ST JAMES, Jamaica (JIS) — Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, Olivia Grange, says the Government is determined to employ all “legal, political, economic and creative avenues” to enhance and improve Jamaica’s market share in the global entertainment and sporting industries.

The minister was addressing the 37th conference of the United States-based Black Entertainment and Sports Lawyers Association (BESLA) in Montego Bay on October 25.

She said among the key strategies to be used to better tap into the two industries is the promotion of greater use of technology.

“It is clear to us that our people, including our practitioners, have not taken enough interest in the significant area of industrial enterprise, and there is need for greater use of digital formats for enhanced distribution of our creative products as well as to generate more personal income (and) global appeal,” she noted.

Grange said, as a result, the ministry will continue to organise and facilitate additional workshops in entertainment and sport entrepreneurship to enable practitioners to enhance their knowledge of the business.

She pointed out that the Government is well aware of the links between entertainment and sport and other creative industries, such as fashion, and, consequently, will be encouraging these connections in the staging of events as well as in pursuing other outputs for entertainers, sportsmen and sportswomen.

“So, we have begun to speak about endorsements and creation of clothing lines, jewellery and cosmetics as part of the new branding strategies we are promoting here in Jamaica,” Grange explained.

“Jamaica is the place to be for the development of creative content. The bold adventures that populate our sports and entertainment industries are very much in line with the history of our people, who are able to use their creativity and panache to overcome the obstacles in our past that were deemed as unsurmountable,” she added.

The minister also told the members of BESLA that she had recently taken a Bill to Parliament to remove the criminal record of Jamaica’s first National Hero, the Rt. Excellent Marcus Garvey, which she said the Government believes “must be expunged and must be removed”.

“We have done that, and we are proud about the fact that Marcus Garvey now has no criminal record,” she said.