Carifesta X symposium…Concept of ‘cultural industries’ should be properly examined

Aug 27, 2008 News

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–    UWI lecturer

By Tusika Martin

The Caribbean should proceed consciously on the idea of ‘cultural industries’ since there is a lot to lose should this concept not be put in its proper perspective.
This is according to University of the West Indies lecturer, Dr. Gladstone Yearwood, who was among the symposium panelists yesterday discussing ‘Are we there yet – defining and redefining our cultural industries.’
He said that it is agreed that the region should reap what its sows and should enjoy the fruits of its people’s labour, and that a people should benefit from their heritage and culture.
This assumption informs the people’s perspective on using culture as an economic tool, which forms the basis for endorsement of the idea of giving special attention to the development of cultural industries.
While the region has toiled, others have historically appropriated the profits of labour. This, he added, now makes people eager to jump on the cultural industries ‘bandwagon’, believing that the region’s boat has come ashore – it is the region’s time to gain from the riches of its culture.
While there might be riches to be found in the cultural industries, the professor told the gathering at the International Conference Centre that the region should proceed with caution. The idea of cultural industries is built on creativity, ideas, innovation and artistic skill, which produce intellectual property that becomes the basis for creating economic value.
“It is in our best interest to rethink how we organise the arts so that we can adapt and utilise the changes in the global economy to our benefit. I think we’ve been down a road like this before,” he said.
While talking about industry, the region’s peoples cannot ignore the fact that art, culture and ideas play a significant role in the socialisation process.
The anomaly, he said, is that while cultural expression in the Caribbean is vibrant and rich, it is not accompanied by a corresponding political and economic infrastructure that enables its arts and cultural workers to create great art and compete effectively in the international arena.
“Where is the infrastructure? Where are the theatres, dance facilities, the exhibition spaces?” he asked.
Unless these infrastructural issues are addressed, Dr. Yearwood said, the region’s growth in this area will be stunted.
For cultural industries to thrive, this weakness in cultural policymaking and arts infrastructural planning will have to be corrected.
In contrast, he said, there is a better handle on the traditional economic sector.
“We understand the importance of building infrastructure to facilitate economic activities. We know what we have to do to attract tourists. Yet, this knowledge is not transferred to the creative sector.”
In the Caribbean, the creative sector needs an urgent comprehensive cultural development plan that clearly states development goals, articulates the importance of culture, in the life and affairs of the nation, and addresses the economic potential of cultural industries, he said.
The focus on cultural industries places the emphasis on sales, trading and distribution. “We are preoccupied with art as a finished product that can be traded on the international market. But not enough attention is being given to research, creative work and product development. To some degree, I am troubled by our priorities in that the notion of art as a product is taking precedence over art as a creative act.”
The two, he said, must go forward hand-in-hand.
In the Caribbean, the organisation of cultural industries is driven by agencies set up to promote industrial development and trade.
“I know we need specialist knowledge to be successful in international trade, but the point I am making is that the artist, who should be at the centre of these developments, is often left out and the people making decisions know little about art and culture.”
In CARICOM, Jamaica has been most successful in the move to benefit economically from the arts.
“Jamaica’s success has a lot to do with the existence of an arts infrastructure.
However, most Caribbean countries do not have that kind of infrastructure so that our films, theatre and dance continue to face many technical problems. We are often challenged to find the Caribbean in fashion and the visual arts.”
Across all the arts, the problem of a Caribbean aesthetic is a question crying out for exploration.
Unless adequate attention is given to arts and cultural infrastructural development along with the focus on cultural industries, he said, inevitably the region will face a crisis in Caribbean arts because the performance will not meet the expectations and the promise of these new opportunities.
“As we move forward with the cultural industries agenda, we should not lose sight of the cultural development function of the arts and the important roles of preservation of values and heritage, socialisation, empowerment and community expression that the arts play in our society.”
The region, Dr. Yearwood added, urgently needs an arts and cultural development plan, which addresses arts education in schools and communities, funding issues, and provides opportunities for performance and exhibition that do not now exist. The emphasis on cultural industries privileges tax incentives and rebates, he said. “Great art is what we do for ourselves, but others can also find value in it. This is the story of reggae music.”
The region’s cultural industries must be organised for the benefit of the larger society, like a rising tide that lifts all boats, the professor said.
“They must empower our people, moving them from being positioned as consumers to producers. They must connect the Caribbean Diaspora, not only as an additional market, but to embrace the enormous human and financial resources resident there.  The region needs to find its own models of organisation, production and distribution as have developed in the film industries of India and Nigeria.”
–    Other speakers at yesterday’s symposium were Lennie Salmon (Trinidad), Adrian Augier (St. Lucia) and Andrea King (Barbados).

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