Cultural Ambassador Recording Centre open
The Barbados Cultural Ambassador Recording Centre is officially open for business.
Minister of Culture, Sports and Youth, Stephen Lashley, while speaking recently at the official opening of the recording centre at its home at #16 Pelican Craft Centre, indicated that this achievement is a testament to government’s commitment to the music industry.
According to him, “Barbados has been able to produce some of the best [music] in the world. Indeed this development comes in the form of a dedicated space called the Cultural Ambassadors Recording Centre, where creativity and training combined will enhance the ever increasing and amazing talent that springs from Barbados. This recording studio is yet another manifestation of the Government’s commitment to position the cultural industries as a firm economic platform, not only through the assistance that will be given to emerging artists, but also developing a cadre of seldom highlighted skills and talents – that of live studio musicians, producers and sound recording engineers. This initiative represents some of the industry-related deliverables that will help prepare our young people and other stakeholders to seize economic opportunities available by the cultural and creative sectors, as we have stated in our sustainable recovery plan of 2018, which has been approved by all of the social partners.”
He affirmed, “Our commitment to promote music production does not end here at this recording centre. A complementary space has been provided at #27 Pelican Village and it will provide a space for any creative or cultural ambassadors for rehearsal, or otherwise use that space for their creative endeavors. These two spaces are a very important part of the work being done by the Barbados Cultural Industries Development Authority (BCIA).
“Of course, without the contribution of the BIDC, the studio and space would have remained a mere idea, therefore I want to thank Minister Donville Inniss, Barbados Investment Development Corporation (BIDC) Chairman and staff for being part of this great vision and this initiative can only redound to the benefit of cultural practitioners in particular and Barbados in general,” he added, while also acknowledging the great work of the Barbados Community College Music Department.
Minister Lashley also expressed concern “that too often we have heard the complaint that far too many of our recordings are not well recorded or produced, but with the establishment of this Centre there should be a greatly reduced number of such complaints”.
“The rational for this Centre encompasses the identification of new music talent, removal of the obstacle of the cost factors that hinder the development of high quality music products by emerging artists, the creation of a space in which music producers, sound engineers and other personnel can be trained to international standards …The Centre will be a space to archive Barbadians musical heritage, it will also serve as a teaching Centre for generations to come,” he noted. (NB)