Fix the Cultural Industries Bill

The proposed Cultural Industries Bill in its current form is incredibly limiting, it provides absolute power to the Minister, making it incredibly susceptible to politics and political favoritism.  It also creates a committee that has power to delegate the certification as an approved 'Cultural Practioner' however this committee does not have a single member of the Arts or Cultural community on board that is not a political appointee.

These are among some of the many issues with the bill, as a result, Manifesto Barbados has been actively engaged in the consultations, however we understand that these recommendations from consultations have been disregarded and the bill is pushing forward as is. So we are raising the alarm and sounding the horn.

A collection of member from the Cultural Industries have been working on their own version of the bill with significant rewrites being put recommended, and input being given by several experts both in Barbados and abroad. And presented to the Minister their concerns and recommendations to the Minister in Hard Copy almost 2 weeks ago, by hand with no response being given to date.

We urge all Artists and members of the Cultural Industries to please voice their concern as loudly as possible. This bill is too important to be passed as is and we must demand in unison that our voices be heard and our recommendations be applied before this Bill is passed. Please help and sign this Petition, Let Minister Stephen Lashley know we are not to be ignored.

Manifesto Barbados    Contact the author of the petition