Sittin’ in da drafts — a national cultural policy
Without clear and intentional cultural policy, administrations will continuously drop the ball on cultural development, and by extension, the Orange Economy. In my previous Op-ed piece on the Orange Economy, I referenced a draft cultural policy that was written in 2006 and never formally adopted. This lack of adoption is significant because cultural policy guides the government on matters related to our culture, its preservation, and its development. Without the guidance of this document, the Orange Economy suffers, and many aspects of our culture fade.
Examples of policies:
Duty rates and VAT on essential creative and cultural industry items
The addition of popular items to the Duty Free listing- ie cameras
The creation and implementation of Bahamas Carnival
Subsequent privatisation of the Bahamas Carnival festival
Creation of a Bahamas National Festival Commission (BNFC)
The government’s funding of the Junkanoo Festival(s)
Although there is no formal document guiding the government's management of culture and the Orange Economy, numerous decisions regarding culture and cultural development are being made. For instance, if you pay attention during budget season, you’ll notice that the Department of Culture under the Ministry of Youth, Sports, and Culture (MYSC) is hardly ever on the receiving end of increased financial resources. As a matter of fact, in October of this year, the government decreased the Ministry of Youth, Sports, and Culture’s allocation by about 1.9 million dollars.
Year after year, someone somewhere decides to decrease the MYSC budget. There are obvious reasons for the shifting of allocations annually. Still, this pattern of decreasing Culture’s allotment gives us a pretty good indication of its meagre standing on the National Agenda.
While the written policy is crucial, cultural policy as a whole is much more than just lengthy scribbles. It encompasses any government actions (such as decreasing the Department of Culture’s budget) that impact the Orange Economy, as well as those that are not taken (like increasing the Department of Culture’s budget).
The move from gig economy to industry will require carefully crafted and developed policies and would create an environment where people can explore and hone creative talents and abilities. It will also foster an environment for job creation, and dare I say, careers even. This can only happen if we have clear and intentional policies that foster an environment where creatives and cultural practitioners are encouraged to be entrepreneurial. This encouragement can take the form of grants, education, concessions, the allotment of physical spaces, and the creation of year-round opportunities —essentially, better policies.
We often draw inspiration from the development of key policies in other countries, and in this instance, I’d recommend Barbados’ National Cultural Foundation (NCF), which emerged from policy. Their NCF is a statutory body that “stimulates and facilitates development of culture generally. But it is also expected to leave no stone unturned to assist persons interested in developing cultural expressions. Developing a similarly structured organisation separate from the Department of Culture would allow for a non-partisan body that transcends changes in administration to focus on our creative and cultural development.
This article first appeared as an Op-Ed on ewnews.com
