A group of local art and craft producers set up to promote the local and international promotion of Guyana’s craft industry has disclosed that it will engage state agencies and the commercial banking sector with a view to securing financial support for creation of a sustainable arts and craft industry in Guyana
Kulture Ambassadors – the leading promoters of Rastafarian art and craft in Guyana – is seeking to use the occasion of Carifesta X which will be held in Guyana in August to create “a permanent and viable craft industry on a sound business footing,” according to David Morrison (Ras Daweed) owner of the Kulture Embassz, a craft enterprise opened late last year in Kitty.
Daweed told Stabroek Business that the Kulture Ambassadors had decided to take the lead in seeking to place the local art and craft industry on a sounder business footing” and that Guyana’s hosting of Carifesta X “provided a great opportunity” to go forward with that initiative. “We want Carifesta to serve as a take off point for the creation of a viable, business-oriented craft industry in Guyana,” Daweed told Stabroek Business.
According to Daweed while Carifesta is about “showing off” the handiwork of the local art and craft sector the Kulture Ambassadors will also be seeking to take advantage of the regional and international marketing opportunities afforded by the cultural festival to move the industry beyond its present subsistence stage. “We want the local craft industry to be more than a visual showpiece. The people who are involved in the industry must begin to see returns from the efforts and their investments,” Daweed said. He disclosed that talks between representatives of the Kulture Ambassadors and the local Carifesta Secretariat are already underway and that discussions with the organizers of Carifesta, the private sector and local lending agencies will focus on how the August event can serve as a springboard for transforming the local craft industry into a viable economic sector.
Recently, Culture Minister Dr Frank Anthony, whose ministry is responsible for making preparations for the hosting of Carifesta X disclosed that plans for the event will include the pursuit of “sponsorship opportunities” through the private sector. Daweed told Stabroek Business that Kulture Ambassadors will be seeking to take advantage of any sponsorship opportunity afforded through private sector support to create a firmer, long-term commercial base for the local craft sector. “In addition to sponsorship opportunities we also want to become involved in genuine business ventures based on business proposals that can realize returns for craft producers as well as investors who can be persuaded to back these ventures,: Daweed said.
A regular exhibitor at the national Guy-Expo event, Daweed has also participated in Carifesta on two previous occasions. He told Stabroek Business that the local art and craft industry can no longer exist purely for “exhibition purposes from which it derived subsistence sales.” He noted that other countries in the region, notably Jamaica, had succeeded in strengthening both the production and marketing bases in their respective craft sectors and in many cases had transformed these into viable businesses. He said that while the tourist industries in other Caribbean territories had helped in the promotion of their respective craft industries, Guyana’s hosting of Carifesta X afforded the country “the ideal opportunity to move the local craft industry from its present subsistence stage.”
The Kulture Ambassadors have already announced plans to set up a “Craft Village” to coincide with Carifesta and Daweed told Stabroek Business that the “Village” intended to be a permanent site for the production and marketing of local craft. He said that while the initiative was being spearheaded by “the creative elements in the local Rastafarian community” it was intended to serve as a facility for the craft industry as a whole.
Efforts to enhance the commercial viability of the local craft industry ahead of last year’s Cricket World Cup met with little success, a circumstance which, according to Daweed, “had to do with economic and organizational factors.” He said that efforts to secure commercial advantage for the craft industry from last year’s Cricket World Cup were undermined by the absence of a “coordinated business approach” by the craft industry itself and by the lack of any real support from the commercial sector.
Local art and craft producers have complained about the high cost of production, the absence of a viable local market and the costs associated with the international marketing of local craft products. Daweed told Stabroek Business that the creation of an umbrella body embracing craft producers from across the country could create the “institutional strength” that could attract investment and loans to the industry. According to Daweed the industry could also benefit from the creation of a state-funded umbrella body designed to help local craft producers with the marketing of their work outside of Guyana.
During the opening of the Kulture Embassz last year Tourism and Industry Minister Manniram Prashad had said that government would be seeking to promote the participation of the local craft sector in this year’s Carifesta and Daweed told Stabroek Business that the Kulture Ambassadors will be seeking to engage both the Carifesta Secretariat and the Ministry of Tourism to determine what support the industry could receive for its participation in the regional cultural festival.
