Capitalising on our rich culture

Lack of support for regional cultural industries

Published on 30 May 2011

Author(s): Jamaica Observer/CLYDE MCKENZIE

Type:  News


The Europeans, strategically, did not want to conflate issues of trade with those of culture.

In a recent Sunday Observer column, Charles Campbell gave extensive coverage to the contents of a letter sent to him from Ramesh Chaitoo, bemoaning the lack of support from Caribbean governments for regional cultural industries.

Ramesh, as a part of the Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery, played a major role in the signing of the Economic Partnership Agreement between the European Union and Cariforum (Caricom territories and the Dominican Republic) which is supposed to provide immediate duty-free access for most goods and services from the region entering Europe.

The Europeans, strategically, did not want to conflate issues of trade with those of culture. Unlike the Americans who have always seen it as entertainment and in largely commercial terms, the Europeans view culture in an existential context. The fact that Ramesh and his team were able to even have the Europeans discuss culture as part of the EPA was a major concession to the Caribbean.

The Cultural Protocol which was signed as a result of these negotiations underscored the fact that the Europeans were willing to make an exception (albeit limited) on an issue on which they have seemed largely inflexible. The Europeans, along with the Canadians, have long held the position that they have to subsidise and provide state support for their cultural industries in order to escape the prospect of American dominance.

What is interesting is that the Europeans and Canadians are willing to use public funds to support and promote their culture while our governments have paid mainly lip service to the importance of this important aspect of our patrimony. We have been able to impact the world with our culture largely through the efforts of unlettered practitioners who, through their ingenuity, have been able to succeed with little or no corporate or public sector support.

Noted historian Arnold 'Scree' Bertram once told me in an interview that Bob Marley was perhaps the most important business venture to emerge from Jamaican soil since the 1970s. He noted that while there might be other ventures which might have even earned more than Marley during that period, Marley was special in that he achieved his goals without the benefit of state or traditional corporate support (bank loans).

Ramesh understands this. He wants governments to get involved, not as a charitable exercise, but in pursuit of national economic objectives. He knows that major agencies such as the United Nations Development Programme and the Commonwealth Secretariat are among the many bodies championing the idea of positioning culture as the primary vehicle for economic development among Caribbean societies. Ramesh knows that we can unlock enormous potential by channelling resources to cultural ventures.

Caribbean intellectuals such as Hilary Beckles and Lloyd Best have long questioned the inability of regional political leaders to identify culture as an engine of growth. How can a region with such cultural vitality remain so poor? The Labour Day Parade is one of the biggest entertainment spectacles in North America. The Notting Hill Carnival is a massive celebration of Caribbean Culture in Britain and there is Caribana in Canada.

The fact is that if the truth be told, Ramesh was a reluctant warrior. He was not initially convinced of the inordinate value of culture to regional development. He was challenged and goaded largely by our mutual friend Josanne Leonard who has been a tireless champion of the cause for the centralisation of culture in regional developmental calculus.

What is clear is that Ramesh has seen the value of culture and is now one of its most passionate advocates. We need more people like Ramesh who can use their influence to shame governments across the region into doing the right thing by providing more tangible support to the cultural industries and their practitioners.

I was indeed heartened by some recent developments in the private and public sectors and the possible impact they might have on our cultural industries in Jamaica and, by extension, the region. I am very encouraged by the approach which Donovan Perkins and his team at Pan Caribbean are taking with respect to providing funding for entertainment ventures. The raising of some $100 million for the production of the Chris Browne film Gheta Life by Pan Caribbean is a most welcome development.

Perkins and his team are leading the way in providing much needed funding for cultural ventures. Could we now be on our way towards the establishment of a sustainable funding modality for the entertainment sector? This question assumes added importance in the wake of Prime Minister Bruce Golding's recent announcement in Parliament that he would be promoting the use of venture funding as a stimulus for economic development.

While the prime minister did not identify the cultural practitioners specifically as beneficiaries of this idea, I am confident that they would be one of the big winners with the introduction of this funding approach. For more than a decade I have been arguing in this paper and elsewhere that collateralised funding arrangements were inadequate for capitalising cultural and entertainment ventures.

Cultural ventures are too risky for traditional modes of financing. Venture funding by its very nature is more risk accommodating and contemplates the prospect of failure among some of the projects in which it will invest.

The fact is that cultural ventures have been a significant source of foreign exchange in Jamaica and can even contribute to greater growth in our economy if better and stronger linkages are established between the traditional sectors of our economy and the business of entertainment.

Our manufacturers might not be able to compete with the Chinese on prices, but they might be able to challenge the inhabitants of the Middle Kingdom on value if only we use our cultural icons as a part of our product offering. A plain T-shirt might cost US$5 but might be worth four times that amount with an image of Bob Marley on it. We need to think on these things.

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