Recognising the importance of the country’s national instrument, Government has approved TT$5 million for the establishment of a Steelpan Manufacturing Grant Fund Facility.
Speaking at a media conference on Tuesday, Trade and Industry Minister Paula Gopee-Scoon said the financial support will provide steelpan manufacturers with the means to acquire machinery, equipment, software, tools, raw material and training.
The funding will be made available in tranches of up to $250,000, but no more than $1,000,000 per entity.
Gopee-Scoon said Government was intent on seeing the country’s national instrument flourish at the global level with input from industry experts, tapping into the industry’s potential for job creation, increased foreign exchange earnings and economic diversification.
She urged manufacturers and tuners interested in stepping up their operations to take advantage of the initiative.
The Minister noted that the funding would assist in this regard, encouraging the modernisation and the improvement of the quality of steelpan manufacturing operations, ultimately bolstering the export product.
“We are confident that the successful implementation of the Steelpan Manufacturing Grant Fund Facility will lead to improvements in the production and tuning processes and enhance adherence to global quality standards. It will also be an important platform towards sustainable employment and expansion of exports of the only acoustic musical instrument developed in the twentieth century,” she said. 
Gopee-Scoon revealed that the MIC Institute of Technology (MIC-IT) will be responsible for administering this Facility due to its experience in technical and vocational training in steelpan manufacturing.
MIC-IT in October 2019 launched a customised steelpan manufacturing programme focusing on knowledge and practical skills in steelpan construction, tuning and fabrication.
The institute also runs a course in Mechanical Engineering Technology with Steelpan Manufacturing which provides training in steelpan construction and tuning, science of sound, sound engineering, music, welding and fabrication, mechanical technology and practical experiences on the varying pan manufacturing and tuning equipment.
MIC-IT Chairman Clement Imbert, who has a long history of involvement in the development of the steelpan, said the institute’s programmes are oversubscribed with very dropouts.
Minister Gopee-Scoon is due to meet with stakeholders to explain the process and identify any additional needs or concerns of industry leaders as she said Government is working to reach the “small man” with the funding.
A call for proposals will be published in newspapers and on the websites of the MTI, affiliated agencies and the Tobago House of Assembly (THA).
Source: The Loop, Jan 14, 2020

More geological activity has been discovered in South Trinidad after six new mud volcanoes were spotted. 
Researcher and geologist, Xavier Moonan, shared photos via social media showing the new formations in Los Iros. 
"New mud volcanoes! At least 6 new mud volcano cones have appeared over the last week in RE Trace, Los Iros. The new cones all occur along the trace of the August 21st 2018 earthquake fault rupture which completely offset the roads along RE Trace."
"Oil sheen and strong sent of hydrocarbons accompany the mudflow. Mud samples were collected for analysis," Moonan said. 
A resurgence of activity at the Piparo Mud Volcano in October 2019 caused panic among residents.
State officials monitored the mud volcano and some people were even evacuated after it began showing signs of activity including cracks in a nearby road and emissions of gas and mud.
The Piparo Mud Volcano is known for an eruption in 1997 which caused catastrophic damage to over 33 homes in the area. 
Source: The Loop, Jan 20, 2020

Trinidad & Tobago Laser Sailor, Andrew Lewis has secured his third Olympic qualification to represent the country at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
Lewis competed at the Hempel World Cup Series Miami which began on January 20.
During the five-day regatta Lewis finished 2nd, 4th, 3rd, 5th, 8th, 8th and 17th . There were 40 sailors in the annual race fleet with 15 athletes from three countries vying for the Olympic berth. 
Although he placed 4th overall, Lewis out-sailed his rivals from Canada and Mexico who were also competing for country spots to qualify for Tokyo 2020. The Hempel World Cup Series in Miami had one qualification spot available for the Olympics.
Commenting on his performance and qualification success, Lewis said, it was a long and difficult journey.
“This was a long hard journey, especially after the accident. I am thankful to God and my team for helping me along this path. Yesterday was the anniversary of when I started training with my coach, Javier Hernandez Cebrian, what better way to celebrate it than my Olympic qualification.”
He thanked his sponsors Atlantic, Tatil, Blue Waters, Republic Bank, as well as The Ministry of Sport & Youth Affairs and the Sport Company of Trinidad & Tobago.
Lewis also expressed thanks to the people of Trinidad & Tobago for its continued love and support, messages and positive vibes. Source: The Loop, Jan 26, 2020

A British dub poet who was raised in Trinidad has won the prestigious T.S. Eliot Prize for his book A Portable Paradise.
Poet Roger Robinson won the £25,000 award which was announced on January 13 at a ceremony in London.
Nine other books were shortlisted for the prize, the most valuable in UK poetry, and considered one of the literary world’s highest-profile honours.
Robinson is only the second Caribbean writer to win the prize, following Nobel laureate Derek Walcott, who won in 2011 for his book White Egrets.
A release from Bocas Lit Fest said Robinson's book. published by Peepal Tree Press, ranges in subject from family and ancestry to the perils of making art, but has been most celebrated for a sequence of poems addressing London’s tragic Grenfell Tower fire.
“There was a strong sense of humanity to the book,” said the chair of the prize judges, poet John Burnside.
“It came down to how moving the personal poems were and how relatable and accessible his poetry about his family was, alongside the more political parts about black history, Grenfell and the NHS. There is a wonderful balance of the public and the personal in this collection. It is passionate and sociologically engaged….
“Poets have always written about injustices like racism and misogyny, because poetry is a great medium for that, as it engages all of our faculties, our abilities as humans, our empathies. When people are overtaken about rationality, they forget humanity and pity. Poetry reminds us of those traits again.”
Born in London to Trinidadian parents, Robinson was raised in Trinidad. He returned to Britain at age 19 and since then has divided his time between the two countries — calling himself “a British resident with a Trini sensibility.”
Beginning as a spoken word performer in the 1990s, he was chosen as a British Next Generation poet in 1999, and published his first collection, Suckle, in 2009. His book The Butterfly Hotel was longlisted for the OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature in 2014.
“Roger Robinson’s win is a triumph not just for him but for Caribbean poetry,” says Marina Salandy-Brown, founder and director of the Bocas Lit Fest. “As well as for our partner Peepal Tree Press, the most prolific publisher of Caribbean poets over the past three decades. This is a time of great opportunity for our writers.”
Robinson is scheduled to participate in the 2020 NGC Bocas Lit Fest in May.
The T.S. Eliot Prize is the latest in a series of recent international successes for Trinidad-born authors. In November 2019, writer Ian Williams was named the winner of Canada’s Giller Prize, that country’s most prestigious award for fiction, for his novel Reproduction. (The Giller Prize was previously won by Trinidad-born Andre Alexis in 2015.)
Also in 2019, Claire Adam won the Desmond Elliot Prize — “the UK’s most prestigious award for first-time novelists” — for Golden Child. In 2016, Vahni Capildeo was named winner of the Forward Prize for Poetry for her book Measures of Expatriation, and in 2017 and 2018 poets Richard Georges and Shivanee Ramlochan were shortlisted for the Forward Felix Dennis Prize for Best First Collection.
According to Bocas, Caribbean writers have taken home many other coveted prizes in the UK and USA in the last four to five years
The 2020 NGC Bocas Lit Fest, this country’s annual literary festival is set to take place May 1 t- 3 and The Bocas Lit Fest which runs it will officially launch its plans for its 10th year with an ‘open house’ event on January 22 at The Writers Centre, 14 Alcazar Street, St Clair.   Source: The Loop, Jan 14, 2020