THE FINAL draft document towards a National Cultural Policy for Jamaica is to be submitted to the Minister of Education, Youth and Culture, Maxine Henry-Wilson by the end of February, for presentation to Cabinet.
Director of the Cultural Education Programme in the Ministry, Kamau Amen said the document was expected to receive the nod from Cabinet, and subsequently taken to the House of Representatives for debate.
Mr. Amen pointed out that consultations had been held across the island, towards developing the document, which would form the basis for the National Cultural Policy.
Last week, following a consultation on the draft document held at the Seventh-Day Adventist Conference Centre in Mount Salem, Montego Bay, Mr. Amen said that discussion on the formation of a cultural policy in Jamaica had been ongoing for a number of years. He said, however, that since last year the Ministry had placed renewed emphasis on the project, with the intention of having a policy in place before the end of the year.
"We have been holding two sets of consultations. Closed consultations with cultural practitioners and people with cultural interest, and those have been well attended, and other consultations involving the general public," he said.
During the discussions in Montego Bay, presentations were made by Executive Director of the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission (JCDC), Marcia Hextall; Executive Director of the Jamaica Intellectual Property Office (JIPO), Loreen Walker; and Sydney Bartley along with Mr. Amen from the Ministry of Education, Youth and Culture.
Issues raised at the consultation include, public education on the policy, the sensitisation of teachers for the promotion of the policy in educational institutions, funding for the implementation of the policy, the role of the media in the promulgation of cultural expressions, general appreciation of Jamaica's culture and outside influences on local culture.
