KINGSTON, Jamaica (JIS) – Revision of the country’s National Cultural Policy is slated for completion in the fourth quarter of the 2016/17 financial year.

Principal Director of Culture in the Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, Dr Janice Lindsay, made the disclosure during a forum held at The Knutsford Court Hotel in Kingston on December 14.

The forum, organised by the Jamaica Association of Composers, Authors and Publishers (JACAP) Limited was held under the theme: ‘Understanding the Rights and Benefits of Copyright’.  

“This is not something we are saying we are aiming to finalise, we are mandated to finalise the culture policy for a number of reasons,” Lindsay said in reading a statement from Culture Minister Olivia Grange.

She noted that the policy is being revised to reflect current trends and to position the cultural and creative industries to drive economic growth.  “We need a policy that is reflecting what is happening locally and globally,” Grange said.

The policy was first introduced in 2003 with an aim to make Jamaica a cultural super state.

JACAP is a not-for-profit collective management organisation (CMO)/copyright society established in 1998, which administrates the public performance, synchronisation and mechanical (reproduction) rights of lyricists (authors), music composers and music publishers in the country.

It is owned by its members, who are composers, authors and music publishers.

The objectives of JACAP include to manage, administer and grant licences for the exercise of any of the rights subsisting in the works of the members and affiliates; to collect fees and distribute these as royalties, along with any other monies payable for the exercise of such rights; advocate and recommend methods for the effective enforcement of copyright; and lobby local and international interests, including governments, on behalf of members.