Senator Dr Dana Morris Dixon, minister of education, skills, and youth, recently unveiled a series of game-changing initiatives designed to formalise and strengthen Jamaica’s creative economy.

She was delivering the keynote address at the Marcus Garvey Awards for Excellence in the Performing Arts.

“Excellence in the arts is excellence in nation-building,” Morris Dixon declared. “Creativity is a gift and a calling… whether through performance, teaching, design, or innovation, you are blazing the trail for others to follow, and we are deeply proud of you.”

The event was hosted by Jamaica Cultural Development Commission (JCDC) on Wednesday, October 15, 2025. The event, which marks the culmination of the JCDC’s annual Festival of the Performing Arts, celebrated Jamaica’s finest talents across multiple disciplines, including dance, drama, music, speech, and visual arts.

The minister outlined the Government’s strategic commitment to developing a structured “Creative Education Pathway”, aimed at transforming raw talent into viable, sustainable careers. This pathway will include:

• establishment of three performing arts secondary schools, designed to integrate artistic excellence with rigorous academics

• early identification of talent through expanded arts exposure in primary and secondary schools

• A Cultural Apprenticeship Programme, offering structured mentorship, certification, and stipends for emerging creatives.

Under the Cultural Apprenticeship Programme, 200 young people will be trained and paid a stipend of up to $69,000 per month during the pilot phase.

Participants will be matched with experienced mentors in fields such as theatre production, music, film, visual arts, stagecraft, arts management, and other creative disciplines.

“We must build a talent pipeline,” the minister emphasised. “A pipeline that nurtures creativity from the earliest years, refines it through specialized education, and connects it to markets both local and global. This is how we move from individual brilliance to a thriving, self-sustaining creative industry. We have so many brilliant and talent students. The new education system will recognise and encourage creative interests.”

The minister also reaffirmed Jamaica’s global potential in the creative economy, noting that the International Finance Corporation estimates the global creative industries generate over US$2 trillion annually and support nearly 50 million jobs worldwide.

Since its inception in 1994, the awards have provided training, exposure, and recognition for thousands of Jamaican creatives and have nurtured generations of talent that have contributed to the country’s cultural and creative industries.

Members of Port Antonio Cultural Group deliver a vibrant performance during the Marcus Garvey Awards for Excellence ceremony held on Wednesday, October 15, 2025, at Little Theatre.