The Trinidad and Tobago Carnival Bands Association (TTCBA) says it will continue to do its part to ensure that Carnival 2026 unfolds smoothly and successfully.
Ahead of the two-day mega event, TTCBA President Mark Ayen is assuring that Carnival 2026 will be a safe and enjoyable season. Despite it being short, he is happy to report the success bands have seen thus far.
“Well, if you look at it, if you look all over, you would see that some of the larger bands have indicated that sections are sold out.”
He explains the TTCBA has also implemented some new changes to the competitions.
“There are no longer going to be Junior Individuals Kings or Queens preliminaries or the Senior Individual, Traditional or Conventional, being held at Adam Smith Square. We have now consolidated that venue with Victoria Square, and those competitions will be held at Victoria Square, the revamped Victoria Square. It’s an effort for consolidating the two venues, also a cost-saving initiative that does not affect the product itself.”
The TTCBA continues to engage with the Ministry of Culture and Community Development. Mr. Ayen is also optimistic that funding will be released soon.
“We have gotten the commitment for 2026 that we would receive the required funding and our prize structures for 2026, so we are going ahead with that optimistic response, and we will continue to do what is required, as I said, to ensure that the mas fraternity is looked after.”
Mr. Ayen said it’s too early to say whether there has been an increase or decrease in the number of foreigners signing up to partake in the product this year.
“We haven’t had any official letters being sent to me or any official correspondence, but being on the ground as the leader that I am, I continue to hear the chat about what is going on.”
The Association aims to restore prestige to the competition while also generating revenue through digitalisation, higher pricing, and streaming select events, all to elevate the competition’s status.
The TTCBA President assures that this country’s Carnival product remains the best in the world.
“Trinidad is the birthplace of it. That’s what’s keeping us, the tradition is keeping us here, and it’s no shy that we are receiving competition from other island Carnivals, but it’s for us now in the administration positions that manage the different aspects of our carnival for us to sit down, do our homework and analyse the product and where our product is, and where we would like to place our product on this map once again. So it’s a lot of homework for us to do here, We understand that and we are not shying away from it.”