(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) The newly established Regional Task Force on Cultural Industries was officially launched today (23 October 2008) by the CARICOM Secretary-General at the CARICOM Secretariat.
The establishment of this Regional Task Force on Cultural Industries was mandated by both the Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED) and the Council for Human and Social Development (COHSOD) to facilitate the development of a comprehensive Regional Development Strategy and Action Plan for the Region’s Cultural Industries. The Report and recommendations of the Task Force will be discussed and acted upon by both Ministerial Councils as well as by the Council of Finance and Planning (COFAP).
In charging the Task Force, the CARICOM Secretary-General HE Edwin Carrington said the Task Force would be called upon to play a vital role in guiding the Community in exploiting the provisions of the recently signed European Union/CARIFORUM Economic Partnership Agreement, especially as it related to the cultural sector.
Noting that the Region’s cultural products were “competitive and important to the regional economy and central to our people’s identity and advancement” Mr Carrington called for a coordinated regional approach that would build on and energise and promote the development of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME) and encouraged the Task Force not to re-invent the wheel where sufficient research had already been conducted but to provide cutting edge ideas for the sustainability of our cultural industries.
In his capacity as CARICOM Head of Government with responsibility for Culture, Youth, Sport and Gender Development, President Runaldo Ronald Venetiaan of Suriname through a message, read by Her Excellency Ambassador Manorma Soeknandan, Ambassador of the Republic of Suriname to Guyana, Jamaica, Cuba and CARICOM, expressed confidence that the Task Force would produce a “robust, innovative and effective strategy appropriate to the Region’s unique context and needs in cultural industry development.” President Venetiaan pledged his support and commitment to ensuring that the outcome of the work of the Task Force received the attention of his colleague CARICOM Heads of Government.
Co-Chair of the Task Force Saint Lucian born poet and producer, Adrian Augier noted the significance of the moment for artists and cultural entrepreneurs, whom he said had waited too long for comprehensive policies, strategies and frameworks which were critical to their survival and prosperity, “given the economic significance and development potential of the creative industries in the Region.”
He was of the opinion that the strategy developed by the Task Force should address the many developmental challenges encountered by artists and cultural workers and should make it possible for the Region to sustain more full-time artists engaged in burgeoning cultural industries.
“Too often, artists and cultural entrepreneurs find themselves having great ideas which cannot be brought into reality for lack of institutional understanding, support and heaven forbid, financing,” Mr Augier stated passionately.
Acknowledging the mammoth challenge confronting the Task Force, the Co- Chair outlined plans, which include making recommendations for the appropriate incentives regime for cultural industries; strengthening regional cultural institutions and engaging in widespread consultations with stakeholders in the Region.
The Regional Task Force on Cultural Industries is funded by the European Union, through the Hub and Spokes Trade Project, which is administered by the Commonwealth Secretariat in collaboration with the CARICOM Secretariat
The Twenty-member Task Force comprises representatives from a wide cross section of relevant sectors: culture, industry; government, trade and finance; educational institutions and the private sector as well as 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.
