KINGSTON, Jamaica—The Phoenix Awards is set to join the national calendar of events, aimed at celebrating individuals working in the creative industries.

Playwright and nominee David Tulloch described the awards as a first-of-its-kind initiative that will highlight the entire cultural community.

“This award is a first of its kind. The Phoenix awards unites all of the cultural community, we have categories to recognise everyone. Not only actors but production teams including writers, producers; we even recognise other art forms such as poetry, dance and music all of which contribute to the storytelling process. We even have the category best concessionaires- because you go out to watch a production and food makes up the experience,” said Tulloch.

While the Phoenix awards are the brainchild of Tulloch, he noted that the push to bring the award show to a national stage has been an all out community effort.

“I started the Phoenix awards but going national was never a goal of mine. Throughout my conversations with others in the industry they really pushed me in the direction of thinking national, because of this underlying desire to unite the cultural community,” said Tulloch.

“I kept hearing my fellow colleagues clamoring for an event that recognises the breadth and depth of the creative community. So I decided to get everyone in a room and we got to work on building out a platform that would reflect inclusivity, while also helping to re- engage the general public around the culture sector,” added Tulloch.

The Phoenix awards, boasts a total of 48 categories, and will be held on March 30 at the Phillip Sherlock Creative Arts Centre.