Ms Tangiera Huggins, an entrepreneur, has taken the initiative to assist young people in Anguilla to develop their skills in costume design.
The group recently participated in a visual Costume Design workshop conducted by Carni Cademy by Fonrose out of Trinidad.
Some of these include craft fundamentals, feather types, feather shaping, tips and tricks from makeup to photography, costume production, pros and cons of entering the carnival industry, networking and marketing and building your brand.
The workshop was an intense course to prep new and budding designers for the return of the Carnival Industry.
“I’ve had the privilege to work with other designers in the past and that grew my passion,” Ms Huggins told The Anguillian at the start of the workshop.
Ms Huggins who has her own business, FETEWARE, has been making her own personal costumes for the past 2 years, and have made costumes for other persons in the community.
The young talented artist said if all goes well next year, and if the island is not hampered by the pandemic, she hopes to have a troupe on a section on the road. However, she said, “this is just a start and we are going to do so much more.”
Players Carnival Troupe led, by Ms Kafi Gumbs and Charonay Carty, collaborated with Ms Huggins to sponsor the workshop.
“We heard about this initiative that Ms Huggins was trying to do, and we came onboard to sponsor it.” Ms. Gumbs said, “We recognize the economic climate that we are in, persons are unemployed and persons who might have had an interest may not have the financial means to do so, and we saw this as an opportunity to help.”
“Players Carnival Troupe is extremely happy to be on board, I think it is a very good avenue not only for Ms Huggins, but for other aspiring costume designers on the island. Players Carnival Troupe has been around for 10 years and we have always sought the expertise of persons overseas.”
She continued: “I think this is the beginning of something great and hopefully in the future, we can go to Ms Huggins or other participants from the workshop to design and construct our costumes for Players Troupe.”
Although the visual workshop conducted by Fonrose has ended, the Costume Design sessions will continue with Ms Huggins facilitating the local course for young people.
She said persons who are interested in registering for the upcoming sessions can email her at Feteware@gmail.com or contact her 583-2952.
