Capacity-building a priority for cultural industries

Sandra James of the Heritage Theatre Company of Grenada.

Unstructured. Underdeveloped. Fragmented.

These were some of the characteristics used to describe the local entertainment sector by long-time industry practitioner, Sandra James of the Heritage Theatre Company of Grenada.

According to James, this is contributing to that sector finding it difficult to access the opportunities in the CARIFORUM-EU Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA), as she highlighted a lack of knowledge as it relates to copyright and other intellectual property issues.

She was at the time addressing media personnel at a recent Regional Training Workshop on the EPA at The Grenadian by Rex Resorts hosted by Caribbean Export, the German Development Agency (GIZ) and the Grenada National EPA Implementation Unit (NEPAIU).

“There are little or no industry standards, no marketing and distribution mechanism, forget tax incentives – that is a whole other story,” she lamented. “There are no incentives for us practitioners to do what we do better or for even for the wider private sector to invest in our area.”

This, she maintained, stemmed from the broader issue of the economic contribution of the sector being undervalued. “There’s a lack of recognition of the contribution to the economic development of our countries by both our policymakers and our industry practitioners,” she remarked, though conceding, “If we don’t put a high value [on our work], or view it as important or making a contribution to a country’s GDP, we cannot expect our policymakers to take us seriously.”

James noted that her organisation was in the process of finding ways to educate its members and the broader entertainment fraternity on what their rights and responsibilities are as it relates to copyright and intellectual property, again admitting that they have insufficient knowledge of the implications of the
various multilateral and bilateral trade agreements, including the EPA, that Grenada would have signed.

She also made several recommendations to help the cultural industries realise their full potential, including creating an enabling environment through appropriate policymaking; strengthening the institutions that support the cultural industries, such as the Grenada Cultural Foundation and the Grenada Coalition of Service Industries; and implementing training programmes to hone the raw talent of cultural practitioners.

“We know we have to get our act together and start taking ourselves and the industry seriously so that we can move forward and lobby for greater support,” said James. “While we embark on our local development strategies, we still need to continue working with the EPA and see how we can access those opportunities.” (YA)