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Basseterre, St. Kitts, November 02, 2021 (SKNIS): The Ministry of Entertainment, Entrepreneurship and Talent Development is creating an environment for entrepreneurs and content creators to flourish in the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis. The recently held Creative Forum organized by the Ministry of Entertainment is a key part of the Ministry’s effort to catapult the entertainment industry forward.

“Our mandate is to transform the entertainment, creative and innovative industries in St. Kitts and Nevis through entrepreneurship economic value creation. Our vision is guided by the following aims, to professionalize the arts, entertainment and innovative industries through value creation and harmonization of standards, to catalyze a cultural shift towards supporting existing and aspiring entrepreneurs in the creative and innovative industries, and this means looking at the creative industry through different lenses. Another of our aims is to review the relevant policy and legal framework to design key programmes and policies for this industry and to develop innovative incentives to help you to start to promote your business. We also aim to create new sustainable streams of revenue and to produce a cadre of globally competitive citizens,” said Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Entrepreneurship, Entertainment and Talent Development, Mrs. Cheryleann Pemberton.

The Ministry is working assiduously to remove the existing barriers to enable creatives and entrepreneurs to function in an environment that would nurture their talents and expertise and enable personal development and growth. A commitment has been made to assist entrepreneurs with access to financing, empower more creativity, and develop a local industry to provide more employment and exposure to foreign markets to showcase local production.

Permanent Secretary Pemberton also indicated that the local film industry will be a platform that will allow creatives to capitalize on opportunities available, noting that there has been considerable work done by the Ministry to effectively roll out policies for the year 2022.

“The Ministry has decided to focus on the following sectors for the years 2022: film and photography, music and entertainment, literary and performing arts, technology and innovation. We have developed a draft code of practice for the film and photography industry and it applies to all forms of production including television, commercials, music video and feature films with the aim to ensure that the industry can film effectively and efficiently without too much disruption and to ensure we always have compliance with the laws of the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis and international best practices,” said Permanent Secretary Mr. Pemberton.

The Ministry of Entrepreneurship, Entertainment, and Talent Development is now operationalized and will continue to develop its projects and programmes that will be beneficial to creatives, not only in building capacity but also in providing opportunities to grow their businesses to a stronger and sustainable level.