On 28 February 2026, I was a guest on a panel at the inaugural Africa Caribbean Literary Exchange hosted by the Jamaica Book Festival in Kingston, Jamaica. The panel was titled “Building Black Arts Ecosystems: From Cultural Pride to Structural Power”. I shared the panel with some great people: Kaiel Eytle, Cultural and Creative Industries Alliance of Jamaica; Kacy Garvey, Jaiku Professional Poets; and Scott Dunn, Managing Director, Dream Entertainment Limited. We enjoyed a very enlightening discussion, led by the moderator Andrea Dempster Chung, Cofounder and Executive Director of Kingston Creative.
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| Photo Source: Xclusive Live Streaming (YouTube) |
I left the discussion feeling very excited about the possibilities for collaboration and advancing the growth of Jamaica’s entertainment and cultural enterprises. Andrea (ADC) asked several very targeted questions that someone who is interested in this topic would have, and I would encourage you to watch the panel in the video below if you have the time. Until then, I will share here in a post the questions that were asked of me (KA) and my initial thoughts. Enjoy!
ADC: When you think of a strong Black arts ecosystem and lasting cultural power, what do you envision?
KA: An arts ecosystem can be seen as comprising a core and the supporting systems that break down as follows:
Core components
Artists, creators, visionaries
Arts & culture institutions, content aggregators, distribution pipelines
Appreciative audiences, consumers
Support systems
Financiers, collectors, patrons, sponsors
Education and training institutions, apprenticeships (for youth development)
Technology partners, media platforms, delivery systems, suppliers
For us as nations and people of the global south, this ecosystem must provide a culturally sensitive space for:
artists/content creators to experiment (allowing for both success and failure)
community engagement
supporting growth with systems
ADC: How can universities and research institutions move from documenting the culture to shaping policy, curricula, and institutional frameworks that materially support creative industries and collaboration across the Black Diaspora?
KA: Universities can and should decolonize and make their offerings more adaptable to the current needs, so the curriculum should become more culture-specific, for example, in the case of Jamaica, examine subjects like the sound system, Bob Marley’s brand-building model, language appreciation, and mindset shifting
Additionally, universities can:
strengthen management capacity and better foster the mindset to dream big
offer short courses and professional development programs
collaborate with various organizations across the black diaspora (Jamaica, Caribbean, the Americas, and Africa) and facilitate conversations between all the players (artists and creatives, government, private sector, and financiers)
offer technology support, which is essential in such a fast-changing world for all of us, and universities have a role in helping our industry to keep up
offer continued long-term engagement in policy research and support when asked
engage students to become “archaeologists” and new knowledge and content creators
ADC: In 12 months, what is the one move that you think can shift creatives in Africa and the Caribbean from pride to power? And who needs to make that move - government / private sector / cultural orgs / communities / artists?
KA: Forming meaningful partnerships and strategic alliances can move us from pride to power, and they should be led by private players among artists/creators, collectively using a syndication model. I think pooling together the existing capital of our first post-independence generation (60s & 70s) of creatives who have their assets sitting in bank accounts, poor performing investments, or in physical assets, and directing it into acquiring existing entertainment and culture institutions or businesses in Jamaica, the Caribbean, and Africa, with a view to expanding them and better serve their cultural interests.
I provided my answers from the perspective of a lecturer in the Institute of Caribbean Studies at the University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona, where I focus on the growth and management of entertainment and cultural enterprises. I am eager to see the successful scaling of Jamaica’s entertainment, culture, and fashion brand enterprises, among others. And so, I think there must be greater emphasis on partnerships among the many players, because single entities alone will not achieve the growth Jamaica needs. It will of necessity be a collective community-driven effort, and I think the UWI can play a role in facilitating the formation of those partnerships. I am looking forward to doing just that!
