I am Bevon Phillips, President of the Pan Players Association of Trinidad and Tobago, We would like to hear your views on a couple of items before we move on.
(1) Is Pan Trinbago a union?.
(2) Can a union collect subvention from the government to exist?.
(3) Which arm of Pan Trinbago throws a competition where the prize money comes from the government?.
(4) Which arm collects Ten Percent (10%) from each band?.
(5) Can a pan player vote?.
(6) To whom does the (2) two vote system represent?.
(7) What about the performing and neighbouring rights of the players?.
(8) What percentage of the winnings belong to the player?.
(9) Should Executives of bands be hand picked or selected by members?.
(10) What recourse is there for a player?.
Replies
Bevon
Let me answer your question,so we can try to clear up a few things
(1) PT is an Association of bona fide Steelbands.There are Honorary members,and affiliate members (tuners,players,arrangers etc),with no voting rights......It's not a Union.
(2) PT is not a Union,it's supposed to be a non-profit organization....it's therfor legal and ethical to collect government subvention.
(3) I believe it's whole of PT that throws the Panorama/other PT competition.
(4) PT collects the 10% as far as I am aware.
(5) Yes,if he is a band appointed delegate.
(6) Each band two votes is suppose to represent the delegates band interest.
(7) This is an interesting observation and needs to be discuss.
(8) Each band would/should have their own formula, and/or agreements with individuals players of a combination of the both.
(9) Each band's constitution should guide members as to select and/or elect (or a combination of the both) it's Executive.
(10) That would depend on the player's personal goals and self motivation
I hope these help the discussion.
Regards and best wishes.
Concerning Bede's point which strikes the head of the nail ( for too long have we stood-bye and watched while they sat aside and loot ) Bob Marley.Development Through Co-operation are the watchwords of T,T,P,P,A with the focus being SOLUTIONS ! Twelve months SALARY for PLAYER ? Answer A PAN PLAYER ACADEMY with Grade 3-5 one can be a TUTOR or a TEACHER in any primary school in the COMMONWEALTH whereby attaining economic viability to in FUTURE SERVICE the thousands of Institutions Worldwide We are an Officially Registered Organization feel free to join email Panclef@live.com
The academy is a great idea. Way to go!
Sounds like a lot of work to get it going, but it will clearly be worth it!
Bevon,
I suspect that most of these questions are rhetorical -- you already know the answers. These answers lie in the constitution of the organisation and in its history, the way it has grown and developed.
Some other questions raise interesting 'other' questions. I am particularly interested in what you seem to be suggesting -- that PT holds a competition, the govt pays the prize money and PT collects a percentage of this. Is this it?
Then there is the question of the performing rights of the players. Excellent. But you are president of the Pan Payers Association. This is clearly your fight. If you wish to know the level of support you will get in this fight. I think you must be direct and ask for it!
One suggestion, though. Your association must not only struggle to get a larger slice of the pie from what PT earns. You should actively try to seek other avenues for pannists -- ways to develop, to earn some of the funds out in the world that, at the moment I fear, many foreign pannists are going to tap into and use to get rich.
Excellent questions, but that's not you want to hear. Some people seem to think that the answers lie in Pan Trinbago, but I would strongly suggest that the Pan Player look in his/her pan yard for the answer.
Are the "executives" of bands in the same corner as the player? Recourse? Stop playing pan. "Executives" and PT hold players 'ho$tage', because of their (players) love of pan.
Hi Bevon,
These are high level questions that would best be answered by obtaining and reading the original documents at the conceptual stage of the creation of Pan Trinbago and any other amendments to its constitution.
It sounds like you already have that info and you sending out your feelers to sense the support across the WST. These are all valid questions, so be prepared to lead the players to enjoy some of the financial rewards.
Mike
Good questions Bevon, that 2 vote system have to go NOW. Pan Trinbago is a Dictatorship they too have to go NOW.
These are some Good Questions you are Asking Bevon, I hope you get the answers, the only thing is a lot of us on this Forum does not belong to Pantrinbago and these Questions are about Pantrinbago, Good Luck