The mission of ERS is to promote and educate on all aspects of Caribbean culture, in particular, the culture of carnival. Carnival culture includes annual parade bands, Calypso, Steel band, Disc jockey, Jouvert, and King and Queen of the band.

ERS provides financial assistance to members of West Indian Community who are experiencing financial hardship, such as those caused by natural disasters, death, education and other unforeseen circumstances.

ERS worls closley with the government and people of the U.S. towards the common good and contributes to the needs of our community in its uplifting standards.

ERS develops and implements programs related to the culture of carnival to all youths and institutions.  ERS also provides exchange among immigrant families of the West Indies and ethnic groups, and trives to continuously rxtend the heritage unto the children of these immigrant families within our communities.

History

Engine Room Section, Inc., (ERS) was founded in 1994 for the sole purpose of bringing back the ‘old time’ way of masquerading, or as Trinidadians would say ‘playing mas into the Annual Caribbean/American Carnival in the city of Boston. With this old school theme in mind a few of the fellas and girls got together and brought the original form of costuming, Mud Mas commonly known as “ole mas”, onto the Boston Carnival stage. From that point on Engine Room Section registered with the Massachusetts Attorney General’s office/Division of Public Charities as a non-profit social and cultural organization. From our humble beginning we have made our motto, ’Together As One”, the driving force in our methods of operation. We constantly strive to:

·         Organize and participate in the Annual Caribbean/American Carnival in the City of Boston.

·         Plan and manage events surrounding Carnival Week.

·         Develop and institute cultural and social programs based on our Diaspora and the rich legacy of our African, Caribbean, American and European heritage.

·         Maintain unity and harmony in our community that will motivate the younger generation to follow our example.

·         Provide an environment at our events and functions that is educationally enriching, fun and most of all affordable.

·         Assist in community based events that advance the quality of life for Caribbean/American residents of Massachusetts in general and Boston specifically.

·         Establish linkages with other community organizations to strengthen the understanding of our culture and our role as Caribbean/Americans in America.

Carnival Themes

From our inception in 1994 we have created and portrayed an array of themes that are historically significant to the Caribbean/American community in America and abroad. Our themes cover the gamut from local to global interest, political to comical and historical to satirical. Always, we try to be environmentally friendly and sensitive. 95% of our costumes are made of recycled materials. To date, we have depicted the following themes:

·         1994 Enjoy yourself (Coming out year)

·         1995 From the Mudderland

·         1996 Muddlympics

·         1997 Mud at Work

·         1998 “A day in the Devil’s wood yard” (The devil’s Wood yard is a mud volcano in Trinidad)

·         1999 Emancipation on the Farm

·         2000 Freedom to Struggle

·         2001 Down Under In the Outback

·         2002 Pompeii on the Avenue

·         2003 Out of Africa

·         2004 In the Engine Room

·         2005 Darkest Night

·         2006 Pirates of the Caribbean

·         2007 Birth of Civilization

·         2008 Muddgolia

·         2009 Barbarians at the Gate

·     2010 Mudd Rats