Kingston’s Creative City Designation Not to Be Taken Lightly – Grange

Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sports, Hon. Olivia Grange, says the international recognition of Kingston as a Creative City of Music should not be taken lightly.

Kingston was designated a Creative City of Music by the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) on December 11, 2015.

“It is a testament of the incubation, the germination and the ultimate creation of pulsating rhythms, social reconstruction and wealth creation that have all constituted the growth of Jamaica’s most penetrated export to the world… reggae music,” she said.

She noted that Trench Town, recognised world-wide as the birthplace of reggae is a popular destination for visitors, who book through online marketplace and hospitality service Airbnb.

“The visitors that come to Jamaica, the most popular location that they are able to book …is in Trench Town,” she noted.

Ms. Grange was speaking at a heritage festival held on Friday (October 27) at the Institute of Jamaica, 10-16 East Street, Downtown Kingston, to mark the 145th anniversary of Kingston as a city.

Minister Grange noted that Kingston has experienced many challenges, including riots, severe damage due to earthquake, as it marched on to becoming the great city that it is today.

“Through the earthquake, uprisings such as in 1938 and a relentless determination among our grassroots people to be noticed, Kingston gained a character and a posture that have set it apart from every other Caribbean and world capital,” she noted.

“Kingston has been able to overcome the kind of sleepiness usually associated with such to become a booming metropolis of social discourse, bustling commerce and a culture that continues to astonish the world,” she said further, adding that all this was achieved through grassroots communities and citizens, who made their homes in Kingston.