(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) Assistant Secretary General, Human and Social Development in the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretariat said, Guyana’s offer to host the tenth staging of the Caribbean Festival of the Arts (CARIFESTA X) represents a homecoming for the Festival.
Speaking at the Opening Session of the Nineteenth Meeting of the Regional Culture Committee (RCC) held in Guyana 23-25 April, 2008, Dr Greene extended the CARICOM Secretariat’s appreciation to Guyana and in particular to the President, H.E. Bharrat Jagdeo for “so readily agreeing to host the festival, when in July last year, the newly elected Government of the Bahamas indicated that it was unable to undertake the task of hosting CARIFESTA X.”
He told the meeting of Directors of Culture, culture officers and other senior officials from the Region that it was fortuitous that Guyana had accepted the challenge albeit at short’s notice, as the Festival has returned to its birth place. Guyana hosted the first CARIFESTA in 1972. “We can all view this as the “homecoming” for CARIFESTA, returning after some 36 years, to its birthplace. We expect CARIFESTA X to be no less inspirational and enjoyable as the first CARIFESTA, of which event many among us have very fond memories,” Dr Greene declared.
Dr Greene also applauded the RCC for its work, asserting that the expert advice of the Directors of Culture would be brought to bear on issues related to culture, trade and the implementation of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy, and especially to the free movement of artists and cultural workers.
The RCC is an advisory body to the Ministers of Culture in the Council for Human and Social Development (COHSOD). Its mandate is to advise on cultural policy and other matters related to cultural development in the Region.
According to Dr Greene, the RCC has not only surpassed its mandate but its advocacy has led to greater appreciation by CARICOM governments, of the regional imperative to develop cultural industries “as a strategy that is important not only to our economic viability, but also for developing stronger perceptions of ourselves, our identity and the value of our unique cultural expressions, as a people of remarkable creativity.”
The three-day meeting has a packed agenda that will give expression to recommendations on the development of an appropriate culture-trade regional policy framework as well as the establishment of a Regional Task Force on Cultural Industries that will further pave the way for the development of Caribbean Cultural industries.
Cultural industries, according to Dr Greene, play an integral in the advancement of the Region in the global hemisphere.
“It has been demonstrated time and again that our cultural industries are renewable and sustainable; are fuelled by the creativity and dynamism of our youth, and are rooted in indigenous knowledge and intellectual capital. Many of our Member States have demonstrated that they have comparative advantage in the cultural industries, and have, as a result, developed and advanced their unique national brand in the global imagination,” the Assistant Secretary General stated.
As the Meeting continues, the RCC will be expected to review the recommendations made by the Interim Festival Directorate (IFD) which met on Tuesday, 22 April 2008 in respect of CARIFESTA X, and agree on a timeline for the delivery of the Festival. Issues related to the establishment and financing of the permanent management structure of CARIFESTA, will also receive the attention of the Meeting.
The CARIFORUM region recently concluded negotiations on an Economic Partnership Agreement with Europe, which has implications for the cultural sector. The RCC is also expected to advise on how best to realize tangible benefits for artists and cultural workers from this Agreement, and future trade Agreements that would be negotiated.
