St.George’s Grenada, 7 November, 2012-After lengthy island-wide consultations, to both solicit public opinion and sensitize Grenadians on a National Cultural Policy, the Ministry of Culture has come up with a first draft.
According to Chief Cultural Officer Thomas Matthew, the policy, when finalized, will allow for different the aspects of Grenadian Heritage especially the cultural, agricultural and educational stocks.
“As a people we need to come up with mechanisms to continue these traditional stocks,” noting that “we are taking the artistic potential and putting it out there…our cultural policy is very diverse and holistic that will reflect every walk of life”
Work has been ongoing on the National Cultural Policy for at least five years in Grenada, with the public consultations coming in the latter part of that time, from October of 2011 to February 2012.
Mr. Matthew said that during the second phase, the Ministry will seek the direct contributions from key stakeholders from various organizations, which will be taken into account in the final document.
Additionally, the policy is expected to become one of Grenada’s economic platforms.
The Culture Chief explained that the European Union has placed a lot of emphasis on the policy to ensure that the bilateral trade agreements signed by Grenada co-relates with its the traditional stock.
In this regard, Matthew said, it is necessary to have a cultural policy which also deals with the trading of cultural goods.
“It is critical for economics, trade, identification, promotion and preservation of intangible cultural heritage…these will strongly influence the direction of tourism industry,” adding that “defining the difference between Grenada and other countries is what matters…as well as maintaining our uniqueness.”
Although the idea of a Cultural Policy may be foreign to the people, Matthew said their support is needed.
He said redefining the local meaning of culture will enable people to deal with the totality of life, and so every organization in the society needs to be engaged.
A consultation, scheduled for Saturday November 10th at the National Stadium from 9:00 am, will target major stakeholder groups and members of the public. The consultant for the policy is Jamaican Sydney Barkley.
