(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) With the Launch of the newly established Regional Task Force on Cultural Industries, the new Co-Chairman, Mr Adrian Augier envisages that the Task Force would begin a process of change by providing new avenues and opportunities for artists and cultural workers to explore and excel in their creative endeavours.
Speaking this morning (23 October 2008) at the Launch and Inaugural meeting of the Regional Task Force on Cultural Industries, the Saint Lucian Poet and Producer noted that the romantic notion of the starving artist was by no means appealing to contemporary artists who want to make a contribution to their society and want that contribution to be acknowledged and valued.
“The artist of the 21st Century,” he said “wishes to partake in a decent viable, respectable existence where his/her contribution to the government treasury and indeed the intellectual treasury of the Region is recognized and valued.”
In this regard therefore, Mr Augier stated that while the task of developing a comprehensive Regional Development Strategy and Action Plan for Cultural Industries in the Region might be daunting, it was one which the Task Force was prepared to tackle as it would highlight the key changes needed in government policy and in the financial sector to make the cultural industries more competitive.
He said that the Task Force would also need to address the difficulties encountered by artists trying to benefit from the free movement provision under the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME) and would also explore how to effectively implement the culture provision of the Economic Partnership Agreement recently signed with the European Union and CARIFORUM.
Among the priority actions which the Task Force would undertake for the ensuing months, Mr Augier pointed out, was to make recommendations for an appropriate incentives regime for cultural industries. This would include recommendations for an approach to providing relief from Tarrifs and Other Duties and Charges on products that are inputs to cultural industries, which according to Mr Augier, was central and critical to boosting the competitiveness of the innovative, indigenous industries.
Additionally, the Task Force will focus on strengthening regional cultural institutions including the Caribbean’s Festival of the Arts (CARIFESTA) and the CARICOM Foundation for Art and Culture.
The new Co-Chair added that there would be widespread consultations with stakeholders which would culminate in a report to be submitted for consideration by Ministers of Culture, Trade and Finance. This he anticipated would be done by 2009.
The Regional Task Force on Cultural Industries was established to facilitate the development of a comprehensive Regional Development Strategy and Action Plan for the Region’s Cultural Industries.
According to Dr Edward Greene, Assistant Secretary-General, Human and Social Development “the Task Force arises from an appreciation for the need for national and regional collaboration among key persons active in cultural industries and in the Regional Ministries of Culture, Trade and Finance.”
The twenty-member Task Force brings together representatives from the cultural industries; government representatives in culture, trade and finance; educational institutions and the private financial sector; and representatives of regional organizations including the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) Secretariat, Caribbean Export, the Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery (CRNM) and the CARICOM Secretariat.
The Task Force, which is co-chaired by Government Representative Mr Sydney Bartley, Principal Director, Culture and Entertainment, Jamaica, held its first two-day meeting on Thursday and Friday, 23- 24 October, 2008.
