The steel­pan is be­ing pro­mot­ed not on­ly as Trinidad and To­ba­go’s na­tion­al mu­si­cal in­stru­ment, but as a ve­hi­cle for youth de­vel­op­ment and growth in the cul­tur­al in­dus­try.

As the coun­try marked World Steel­pan Day yes­ter­day, the Min­istry of Cul­ture and Com­mu­ni­ty De­vel­op­ment said young pan­nists could be­come the next gen­er­a­tion of com­posers, arrangers, ed­u­ca­tors, man­u­fac­tur­ers and cul­tur­al rep­re­sen­ta­tives.

Cul­ture Min­is­ter Michelle Ben­jamin said in­volve­ment in steel­pan can help young peo­ple de­vel­op dis­ci­pline, pro­duc­tiv­i­ty and tol­er­ance while build­ing con­fi­dence, cre­ativ­i­ty and an ap­pre­ci­a­tion for the coun­try’s cul­tur­al her­itage.