Government and Private Sector Collaborate to Boost Creative Sector: Minister Munro-Knight

Government is partnering with the private sector to give the creative sector a boost, says Minister in the Ministry in the Prime Minister’s Office with responsibility for Culture Senator Dr Shantal Munro-Knight.

She was speaking during the launch of the ACT (Arts and Culture, Community and Technology) Festival at the Hayman’s Market, Haymans, St Peter on Friday.

Munro-Knight said the festival was part of the calendar of events the government had scheduled for the year and it was one of the many initiatives the Mia Mottley administration saw as an opportunity to partner with the private sector on economic enfranchisement for Barbadians.

“We made a promise to deliver on a 52-week events calendar for Barbados and we’ve been doing that. We launched a Season of Emancipation, which went from March 2023, as we did last year, right down to August. We’ve moved in October where we have the Food and Rum Festival and in November, you will see us having a literary fair.

“So we’ve been delivering on that 52-week events calendar, but it wasn’t just about delivering on a series of events. It was very much about ensuring that we provide space for our creative economy to grow and to flourish. But we need partnerships to be able to deliver on that. It can’t just be something that the government alone does. Creating that space means that we allow for other partners to be able to come in and also participate,” she said.

The ACT Festival will be held at the old Haymans Plantation in St Peter on November, Saturday 11.

The event will feature a vendors’ market and performances by various artistes, including international group Black Eyed Peas.

Munro-Knight said the event would benefit many Barbadians.

“When we think about events in the creative economy, we think about that moment of the event, but not how that builds out the economy. That event means that we need to have technical people, we need to have people who sell food, makeup artistes, dancers, all of that; that is the economy that we are building out in the context of these events. That is a space that we are creating again for the orange economy and those that are part of it to grow,” she added.

Executive producer of ACT Festival Kerri Birch said the event was born with the “view of creating avenues for Barbarian artists to shine and to build ways to boost the economy for the creative industries”.

“So what we’ve done is we’ve engaged artists to create murals which are going to be seen across the island and then we’re gonna move these murals into the festival venue for November 11. We’re making sure that artisans and artists are given the chance to showcase and sell their work during the festival throughout our marketplace. Prior to the event, we’ll also be hosting a number of pop-ups across the island, featuring artists from the Barbados Coalition of Service Industries’ Firefly programme.

“And of course, last but not least, we’ve committed to bringing top international artistes like the Black Eyed Peas to Barbados and having our own top-notch artists here from Barbados share the stage with them. As you know in Barbados, we’re always talking about how we can get our artistes on the international stage. So what we decided to do was build a stage and bring the artistes here so that our own artistes have access to that international stage,” Birch said.

(SZB)