Today NICH launched its national strategy and roadmap for the cultural and creative sector. It's a map to chart the way forward to boost the orange economy and the creatives that fuel it. The roadmap is based on a framework from UNESCO and NICH has the help of a consultant to bring it to reality. Courtney Menzies was at the launch this morning and has this story.
Belize's cultural and creative sector is being strengthened with the launch of NICH's National Strategy and Roadmap. The project is being funded by UNESCO and the EU and is part of a larger move towards supporting countries to develop evidence-based cultural policies.
One of the key features of the strategy is that it will require the input of Belizean creatives all over the country. The director of the Institute of Creative Arts, Kim Vasquez, told us more at the launch.
Kim Vasquez, Director, ICA:
"This project has been a long time coming, it is supported and funded by UNESCO and the European Union and of course the goal is to creative a cohesive and unified plan for the development of arts and culture in Belize for the creative sector and it's being done through what is called a highly participatory process. This means that we're not doing this locked behind closed doors, it's not just another piece of paperwork that we're trying to create. It has our artists, our cultural entrepreneurs, our creatives, both the young, the old, youths, those engaged in entrepreneurship, we want their input and they have to help us shape the plan and we have a technical team, yes, a work group that is comprised of government partners and NICH partners that are guiding the process. But the idea is that of course that it is centered around the creatives."
And the first part of the strategy was to establish a national team, which was done at a workshop this afternoon. That team will involve all the creatives that were present this morning, and any other member of the sector who wants to be a part of it.
The framework for this road map was developed by UNESCO and the lead consultant explained how it was adapted for Belize.
Deborah Hickling, Lead Consultant, UNESCO:
"One of the things that I found when I came to Belize is that their diversity, their emphasis on diversity is very keen and so that became a cross section, that became an area of emphasis so we had to be looking, instead of looking at a kind of, a single society, we had to be looking at the various elements of Belizean society and recognize that each one has its own merit, its own style of doing things and look at the cultural economy from that perspective, so that's been very intriguing."
"The artisans were remarkable and there were different people from different areas for example in Orange Walk, we spoke mostly with musicians because we understand, well I came to understand that coming out of Orange Walk there are lots of bands but we found that there were issues to do with infrastructure and their ability to perform in those areas and that they actually get most of their work from outside of Orange Walk. And so we were looking at ways that we can develop those specific areas with infrastructure."
And in Belize, there's no lack of creativity and culture. Vasquez said that it's a careful process to decide how they can take the industry further.
Kim Vasquez, Director, ICA:
"coming out of the COVID pandemic, we really saw, more than ever before, where young creatives especially were not afraid to harness their creativity and to step into entrepreneurship but with that comes the need for a lot of support, business development, for mechanisms that will foster that creative environment, that nurturing environment for them but yes, we are definitely seeing where innovation and creativity sort of just bubble to the surface coming out of the pandemic."
"We take culture seriously in Belize and for us at NICH, yes it is reaffirming but you know it is also about moving forward. We don't rest on our laurels and we know that there is much work to be done. We know that right now the orange economy is kind of a buzz word and everybody wants to be involved but we have to be aware of fragmentation because in everybody trying to help, sometimes we unwittingly fall into silos and so what this project will do is not to start a new direction but to bring partners together, forge collaboration and unified efforts and to foster information sharing in the first instance and yes data gathering."
