PIRATES WEEK SETS SAIL AGAIN!

Cayman is gearing up for a grand 2024 Pirates Week celebration with major attractions this year being District Days and the popular Gimistory.

Hon. Minister for Culture Dwayne Seymour is leading a drive to invigorate Pirates Weeks even further as a major national Caymanian cultural event and tourist attraction.

Appearing on the Cayman Conversations podcast with Ralph Lewis (publisher of Caymanian Times newspaper), Mr Seymour was gushing with optimism for this year’s celebration.

Pirates Week was ‘launched’ in 1977.

“We’re trying to transport festival goers down a nostalgic path as we look back at the history of Pirates Week over the decades since 1977. This makes Pirates Week the actual oldest festival in Cayman, and we’re celebrating 47 years of Pirates Week festivals,” he explained.

Mr Seymour further pointed out that Pirates Week is “less of a celebration of piracy, and instead an annual celebration of its rich maritime history and heritage and culture of our people”

There’s also a strong economic component to the event, in addition to its cultural significance.

“Over the years, Pirate Week continues to be an important economic driver for the Cayman Islands, especially during this time of the year, when we have historically witnessed a decline in tourism, and one that had been put in place to ensure that that we got some tourists here to the island during this downtime. So an essence of and focus on the festival is to reinvigorate some local traditions and promote community involvement.”

The return of a comprehensive program of events for District Days in Grand Cayman and the Sister Islands is also a feature that Culture Minister Seymour is excited about. “This much-beloved feature of the Pirates Week Festival will feature Grand Cayman’s five districts, along with Little Cayman and Cayman Brac, showcasing local cuisine, arts & crafts, and activities that reflect the unique culture of each respective district.”

The inclusion of the uniquely Caymanian Gimistory art of storytelling coordinated by the the Pirates Week steering committee, in partnership with the Cayman National Cultural Foundation (CNCF).

“Through song, dance, and storytelling, Caymanian folklore comes to life, with beloved storytellers like Wendee Miller, Lesley-Ann Bernard, Josefa and Evana Martinez, Martin Keeley, and Nasaria Suckoo Chollette sharing tales of the islands’ past.”

Cassandra Shea, Head of Theatre and Festivals at the Foundation, expressed her enthusiasm, stating, “We are thrilled to continue the legacy of storytelling with this year’s Gimistory Festival. Whether attendees are hearing these tales for the first time or reminiscing about stories from their grandparents, this timeless art form resonates across generations,” it says on the social media page.

Minister of Culture Dwayne Seymour told Cayman Conversations that he has lobbied hard for proper funding and management of Pirates Week and its associated activities. As he succinctly put it: “Vision without funding is hallucination.”

Elaborating on the need for funding and oversight to preserve and promote Caymanian culture he added: “The government needs to step up, and, you know, put their money where their mouth is, and fund culture properly. It has never been funded properly. Some don’t see the vision in funding culture properly. But once you fund culture properly, then it doesn’t seem like it’s lost. It seems like it’s lost because nothing is happening, because no one, no program is there, affording you the culture product. So, it seems like our culture is lost because we’re not doing the things that we used to do. That’s my opinion.”

With a theme of ‘Sailing through time’, the Pirates Week Festival runs from November 11th to November 30th.