BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC – The Barbados-based Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) has announced plans for a new financing and investment package to help the creative sector reduce its reliance on one-off grants.
The region’s premier financial institution said that the new initiative will place the Caribbean’s creative industries – from festivals to small enterprises – on a more sustainable footing.
“… I am very pleased to report, that in June of this year at our annual board meeting in Brazil, our board approved the first Trade Finance Guarantee Programme that the bank has ever done, supporting de-risking investment such that commercial lenders – their investments into MSMEs (Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises) who are involved in trade – have an easier path to move their goods intra-regionally and internationally,” said CDB president, Daniel Best.
“We are going to launch that finance programme later this year. But we are not stopping there. At the beginning of next year, we will be launching an MSME – particularly focusing on an MSME Partial Credit Guarantee Scheme… again, to de-risk investment into MSMEs such that the threshold through which – and I am speaking specifically about the creatives – … they have to overcome to actually get their goods, their services across this region, across the world, becomes a little bit easier.”
Speaking during a panel discussion as part of the ongoing Caribbean Festival of Arts (CARIFESTA XV), Best said that the new funding and investment framework will go beyond one-off grants towards long-term sustainability.
Speaking on the topic “Beyond the Grant: Financing Futures in the Creative Economy,” the CDB president stated that the bank’s Cultural and Creative Industries Innovation Fund (CCIIF) will play a crucial role in the new initiative.
He stated that since its establishment in 2016, the CCIIF, a regional platform for creatives initially capitalised at US$2.6 million, has supported over 1,000 practitioners in 17 countries between 2018 and 2023, generated 144 new jobs, and launched 30 projects.
Best told the audience that the fund had also attracted an additional US$500,000 in donor support in recognition of the need to move beyond grant dependence.
“Between 2020 and 2023, we recognised that to do this successfully, we had to do something different in Haiti because Haiti could not be captured within these 17 countries. And so, we created a special CCIIF Haiti to the tune of $200 000 and that directly impacted 90 creatives in Haiti in the arts.”
Best said that training was key to sustainability, adding, “We trained over this period approximately 200 of our creatives across the region in proposal writing.
“The other thing we have done, of course, is capacity building. And in capacity building, we focused on skills development, mentorship, and enterprise acceleration. However, all of this is for naught and will not make sense if the enabling environment is not in place to support it. It will ultimately be one-offs and grants.”
“We focused on the enabling environment by providing financing for policy development and strategic frameworks. We also engaged in supporting research and knowledge sharing on the economic value of the cultural industries. However, this has to make sense. After the grants finish, it has to make sense.”
Best said that the new financing and investment initiative for the creative economy is part of the efforts to move past the grants.
“Our board approved a recapitalisation of CCIIF, which will take us to 2027. However, we are now trying to move past the grants because that is important. And so, we are looking at blended financing instruments,” he added.
Best told the panel that measures should be put in place to help creatives withstand the fallout from an adverse climatic event.
“We know we live in the toughest neighbourhood in the world when it comes to climate. But why are climate financing and creative financing not linked? Mek it mek sense. Among the biggest revenue earners in our countries is tourism, with our tourism products including Crop Over, Trini Carnival, Vinci Mas, Spice Mas, Mashramani, Junkanoo in the Bahamas, and Sugar Mas in St. Kitts and Nevis.
“But could you imagine one adverse weather event passing through at the time of these festivals? What happens then?” he said, recalling the impact the COVID-19 pandemic had on the region’s festivals.
“How do we provide resilient financing and link it with cultural funding? The two cannot be considered mutually exclusive. This is also what we are looking at. So, essentially, the bank is seeking to move beyond the grant.
“We are seeking to move beyond a sustainable catalytic model, and we are throwing everything at it. Blended finance, guarantees, and receivables finance, essentially to transition from grant dependency to investment readiness.”
Best said that the Caribbean has contributed immense talent to the global economy – through its artists, creatives, intellectuals, and athletes – and that it is time the region’s creative industry was financed sustainably.
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