Belize Launches National Roadmap to Boost Creative and Cultural Sectors

The National Institute of Culture and History (NICH), through its Institute of Creative Arts (ICA), has officially launched the National Strategy and Roadmap for the Cultural and Creative Sector – Belize (NSAR-CCS). This initiative, funded by UNESCO and the European Union, seeks to build a cohesive national vision for strengthening and expanding Belize’s rich cultural and creative industries. Love News spoke with the Director at the Institute of Creative Arts (IICA) Kimn Vasquez who explained that to formulate this strategy they met with artists, toured studios and galleries, and held discussions with cultural stakeholders, laying the foundation for a participatory process that centers the voices of Belize’s creatives.

Kim Vasquez, Director, Institute of Creative Arts (NICH): “We take culture seriously in Belize and for us at NICH yes it is reaffirming but you know it is also about moving forward. We don’t rest on our laurels and we know that there is much work to be done. We know that right now the Orange Economy is kind of a buzzword and everybody wants to be involved but we have to be aware of fragmentation because in everybody trying to help sometimes we unwittingly fall into silos. And so what this project will do is not to start a new direction but to bring partners together, forge collaboration and unified efforts and to foster information sharing in the first instance and yes data gathering because this is the diagnostic phase of the project where we’re trying to engage as much as possible with stakeholders across the country. We’ve been doing that already and we will do that some more but again it’s to help shape a roadmap and strategy that truly speaks to the ambitions and realities of Belizean artists and creatives. Coming out of the COVID pandemic we really saw more than ever before where young creatives especially were not afraid to harness their creativity and step into entrepreneurship but with that comes the need for a lot of support, business development, for mechanisms that will foster that creative environment, that nurturing environment for them but yes we’re definitely seeing where innovation and creativity sort of just bubbled to the surface coming out of the pandemic.”

UNESCO consultant Dr. Deborah Hickling Gordon joined the immersion to guide the development of the strategy. The strategy’s development is rooted in collaboration, with a focus on inclusivity and sustainability. While speaking with Dr.Hickling, she complimented Belize on the things that set us apart culturally. 

Dr. Deborah Heckling, UNESCO Consultant: “One of the things that I found when I came to Belize is that their diversity, that their emphasis on diversity is very keen and so that became a cross section, that became an area of emphasis. So we had to be looking instead of looking at a kind of a single society we had to be looking at the various elements of the Belizean society and recognize that each one has its own merit, it’s own style of doing things and look at the cultural economy from that perspective. So that’s very intriguing. In 2015 the Caribbean had set out a means by which they determined that cultural economy should developed here in the region. Belize was the first one to come up with their complete policy between 2017 and ’19. And so that’s really an excellent thing and they have continuously been doing work to move that process forward. We were here in 2023 to do the QPR and now out of that they have asked UNESCO to facilitate the development of this roadmap so that too shows a keen interest of the Belizean people of putting culture at the center of their development process.”

NSAR-CCS represents a historic opportunity to elevate Belize’s creative sector as a pillar of national development, ensuring it is nurtured, empowered, and fully integrated into the country’s economic and cultural fabric.