Caribbean Festival of Arts, commonly known as Carifesta, is a multicultural event organized on periodic basis by the countries of the Caribbean

Caribbean

The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...

. The main purpose is to gather artists, musicians, authors, and to exhibit the folkloric and artistic manifestations of the region.

The first Caribbean Festival of Arts took place in Guyana

Guyana

Guyana , officially the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, previously the colony of British Guiana, is a sovereign state on the northern coast of South America that is culturally part of the Anglophone Caribbean. Guyana was a former colony of the Dutch and of the British...

 in 1972. This event was organized by Guyana's Forbes Burnham

Forbes Burnham

Linden Forbes Sampson Burnham was the leader of Guyana from 1964 until his death, first as Premier from 1964 to 1966, then as the Prime Minister from 1966 to 1980 and finally as President from 1980 to 1985....

, based on a similar event that took place in Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...

 in year 1952.

List of Carifesta events
Carifesta	Date	Host
Carifesta 1972	August 25 to September 15	Guyana Guyana Guyana , officially the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, previously the colony of British Guiana, is a sovereign state on the northern coast of South America that is culturally part of the Anglophone Caribbean. Guyana was a former colony of the Dutch and of the British...
Carifesta 1976	July 23 to August 2	Jamaica Jamaica Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
Carifesta 1979	Havana	Cuba Cuba The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
Carifesta 1981	July 19 to August 3	Barbados Barbados Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles. It is in length and as much as in width, amounting to . It is situated in the western area of the North Atlantic and 100 kilometres east of the Windward Islands and the Caribbean Sea; therein, it is about east of the islands of Saint...
Carifesta 1992	August 22–28	Trinidad & Tobago
Carifesta 1995	August	Trinidad & Tobago
Carifesta 2000	August 17–26	Saint Kitts & Nevis
Carifesta 2003	August 25–30	Surinam
Carifesta 2006	September	Trinidad & Tobago
Carifesta 2008	August	Guyana Guyana Guyana , officially the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, previously the colony of British Guiana, is a sovereign state on the northern coast of South America that is culturally part of the Anglophone Caribbean. Guyana was a former colony of the Dutch and of the British...
Carifesta 2010	Canceled	The Bahamas The Bahamas The Bahamas , officially the Commonwealth of the Bahamas, is a nation consisting of 29 islands, 661 cays, and 2,387 islets . It is located in the Atlantic Ocean north of Cuba and Hispaniola , northwest of the Turks and Caicos Islands, and southeast of the United States...

External links

• Carifesta - Official Web Site
• Historical CARIFESTA documents in the Digital Library of the Caribbean
• CARIFESTA: The Caribbean Festival of Arts - CARICOM Web Site on Carifesta.
• Digital UNICEF report from 'Carifesta' in Guyana