­py­ing it. For these rea­sons, the as­so­ci­a­tion has reached out to the Min­istry of Tourism, Cul­ture & the Arts for state land for a new head­quar­ters that could ac­com­mo­date their ideas of pro­mot­ing parang on a larg­er scale.

“For us, all our fundrais­ers are to ac­quire a home for parang. In oth­er words we’re look­ing for a piece of state land. We have big dreams and big hopes. And this hope is to fa­cil­i­tate a per­form­ing arts hall, a mu­se­um, ad­min­is­tra­tive of­fices, sem­i­nars and train­ing rooms, con­fer­ence rooms, bars, a cin­e­ma, and a court area. Al­so, a four-lev­el car park,” Jag­gasar said.

For 52 years, the Na­tion­al Parang As­so­ci­a­tion of T&T has been pro­mot­ing and pre­serv­ing the lega­cy of parang in the na­tion. Be­yond parang be­ing cel­e­brat­ed dur­ing the usu­al Christ­mas sea­son, the as­so­ci­a­tion ex­press­es joy for their fes­ti­val this year which in­cludes com­mu­ni­ty events, youth ac­tiv­i­ties, a show­down com­pe­ti­tion, and the launch of the first ever parang tent in the coun­try, part of the as­so­ci­a­tion’s sus­tain­abil­i­ty plan.

“[The parang tent] is an en­ti­ty we’re cre­at­ing from Jan­u­ary to De­cem­ber. It is a space where you can come and learn every­thing about parang and its his­to­ry and some of our His­pan­ic her­itage,” Jag­gasar said.

Vice Pres­i­dent of the NPATT, Hen­ri­et­ta Carter, who over­sees the as­so­ci­a­tion’s fundrais­ing ef­forts, said that her team has worked ‘mag­ic’ since 2018 to sus­tain the as­so­ci­a­tion, while al­so en­dors­ing the sen­ti­ments afore­men­tioned by the Pres­i­dent. To help make their this year’s ac­tiv­i­ties im­pact­ful, Carter said they will be util­is­ing three tiers of do­na­tion cards called, ‘Vi­va la Tradi­cion,’ for those wish­ing to as­sist: $1000, $5000, or $10,000 op­tions.

“Mem­bers of the Ex­ec­u­tive have used their own mon­ey to do cer­tain things with­in the as­so­ci­a­tion. We have had func­tions, and events, to raise funds. With spon­sor­ship, it’s ei­ther none at all, or if any, we may get it af­ter an event; and if we ap­ply for $500,000, we might get $100,000, it’s al­ways nev­er enough. This year in 2023, we want to come out with a bang. We don’t al­ways de­pend on cor­po­rate Trinidad or

the min­istries. We want to have a grand fundrais­er in the form of do­na­tion cards. We have mem­bers of the Ex­ec­u­tive tak­ing cards. The Pres­i­dent took 10 cards!” she said.

De­spite these on­go­ing fi­nan­cial bat­tles, the Na­tion­al Parang As­so­ci­a­tion is adamant on reaf­firm­ing them­selves as the cen­tral hub for all things parang with­in T&T. Po­si­tion­ing them­selves as one of the na­tion’s lead­ing forces in the preser­va­tion of both the cul­ture and prac­tice of parang, and its many par­ran­deros.