Creative entrepreneurs are to benefit from over US$1.8 million in new funds recently granted by the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) to support the development of the region’s cultural and creative industries (CCIs).

The funds approved by the bank’s board is to be held by its Creative Industries Innovation Fund (CIIF), a multi-donor endowment, established in 2017 to encourage innovation, job creation, and improved enterprise sustainability within the creative sector.

CDB’s Director of Projects Daniel Best, commenting on the investment, said it will go a far way in filling a “prevailing void” while helping to provide additional resources needed to create an enabling environment for the sector.

“We anticipate support for trade and export facilitation, marketing and distribution, human resource development, and research as well the development of legal and policy frameworks in our 19 borrowing member countries (BMCs),” he stated.

The CDB, through its continued investment in the fund, said that through its latest effort it is looking to increase the contributions of the creative industry to spur greater economic output, foreign exchange earnings, enhanced research, and improved competitiveness for its direct beneficiaries.

“This will build social resilience by ensuring no one is left behind and contribute to economic resilience for inclusive growth,” the bank said in a news release.

The creative economy, which globally is recognised as a key growth sector, adds meaningful contributions to the gross domestic product (GDP) of countries. For many it is also highly regarded as a critical sector needed to foster inclusive development, possessing both commercial and cultural value while presenting opportunities for human imagination and the exporting of social and cultural values.

The CIIF, which is governed by a cross section of regional organisations and administered by the CDB, has, since inception, financed a number of initiatives valued at over US$1.2 million. The grants, which have seen contributions in areas spanning music production, distribution, sales and events, audio visual, film, animation and gaming, festivals and carnivals, fashion and contemporary design, have been playing an active role in the facilitation of growth for the sector.

A recent piloting of a dedicated CIIF Haiti programme, the bank said, has also been set up to serve over 90 direct beneficiaries in the embattled country, marked by the implementation of three accelerator partnership grants and the development of a community of practice model aimed at increasing collaborative learning and sharing between creative stakeholders while delivering the development of online resources, toolkits and learning materials, and over US$100,000 in prize grants.

“Caribbean cultural entrepreneurs, micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), and business support organisations (BSOs) which support the creative industries will benefit from grants and capacity-building aid to increase competitiveness and improve data intelligence and analysis as we continue to construct programmes to enhance the creative economy,” CDB’s acting head of the private sector division, Lisa Harding, said.