The Cultural Development Foundation (CDF) has launched its Business of the Arts Certification Programme.
The programme (a collaboration with the Sir Arthur Lewis Community College) is another platform created by the CDF in fulfilling its main mission to nurture, promote cultural identity and facilitate the development of artistic expression and the creative industry as key drivers of social transformation, nation building and economic growth.
According to CDF, participants of the programme will benefit from pertinent industry knowledge and skills needed to better market, present and deliver their talent and products.
Chairperson of the Board of Directors of the CDF Darwin Guard explains that the programme is about adding greater value to artists. He went on to express how critical this partnership with SALCC and CDB is as it allows artists to be certified; certification can be used on a global scale as SALCC is an Accredited Learning Institution recognized around the world, he said.
“Partnerships and collaborations are things that we always look forward to… going forward with our mandate. For us this particular project adds value in the sense that it (now) allows the artist to have a business perspective. We understand the expansion of the creative industries in terms of the professionalism… you have branding, marketing, management and finances and for us that is truly important,” Guard said.
“In the past we have funded tremendously in terms of giving the artists directly. This time… what we love about this project (is that) it is about the management of the artist (to some extent) and I think that adds a wonderful contribution to the creative industries,” he noted.
Often, Guard added, “we’ve had programmes but at the end of the day the artist does not have certification… that’s one thing for us that’s important. That being said, I think it’s important to partner with a reputable educational institution that adds value to the certification.”
The Business of the Arts Certification is a matriculation pathway into associate degree programmes at SALCC and other educational institutions. The programme which is funded by the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) under the Basic Needs Trust Fund (BNTF) will run for a full academic year and includes both online and face-to-face classes facilitated by industry experts in key areas namely:
– Trends and Opportunities in the Creative Sector
– Introduction to Creative Entrepreneurship
– Managing Creative Businesses
– Finance Fundamentals for the Creative Business
– Creative Industries and Digital Media
– Marketing Goods and Services in the Creative Sector
– The Creative Business Plan.
“We recognize that the creative industries is one of the fastest growing industries in Saint Lucia and… all three pillars of Sir Arthur Lewis actually connect quite nicely with the development of the creative industries… the idea of being innovative… the need for sustainability, that’s something we hear all the time. We need to ensure that we give all the skills necessary to our practitioners so that they can not only make their mark here but globally,” Kentillia Louis, coordinator of the programme and lecturer at SALCC said recently.
Registration for the Business of the Arts programme commences from July 13th to August 3rd 2023.