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Cultural industries vs. the industry of culture

Jun 14, 2016 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

Before we concentrate on Guyana’s cultural industries, there is need to first address the lack of industry in culture. Guyana’s artistic production has been stagnant for a long time.

Guyana spent billions of dollars hosting Carifesta with the hope that it would have led to the development of Guyana’s cultural industries, including written, visual and stage works.
The quality of Guyana’s cultural products demonstrated during Guyana’s 50th independence anniversary are a direct reflection of the stagnation that has afflicted Guyana’s cultural; industries.
The cultural aspects of the flag-raising ceremony were a major disappointment and raised serious concerns as to whether those responsible had a clue as to what such an event was intended to showcase.
Instead of cultural extravaganza one was treated to an extravagation of culture. But to carp on that would be adding salt in the wounds caused by the total disaster that marred the planning of Guyana’s 50th anniversary celebrations.
There were thousands of children at the flag-raising ceremony to celebrate 50 years of Independence. This was a perfect opportunity to use culture to educate our children about the making of Guyana. It did not happen because of the state of Guyana’s cultural industries.
The cultural well has dried up. It could not satisfy the thirst for cultural education.
Guyana’s cultural industries have under-produced over the past few years. We have not had for this year, for example, any mention of the Guyana Prize for Literature. No major plays have been produced. Guyanese have grown accustomed to the usual laugh and gaff slapstick stage productions.
On the musical side, none of our artists has rocked any of the regional charts. We are in a poor state when it comes to the industry of our cultural products.
With such poverty in cultural productions, it is naïve to speak about a national cultural policy. Guyana needs more industry in its cultural productions, not a policy for the development of creative industries.
It is a way of making money out of culture in the same way as tourism is about making money out of a country’s natural features. A cultural policy is an attempt to turn cultural products into financial industries similar to what is being done today to the environment.
Cultural policies are about turning cultural products which are but expressions of society’s culture to the economic industries.
In other words, cultural policies are about creating economic industries out of culture.
It is a new phase in capitalism. The tentacles of capitalism are now reaching into tourism, entertainment and the environment.
The marketization of a country’s culture through the creation of cultural industries must be resisted because there is no greater threat to anyone’s culture than when it becomes subject to market forces.
When the market decides what is acceptable and what is not acceptable as a cultural industry, then this constitutes an assault on authentic culture, anywhere.
A cultural policy is essentially a commercial policy. It is about the marketing of culture. This is the only use of cultural policy.
By definition culture is always alive. Culture refers to the totality of the experiences of a people. Culture is always present. One does not need a cultural policy for there to be culture.
The development of a national cultural policy must be resisted. It is an attempt to commercialize cultural expressions, to apply market-based filters to determine what is expressed and what is suppressed.
Guyana does not need a cultural policy.
Guyana does not need such a policy to stimulate creative industries. Guyana needs greater industry within our various cultures so that these are not lost or degraded by the commercialization of culture, especially within the mass media.
There is no national culture in Guyana. Guyana is a land of many cultures. These cultures must be saved not by commercialization but by more opportunities for their expression locally.

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