The Barbados based Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), will provide the initial capitalization for a multi-donor fund. The objective is to improve the competitiveness of the cultural and creative industries sector in its borrowing member countries (BMCs).
Initially US$2.6 million
The regional lending agency says it’s making an initial contribution of US$2.6 million to establish the Cultural and Creative Industries Innovation Fund (CIIF) as a pilot intervention. It will also administer the Fund.
Creative industries sector
The CIIF will support the development of the creative industries sector. The Fund will encourage innovation, job creation and improved enterprise sustainability with grants and technical assistance to governments, business support organizations, and academia supporting 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. With each country specializing in different creative industry sub-sectors, prioritizing and allocating support has been challenging,” said Daniel Best – Director of Projects at the CDB.
He said the establishment of the CIIF aims to address the challenges. This also gives further momentum to an ongoing regional effort to harness the power and potential of the creative industries.
The CIIF will also give support enabling the environment for the development of the cultural industries sector in BMCs. The focus will be on legislative reforms and incentive policies and improving the quality, depth, and dissemination of research on the sector.
Supporting wide range of creative activities
Support will be primarily made to 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. These are: the development of sector data and market intelligence and supporting MSMEs to develop new products/services; implementation of new business models, improving employee and managerial capacity; and accessing new markets.
The CDB notes that governments, international organizations, and private sector entities will be able to contribute to CIIF to expand the provision of capital to the creative industries sector.
