Minister of Labour, Social Security and Human Resource Development, Senator Dr. Esther Byer-Suckoo believes that Barbadian youth need to embrace their culture.
“Ask some of our young people about the Landship or Tuk Band and they probably can’t tell us anything else about them besides some of the characters,” she pointed out.
According to her, they need to have a sense of belonging and an important part of that is their culture.
“They have to know their culture and not foreign culture that they hear on the radio. Not just regional culture such as from Trinidad and Jamaica, but we have to put emphasis on our roots; on where we come from,” she stressed.
“Only when we do that can our young people have a sense of identity. They can relate to Barbados and they can then appreciate their role and what they have to do to make Barbados better. It is not enough to have them say the National Pledge at school and to swear ‘that by their living they will do credit to their nation wherever they go’, unless they feel that there are a part of this nation and that this nation is a part of them,” she stressed.
Dr. Byer-Suckoo was at the time addressing the Project Close Out Session of Pinelands Creative Workshop (PCW) research-based initiative “The Internationalisation of Community Cultural Performance Arts Products and Services as a Component of a Vibrant National Cultural Industries”, held at Warrens Office Complex, Warrens, St. Michael yesterday.
This initiative was driven by the recognition that Barbados is moving towards its goal of a diversified economy with a vibrant cultural industry contributing to its sustainability. With this view, PCW proposed the project as a critical step to strengthen the community performance product and services offerings as a viable export sector.
She expressed that her Ministry welcomed the opportunity to collaborate with PCW to develop the manual to assist community cultural practitioners in enhancing their capacity to compete internationally.
“Culture is a powerful, global economic engine. We have watched local talent raise to international success and we have also noted that tourists love all things bajan, including our food, craft, music, dance, arts and festivals,” it was further pointed out.
“Through technology, the world is more exposed and opened to different cultures and new avenues are available for our cultural goods and services to market internationally… You can watch YouTube videos with our local artiste at Crop Over or even our entertainers such as Rum and Coke and Seth Bovell – some of these have gone viral and some have more views than the entire population of Barbados, doubled,” she stated.
The Minister further acknowledged that the Trade agreements such as the Economic Partnership Agreement between the European Union (EU) and the African Caribbean and Pacific Group of States have created an enabling environment for significant trade in this sector, if full advantage is taken of these opportunities.
“The potential of the sector is undeniable,” she expressed. (TL)
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