Last night, we showed you how the National Institute for Culture and History organize music week to celebrate Belizean musicians and artists. That artist community continues to struggle financially due to the laws against public gatherings, which means no live performances or concerts by bands.
So, when the press got an opportunity to speak with the Minister responsible for culture this morning, we asked him about the government's plan to help the local artists recover from the crippling fall-off in earnings. Here's what he had to say:
Hon. Francis Fonseca - Minister of Culture "We're having that discussion about how we can provide greater support to our musicians, but what we need to do is to grow the music industry in Belize in a sustained way. It's not about having concerts once a year and giving musicians a hundred dollars here and there. That was the approach in the past. We have had a discussion with the Music Industry Association of Belize about coming together. Let's develop a plan and a clear strategy about how we can work together and provide meaningful, sustained support to our musicians, our artists, our DJs, everybody in that musical community. So, we're absolutely committed to that. The board of directors of NICH is working on that plan, and we hope over the next few months to put that in place. As you know, the musicians, like everybody else in the country, have been affected by the drop in the tourism industry."
