Min­is­ter of Cul­ture and Com­mu­ni­ty De­vel­op­ment Michelle Ben­jamin has pledged sup­port for the steel­pan fra­ter­ni­ty af­ter the Na­tion­al Gas Com­pa­ny (NGC) with­drew spon­sor­ship from three Steel­bands.

The af­fect­ed bands are Cou­va Joy­lan­ders Steel Or­ches­tra, La Brea Nightin­gales Steel Or­ches­tra, and Steel X Plo­sion Steel Or­ches­tra in To­ba­go.

Ben­jamin said the steel­pan, as the na­tion­al in­stru­ment, holds a cen­tral place in the coun­try’s cul­tur­al iden­ti­ty and its fund­ing and sup­port re­main a high pri­or­i­ty, es­pe­cial­ly with Car­ni­val 2026 ap­proach­ing.