Move to establish management unit for region’s creative industries
A business plan for a Caribbean Creative Industries Management Unit (CCIMU), a dedicated body to address the needs of the region’s cultural and creative industries, will be presented at a meeting in Trinidad and Tobago in June.
The issue was among matters discussed in Kingston last week as stakeholders sought to put into reality a decision by the Caribbean Community (Caricom) leaders at their Intersessional summit in February 2015 to recommend the establishment of the CCIMU.
The 28 stakeholders representing the creative industries of the region met here for the one-day consultation and, according to a Caricom statement issued afterwards, the unit will address the needs of the regional creative industries, including business development, trade opportunities, and the protection of artists’ and stakeholders’ intellectual property rights.
“The creative industries have shown impressive growth in terms of contribution to GDP (Gross Domestic Product) in many Caribbean islands such as St Lucia and Trinidad and Tobago. Yet the sector is faced with a number of challenges,” the statement noted.
Executive director of the Barbados-based Caribbean Export Development Agency (Caribbean Export), Pamela Coke-Hamilton, said that “the biggest gap has been the absence of a structure that looks at the monetisation of the creative industries for the region”.
“We lack a framework that actually measures or gives tangible voice to what needs to be done, how or what data can be collected, how it can actually be monetised, and how we can benefit from intellectual property value in the creative industries,” she added.
The Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) is providing funding for technical assistance to support the establishment of the CCIMU through the staging of stakeholder consultations and the development of a business plan for the Unit.
“CDB is pleased to be a partner in driving the establishment of the CCIMU. We view the creative industries as key to improving the competitiveness of the Caribbean economy and to guiding our region toward sustainable social and economic development,” said Edward Greene, chief of CDB’s Technical Cooperation Division.
Acting head of delegation of the European Union to Jamaica, Belize, The Bahamas, Turks & Caicos Islands and Cayman Islands, Jesús Orús Báguena, told the consultation that there was a huge potential for the Caribbean’s creative industries through the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA), signed in 2008, “by opening the EU market beyond WTO (World Trade Organisation) commitments in the services sectors, including creative and entertainment industries”.
“Filling the EPA with real life is about carrying out an ambitious reform agenda, creating an enabling environment for business and developing the competitiveness and capacity of the private sector to engage in trade,” he added.