Creativity in the Caribbean

“Fostering New Policies for Creativity in the Caribbean’

Best known for its music scene and for being home to world stars such as Bob Marley, the queen of pop, Rihanna, and hip hop artist Nicki Minaj – the Caribbean region hosts a hive of cultural creativity bursting with new talents.

Recognizing the Caribbean’s important creative contribution to the global creative economy and its potential to participate as an equal partner in the global flow of cultural goods and services, UNESCO held a specialized three day forum 27-29 June in Bridgetown, Barbados, on how the region can better benefit from the 2005 Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions, now ratified by 143 countries and the European Union.

Entitled “Fostering New Policies for Creativity in the Caribbean’ this workshop was attended by ministry officials, academics, cultural entrepreneurs and civil society representatives from Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica (L. Salmon & M. Benain), Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago.

They learnt and debated how to strengthen cultural policy-making and how it can strengthen their creative industries. They exchanged lessons learned to be shared with the global community in the context of quadrennial periodic reporting assessing the impact of the 2005 Convention, as well as on project design to benefit from the International Fund for Cultural Diversity (IFCD). The ultimate aim is to have better regional and international cooperation to build stronger sustainable systems of governance for culture and promote growth and employment.