During the Cultural Symposium cocktail reception at Hilton recently, David and Noelle Kirton received the winning prize for the Pitch Competition from Stephen Lashley, Minister of Culture, Sports & Youth (second from left) and Rebie Cumberbatch, Sagicor representative.
Tackling challenges in cultural industries
Mon, 05/09/2016 - 12:07am
By:
Nadia Brancker
Dr. Adrian Cummins, Chairman of the Board of the Barbados Cultural Industries Development Authority (CIDA), has indicated that research has shown the two major challenges facing the cultural industries are financing and product development and these are two main areas to be addressed in an effort to drive the sector forward.
He was speaking last week at the Cultural Industries Symposium 2016 at Hilton Barbados.
In March 2015, CIDA began its operations as a statutory body with the objective to stimulate the growth of the cultural industries of Barbados and to regulate the sector, which continues to emerge as a new platform for economic activity.
“As a result,” Dr. Cummins stated, “this year’s Cultural Industries Symposium, under the theme ‘Preparing Barbados’ Cultural Industries for Investment & Trade, is specifically designed to assist in the providing of strategic support needed to position the Cultural Industries for more trade opportunities and making them more attractive to investors.
“To address this deficit, CIDA convened experts from Barbados, the United Kingdom, Colombia, Canada and the USA, all possible direct markets for our cultural industries product, in order to share their knowledge and expertise with those within the sector.
“It is our hope that the Cultural Industries practitioners take advantage of this opportunity to evaluate, research and develop the necessary strategies to take their products forward and that those potential investors will see the potential for wealth generation that can be engendered for lending their support to Barbadian creative cultural brands.”
He revealed, “Over the next couple of months our support for the industry continues when we launch two major projects designed at assessing the state of the cultural industries. These will be our mapping exercise and our CDB EPA funded project, ‘Enhancing the Export Capacity of Cultural Entrepreneurs in Barbados’. We urge cultural practitioners to continue to work with the CIDA and our strategic partners as we move to position the creative economy of Barbados forward through our individual programmes and inter agency cooperation and partnerships...” (NB)