Above: Bridgetown (CJ Photo)

By the Caribbean Journal staff

The creative sector in Barbados has immense potential, but the country must make up for lost time in capitalizing upon it, according to Culture Minister Stephen Lashley.

“We haven’t been moving forward fast enough to gain the advantages that the sector has for Barbados,” said Lashley, who was speaking at a press conference to discuss the government’s support for artist Sheena Rose, who recently represented the country in Cuba.

“One of the potential key drivers of our economy will be the cultural industries,” he said. “The future for the creative arts and the creative sector is extremely exciting.”

Lashley said the Ministry was in the advanced stages of drafting a new Cultural Industries Bill, and that he was determined to have the bill enacted before the end of the year.

The Minister, who was speaking to a group of Bajan artists, said the bill represented the future in terms of where the island’s creative and cultural sectors needed to go in order to create the kind of revenue-generating potential required.

“You are entering into an arena where the potential to earn is immense,” he said. “You are in an exciting field — the sky is the limit.”