I had a dynamic but cautious grandmother who would tell me to ‘tek taim gwaan faas’—go quickly but carefully. It is a cultural reminder of the danger and necessity of haste as we make reasoned decisions to meet the urgent imperatives of sustainable development. The recent choice of the Government to reopen the entertainment subsector of Jamaica’s cultural and creative industries brought my grandmother’s warning home.

Press Gas

The entertainment sector asked the prime minister to ‘press gas’. He heeded to this unannounced lobby. Questions have since been raised about the terms of the act of throwing open the cultural and creative sector, and in turn leisure and recreation. It revealed policy choices that have since been criticised for emphasising the inequities and divides that characterise the Jamaican cultural economy.

Additionally, having opened up the sector at the beginning of July, and following the staging of several small and large events, ostensibly within the prescriptions and restrictions of various authorities, there has been a storm surge of a third wave of COVID-19 cases. Personal and organisational responsibilities of the mega events industry, a small but well capitalised sector of the Jamaican cultural economy have come into question. They were allowed to continue with their activities even when the clear and present danger of a third wave of the deadly virus loomed.

Majority of Minority Rule?

Recent research establishes that the majority of cultural and creative practitioners are amongst the working poor. In a sector that focuses on celebrity, success and the popularity of creatives in the public eye, micro and small enterprises, freelancers and independents in the gig-economy are predominant. Have the decisions made designed to benefit the representative majority of the sector said to earn less than $J1 million per year? Hindsight is 20-20. Having made their decision now the Government has new responsibilities to the cultural and creative sector. The question to be asked now is: What the decision making-mix will be for the cultural and creative sector? Will it be designed to address the needs of the vulnerable majority in the sector or continue to favour the trickle down from a capitalised minority?

Government responsibility

There is urgent necessity for policy actions that impact short, medium and long-term cultural economy development to be fast-tracked. The ballgame has changed since the public policy reform process for culture began in 2014.

Policy reform before the pandemic focused on revision, repair and expansion of a growing sector. In the seven years since, thinking behind the cultural policy development process has changed globally. So has the global political climate, the economic realities and the ways in which the sector operates. It stands to reason therefore that plans for sector governance must keep pace. Now it has to focus on rebuilding, from scratch. This is not a threat. It presents opportunities.

Tek Taim?

So having pressed gas and stalled I suggest we now heed grandma and ‘tek taim gwaan faas’ with policy development. For a decade there has been talk of getting into development mode as we seek to indigenise our cultural economy model for sustainable growth. There is an urgency of now as creatives continue to suffer but we have to think them through properly.

These are some practical, short-term steps in that direction as we tek taim gwaan faas with the development of cultural and creative industries while mid- and long-term structures are crafted with care. Let’s start with some possible recovery activities that can increase the spread of jobs across generations, skill sets and levels of competency and geography in the sector in the short term that do not require mass events.

Creative Pods

As we are clearly far from out of the woods with this infectious virus, perhaps a content production model that uses small remote creative teams can be considered. After all, creative pods can exist anywhere as long as the reporting and accountability structures are sound and technology robust. Questions prevail about face-to-face teaching in September. Early childhood students need age appropriate, culturally specific engagement, all sectors need communication messaging. There is great need for multimedia content to support public sector initiatives.

Place emphasis on staging ‘festivals of content’ — that is the creation of a variety of digital and multimedia content products that employ teams from across creative sectors. Through the Culture, Health, Arts, Sports and Education (CHASE)Fund create a fund for the production of development content. Create a programme through the Universal Fund to create content for tablets for schools — vibrant animated and dramatic didactic content to supplement talking heads curriculum delivery.

Encourage the formation of professional creative pods with core content development competencies included — design, soundtrack, script, production, post-production, and each pod must have new graduate interns assigned.

Develop, through bi and multilateral assistance, a paid internship programme that allows for work and study for young CCI graduates to be attached to small firms, professional associations or pods to help build capacity of the firms and provide remuneration and professional development for graduates. Create a secretariat for the pods at CPTC or PBCJ studios to provide access to shared, subsidised production facilities. Guarantee distribution of content through public-private partnerships. Facilitate the negotiation of equitable local distribution deals and create bilateral agreements to facilitate external trade of content with non-traditional partners, preferably South South.

Stimuli

Provide financial incentives for creatives who sign up to the Cultural and Creative Industries Registry. Incentivise corporate sponsorship, investment and funding of content podshired to produce corporate activities and solve creative challenges. From an infrastructure sector cess fund the refurbishing of an unused government building for creative professional associations, with shared administrative human resources from the establishment; upkeep of the building and cover honoraria for aging Master craftspersons to teach master classes. Design and implement a recording studio, online gallery and sound system incentive programmes. Identify grant financing for existing professional and amateur artistictheatrical groups — with paid internship attachments and corporate incentives for hiring these groups.

Several other suggestions from colleagues have been received. Carole Beckford, Investment executive in CCIs including sports suggests that the Development Bank of Jamaica and the EXIM Bank can create a special fund to boost the sector.

HR professional and jeweller Damaris Mayne suggested that Government rethink the tax structure for small earners under 2.5 million, National Insurance Scheme (NIS), National Housing Trust (NHT), ED Tax can become onerous when creatives are not earning. Perhaps a small monthly flat tax that one can budget to pay that would give access to the benefits of these institutions. She also proposed unemployment insurance and that NIS can be expanded and rethought to assist in this area. Temporary Tax Compliance Certificate (TCC ) relaxation and access to government contracts for small businesses is another possibility. Also, review the importation tax on raw material especially when it is calculated on shipping cost.

Here is one we share, creative literacy for financiers. Banks need to train some lending officers to specialise in creative client servicing. This is an article all of its own. As are medium- to long-term proposals for cultural economy development in Jamaica land we love.

Dr Deborah Hickling Gordon, PHD, coordinates the cultural and creative industries and Entertainment Management programmes at UWI Mona; is a member of the UNESCO global, CARICOM regional, and the UNESCO Transcultura Cultural Economy expert-facilities. She is a director of Ink and Vision Ltd; president of Women in Film and Television — Jamaica and Convener of the Public Relations Society of Jamaica.