Nuggets announced for entertainment sector represents a fair start

Prime Minister Andrew Holness
Prime Minister Andrew Holness (Photo credit: Twitter (@AndrewHolnessJM))

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This past week, I took the time to listen to Prime Minister Andrew Holness’ contribution to the 2022/23 Budget Debate at Gordon House in Kingston. I must confess that I was not surprised that the Prime Minister served up a few seemingly juicy promises to the entertainment sector which had been among the hardest-hit by the COVID-19 Pandemic. Unlike many other industries which have also suffered losses, the entertainment industry had remained closed and its workers, despite attempts at government assistance, hardly had any meaningful support.

Prime Minister Holness began by announcing the reopening of the entertainment sector on Friday 18 March 2022, along with the withdrawal of all the Disaster Risk Management Act (DRMA) protocols. He then announced that a special $150-million window would be created by the Culture, Health, Arts, Sports, and Education (CHASE) Fund to assist musicians, entertainers, theatre production companies, and promoters of festivals and events. In addition, Holness stated that the Development Bank of Jamaica (DBJ) will be establishing a special Entertainment Restart Loan Facility totaling $500 million, from which, $250 million would be reserved for microenterprises, including vendors supporting the entertainment industry who will be able to access loans of up to $750,000 from DBJ-accredited microfinance institutions for working capital, equipment, and refinancing.

The Prime Minister also announced that the additional $250 million will be reserved for small and medium-sized enterprises that will be able to access loans of up to $5 million through participating DBJ microfinance and approved financial institutions. Of course, no exact timetable was supplied as to when potential beneficiaries would be able to access these facilities, but Holness did indicate that the DBJ will be working out the details with these entities with a view to launching the facility in April 2022.

The Prime Minister also stated that the municipal corporations have agreed to cut permit fees by 50 per cent for the first six months of the reopening of the entertainment industry. According to him, “This will be particularly helpful to small promoters and event organizers”. He indicated that he has also directed that all government entities that rent venues examine the possibility of cutting their rental rates or making the venues rent-free for defined events.

From my perspective, I believe that while not going far enough, these measures represent a step in the right direction as far as recognizing the value of the entertainment industry (in general) is concerned, and the reggae/dancehall component of the sector. To the uninitiated, the contribution of the sound system aspect of reggae/dancehall music is largely undervalued and under-appreciated. Most Jamaicans would be surprised to learn that a fairly reasonable dance in a community brings in an estimated J$2-3 million, the majority of which circulates within that community for at least 30 days.

It is mind-boggling that those in authority have failed to appreciate that if allowed to run on a weekly basis, a “dance” provides a huge fillip for the economies of these communities and is especially important to the community wholesalers, shops, tradespeople including barbers, tailors, hairdressers and so on. Clearly what is needed is the erection of venues or halls where parties can be held freely without disturbance, a promise made by the Prime Minister in May of 2020. This could assist in bringing about a change in the culture and the thinking, the kind of change that will allow partygoers and dancehall fans to attend the dance earlier and that the event culminates by 11:00 pm on a weeknight and no later than 2:00 am on a weekend.

Considering that this was the very same Prime Minister who was quick to dump the blame of the country’s criminality at the feet of dancehall. It is, indeed, heartening that Holness has now come full circle and is now not only stating that his government plans to invest in dancehall and the entertainment industry but has outlined those plans. I am reminded of a May 2020 comment made by Holness that, “It is time we start recognizing that dancehall is being hijacked as other people are now taking our music and making more money off it because the people who are carrying the music, (including his government which should be overseeing its development) were not seeing the economic value in the music”.

Hopefully, the plans announced by the Prime Minister in his presentation will not only become operational by April, as stated, but will also become the precursor for our policy makers to go even further and to set the sails for the entertainment industry becoming a major recognized player in resuscitating our economy in the coming years.

Richard Hugh Blackford is a Jamaican creative artist residing in the United States.

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