Terry Joseph
Born in Laventille, Trinidad in August, 1947:
Terry Joseph is a graduate of Trinity College
and the University of the West Indies management
programme who, in 1984, switched careers from
Human Resources Management to full-time
researcher/writer on topics highlighting but not
limited to Trinidad and Tobago's indigenous arts
and entertainment.
Among his major commissions over the past four
years has been an appointment as Project
Director of the visit to Trinidad and Tobago by
former President of South Africa, Mr. Nelson
Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, a
multi-faceted three-day intensive event
undertaken in concert with the Government of
Trinidad and Tobago and more recently, producer
of the Cultural Expressions concert to mark the
visit of Nigerian President Chief Olusegun
Obasanjo.
Trained in theatre arts by Nobel Laureate Derek
Walcott, Joseph later worked as a copywriter
with advertising companies, functioned in all
aspects of newsgathering media and has
produced/hosted several features for radio and
television. Early in 2005 he served as
coordinator in bringing on air television
channels 4 & 16.
Since 2001, he has been annually commissioned to
conceptualize and implement themes for Trinidad
and Tobago Carnival. He has created several
major entertainment events showcasing Trinidad
and Tobago's indigenous arts, among his credits
the Panyard Vibrations series and co-creation of
the annual Laventille Steelband Festival and Pan
Trinbago's Pan in the 21 st Century
contest. He has been a consultant to the
Trinidad and Tobago Steelpan and Jazz Festival
from inception.
Joseph was one of a small group of mas band
producers who founded the National Carnival
Bands Association (NCBA), which he chaired for
three consecutive terms, voluntarily stepping
down in 1991; when his ascendancy in media
harboured potential for a conflict of interests.
He served on various juries for the parade of
carnival bands and national calypso competition
finals before being appointed to the Board of
the Carnival Development Committee (CDC) and
later the National Carnival Commission (NCC). In
1993 he mediated a volatile conflict between two
major calypso groupings, harmonizing them into
what is now known as TUCO – the Trinbago Unified
Calypsonians Organisation.
Joseph rejoined the NCC in 1993 as Media
Projects Executive, which included the role of
advisor to Pan Trinbago but returned to The
Express newspaper in 1994 as Entertainment
Specialist, a position later varied to that of
contractor, before his separation from the CCN
Group in August 2006. In the interim, he has
visited numerous Carnivals and Steelband events
around the world and writes on festivals of such
orientation for a number of publications abroad.
Joseph has written and delivered several
research papers for the University of the West
Indies' Centre for Creative and Festival Arts
and the Institute for the Study of Carnival Arts
and is a major contributing author to the
Government-commissioned 300-page book "Trinidad
and Tobago, Terrific and Tranquil", "QRC 2004"
the history of Queen's Royal College and the
recently-released "Legacy of the Soca Warriors."