The Tribune

By EARYEL BOWLEG

Tribune Staff Reporter

ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

THE Junkanoo season officially kicked off last night as the National Junkanoo Authority dispersed more than $900,000 in seed funding to groups and individuals across the country.

Approximately 26 groups in the D category, 16 in the B category, eight in the A category, about five fun groups and several Family Island groups signed Junkanoo contracts outlining the terms and conditions for participation.

Family Island groups included those from Eleuthera, Grand Bahama, and Central and North Andros.

Junkanoo seed funding remains unchanged, with A groups receiving $40,000 and B groups receiving $20,000.

The Junkanoo Authority was created after the National Junkanoo Authority of The Bahamas Bill was passed in March 2026. However, it was not fully established until its members received their instruments of appointment and held their first meeting approximately three weeks ago.

Prior to the bill's passage, a dispute between the government and the Junkanoo community escalated last October when the government transferred oversight of the 2025 Junkanoo parades from the Junkanoo Corporation of New Providence (JCNP) to the National Junkanoo Committee (NJC).

The JCNP previously likened the bill to an attempt to centralise control and roll back the organisation’s self-governance.

In her remarks, Culture Minister Leslia Miller-Brice said expansion efforts would focus on making Junkanoo accessible year-round through schools and tourism, beyond the traditional parade dates.

She noted that the ministry has begun gathering information on the sustainability of Junkanoo and the condition and needs of Junkanoo shacks.

“As we enter another season, let it also be one marked by respect and responsibility. Let us compete fiercely but respectfully. Let us celebrate loudly but safely. Let us look out for one another and be our brother's keeper. Let us protect our children and our young people.

“Let us respect our groups, our officials, and the people who work behind the scenes. And when the competition is over, let us remember that while we may rush under different banners, we all carry the same culture.”

She added that organisations that have historically played a role in Junkanoo remain an important source of knowledge, including the JCNP.

“Those organizations have done a fantastic job. I think we stand on their shoulders,” Mrs Miller-Brice said.

She said the ministry wants to collaborate with those organisations and benefit from the lessons they have learned over the years.

“It’s important for us to feed from them, to learn from them, and to gain the wealth of knowledge that they’ve gained over this time,” she said.

“To those persons who were a part of those organizations, we welcome the collaboration. Mr. Dion Miller, he is a part of the National Junkanoo Authority, and so he will be there to guide us, to help us, just to ensure that any mistakes that they would have made in the past, moving forward, that those same mistakes will not be made again.”

National Junkanoo Authority chairman Dr Christopher Curry confirmed that members received their appointment letters about three weeks ago and that the board has since held two meetings.

“We want to be financially viable, and of course, we work closely with the ministry and our minister to pull this event off," Dr Curry said.

"We had to get contracts collaboratively done with the ministry and with our authority, so that the Junkanoo season could be launched tonight, and so of course we're moving forward very fast. But of course, being prudent with what we do as an authority,” he said.

The ministry has also sought input through two surveys: the National Junkanoo Cost, Sustainability, and Economic Impact Survey and the Junkanoo Shack Location Survey.

Dr Curry said officials have established subcommittees to oversee various responsibilities, begun developing an annual budget and taken steps to strengthen the authority’s financial viability as a government entity.

He added that the authority has also started the process of establishing a management team and completed a strategic plan for the 2026–2027 fiscal year.

An election will be held this week to determine which Junkanoo group representatives will fill six seats on the Management and Planning Committee. Two delegates from each Junkanoo group will participate in the initial planning stages of the parades, with the first session scheduled for Friday.

JCNP chairman Dion Miller holds a statutory seat on the authority. He said this would be the first year the National Junkanoo Authority is fully operational.

Mr Miller said: “The Junkanoo Authority manages Junkanoo as a whole in The Bahamas. As it pertains to the role of the JCNP, the NJC, those particular individual roles will fall away, and under the banner of the Junkanoo Authority, so they'll be similar. Where they'll have different committees, such as parade, rules, etc."

“All of those structures will remain the same, just not under the banner of a JCNP or anything in that regard. So the Junkanoo Authority will be the umbrella, and everything else will fall under that umbrella.”

Despite last year’s tensions, Mr Miller appeared ready to put the disagreements behind him. He said collaboration and communication with the minister have been “stellar”.

Pressed on whether the JCNP’s powers had been diminished, he said: “It is what it is".

Mr Miller continued: "My focus now is moving forward, moving Junkanoo forward, united, and to push the culture forward. So any grievances that would have occurred in the past is in the past. My focus now as the chairman and as someone who's on the authority is to move the culture forward.”

Dr Curry confirmed the board attempted to include all statutory members in its first two meetings, but Mr Miller did not attend because he did not receive the communication.

Dr Curry said he has since spoken to Mr Miller and assured him that minutes from the previous meetings would be provided.

Mrs Miller-Brice added the failure to notify Mr Miller was not malicious and that the matter had been addressed.

“Definitely, it was not intentional, but I made sure that the challenge was corrected, now he's pulled in, and now we're ready to work,” she said.