This year there won’t be a Soca Monarch contest. Directors of the Caribbean Prestige Foundation, the organization that sponsors the tournament, Geoffrey Wharton-Lake, and Ricky Ragoonanan, informed Loop News media that they had decided to scrap it this year.
The guys said that after considering whether to hold the tournament for the previous 72 hours, they had to make the difficult choice to cancel since it would not be financially viable.
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Wharton-Lake stated, “We can no longer carry the burden of what the event is.”
According to Ragoonanan, the government’s funding was insufficient to cover award payments and carry out the event.
“Soca monarch is the only stepping stone for new artists but the Government has to see that, and if they don’t see it fit, they killing the culture. The promoters are not bringing the new singers on stage, that is the only platform these guys have,” stated Ragoonanan.
He claimed that they require finances in order to put on a nice performance.
They stated that the prize money alone would have been roughly $2.5 million, but they declined to tell how much money they were offered and how much they demanded.
When asked about their plans for the event this year, Wharton-Lake said that they attempted to alter the structure and had a suggestion to bring back previous champions to compete against fresh singers.
He stated that the goal is for him and Ragoonanan to meet with stakeholders and anybody else interested in getting the tournament going again after Carnival. He stated that they would leave the program after that if they did not receive support for it.
However, the guys applauded Winston “Gypsy” Peters, chairman of the National Carnival Commission, for his patience with them.
“The chairman was 100 percent supporting us, he really fight for us,” noted Ragoonanan.
