Gov’t Positioning Jamaica to Tap into $1 Trillion Creative Economy

Minister of Industry, Investment and Commerce, Hon. Anthony Hylton, says the Government will continue to implement measures to strengthen the island’s creative economy, in a bid to ensure that Jamaicans can further tap into the lucrative global industry valued at over $1 trillion annually.

He said the creative economy, inclusive of film, music, fashion, animation and merchandising, has the potential to grow the economy, and create jobs and wealth for many Jamaicans.

The Minister was speaking at the opening ceremony for the inaugural Jamaica Film Festival at the Courtleigh Auditorium in St. Andrew on July 7.

He noted that the Government is cognisant of the challenges facing the creative industry and has been implementing measures to ensure that players within the sector are protected and can benefit.

The cited the establishment of the Secured Transactions Regime, underpinned by the enactment of the Security Interest in Personal Property (SIPP) Act, and the implementation of the accompanying Collateral Registry to improve access to financing for creators.

He said creation of a modern intellectual property (IP) regime is also being undertaken through various legislative changes.

These include amendment of the Copyright Act, which will extend the Copyright term from 50 to 95 years; and amendment of the Trademarks Act to protect the country name “Jamaica” from use by foreign businesses that seek to promote goods and services that do not originate in the island.

Minister Hylton said the strengthening of IP security is a top priority, given changes in global film and music consumption, and with the widespread pirating of our music.

“Our current generation of film-makers, musicians, and artistes must take an active role in registering copyrights and trademarks to protect their brand and their music,” he noted.

Minister Hylton said the staging of the Jamaica Film Festival is important and “represents an effort to provide a platform on which creative Jamaicans can showcase their talent, products, potential and, by extension, the state of the creative economy in the island.”

An important aspect of the five-day event, he said, is the fact that it will offer capacity building workshops geared at providing information that any budding film-maker will require in order to go to the next level in their career.

The inaugural Jamaica Film Festival aims to provide an avenue for local film-makers to show their work to a large audience and receive technical assistance from international experts in the film and media industries.

It will also have a business role, allowing film-makers to sell their films and market their content to international and local players.

The event, which is slated to end on July 11, will showcase 45 films that will be screened at five locations, along with 14-capacity building workshops that will target existing and aspiring film-makers.