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BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, July 28, 2017 (CMC) – The Barbados based Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), says it will provide the initial capitalisation for a multi-donor fund to improve the competitiveness of the cultural and creative industries sector in its borrowing member countries (BMCs).
The regional lending agency says it is making an initial contribution of US$2.6 million to the establishment of the Cultural and Creative Industries Innovation Fund (CIIF) as a pilot intervention, and it will also administer the Fund.
The CIIF will support the development of the creative industries sector, and encourage innovation, job creation and improved enterprise sustainability, by providing grants and technical assistance to governments, business support organisations and academia that support the creative industries sector.
It will also provide funding to creative and cultural entrepreneurs and micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in CDB’s BMCs.
“Currently, there is no clearly-identified, regional financing regime for the creative industries in the Caribbean and, with each country specialising in different creative industries sub-sectors, prioritising and allocating support has been challenging,” said Daniel Best, Director of Projects at the CDB.
He said the investment towards the establishment of the CIIF aims to address the challenges, and gives further momentum to an ongoing regional effort to harness the power and potential of the creative industries.
The objectives of the CIIF include giving support to enabling the environment for the development of the cultural industries sector in BMCs, with a focus on legislative reforms and incentive policies and improving the quality, depth and dissemination of research on the sector.
The CIIF will primarily support projects identified in the priority sub-sectors: music, including production, distribution, sales and events; audio-visual, film, interactive media, animation and gaming/digital; fashion, and contemporary design; and festivals and carnivals.
The Fund will comprise three components which will focus on supporting the enabling environment, the development of sector data and market intelligence and supporting MSMEs in the CIs sector, to develop new products/services, implement new business models, improve employee and managerial capacity and access new markets.
The CDB notes that governments, international organisations, and private sector entities will be able to contribute to CIIF to further facilitate the provision of capital to the creative industries sector.
