It is a distinct pleasure and a signal honour to greet you via this medium for the first time in my capacity as the Minister with portfolio responsibility for culture.

Of course these are not entirely uncharted waters, as for many years I was a very active volunteer at the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission, serving on the board, and chairing the organizing committee of the National Festival Queen Competition. For me, this assignment is a very happy homecoming.

The re-configuration of the Ministry which I have the pleasure of leading, now clusters Tourism, our lead industry with culture and entertainment – creating a natural synergy, and hopefully serves as a subtle inducement towards a new mindset.

In a recent study on ‘The Caribbean Music Industry’, Senior Lecturer, Institute of International Relations, University of the West Indies, St Augustine Dr. Keith Nurse posits:

“Festivals throughout the region contribute in a significant way to boost tourism arrivals, visitor expenditures and hotel occupancy rates. Festivals have also made an important contribution because they perpetuate and transplant Caribbean culture and values and influence global culture, media and public opinion,”

He goes on to demonstrate this in a quantifiable way by indicating that Trinidad Carnival generates departure taxes of US$0.5 million, one-quarter of the budget of the festival. According to Dr. Nurse, “When value-added taxes (15%) are applied to visitor expenditures of US$14.08 million government earns US$2.1 million in indirect taxes. The combined effect is that taxes generated by the festival exceed government’s initial investment of US$2.0 million by approximately US$600,000.”

The truth is that the synergy between tourism and the arts, entertainment or cultural industries is largely under-researched in the Caribbean. No doubt this is due in part to the traditional perception of Cultural industries as leisure and recreational activities and not as a commercially viable sector.

The work of volunteers, for instance has never been quantified – leading to a lack of appreciation of the value generated annually in the local economy, and the subsequent enhancement of brand Jamaica in the global market. Many local icons of entertainment and culture have been able to grow by leveraging the exposure received in the National Festival movement to develop careers which now sustain them.

This is why Jamaica’s National Cultural Policy seeks to capitalize on the proliferation of natural talent in expressions of our culture by positioning the island as The Cultural Super State. The logic of this is very clear to the rest of the world, and demonstrated in the many instances of infringements on Jamaica’s birthright. All over the globe there is ‘Jamaica – this’ and ‘Jamaica – that’, which have no direct connection to the island. Jerk has been captured as a generic term for highly spiced food, even in the absence of our trade-mark pimento and scotch bonnet pepper.

Your continued support of the Festival movement will help to reverse this trend, so we can capitalize upon our goodly heritage. In this regard, I must pay tribute to the Board of Directors, Management and Staff of the JCDC for upholding very high standards with limited resources.

In the same breath I congratulate those captains in Corporate Jamaica for their wisdom in investing in Jamaican culture, and hope that many others will come on board soon when they realize what they are missing. There is no better way to sell your products and services than finding resonance with the lifestyles, mores, values and attitudes of your potential customers through music, speech, dance, drama and art. The Jamaica Festival is the laboratory in which these talents are honed to work standards, so it makes sense to get on board at the ground floor.

To my fellow Jamaicans, visitors and friends, I issue an invitation for you to sample as much of this year’s menu as you possibly can. I assure you that there will be more than a few things to satisfy your taste ‘In de Mix…2K6’

One Love.