2023

Happy New Year 2023! We continue with our Junkanoo Series in celebration of the Return to Bay of the New Year’s Junkanoo Parade following two years of the COVID pandemic!

2022

The Bahamas Orange Economy Team is back under the CN umbrella reintroducing the GOOMBAY GABSEED episodes weekly starting on SUNDAY, JULY 3 in celebration of the country’s 49th ANNIVERSARY MONTH OF INDEPENDENCE and leading right up to our 50th in July 2023! Stay connected and learn all about our beloved Bahamaland…because WE ARE BAHAMIAN AND PROUD!

This is the first in a series of 5 Goombay Gapseeds composed by Arlene Nash-Ferguson and starting on the first Sunday in December, which will highlight Junkanoo-themed information about this important part of our African heritage as Bahamians! It also celebrates the joyful return of the Junkanoo parades to Bay Street on December 26 this year and on New Year’s Day 2023, after they were discontinued due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

For the following 5 Sundays in the month of October (our National Heroes month), the Goombay Gapseed episodes will pay fitting tributes to our first Peoples, The Lucayans, who inhabited these islands BEFORE the arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1492.

BAHAMA PARROT

ELBOW CAY LIGHTSTATION, ABACO

episode 1 - Introduction

In March 2020 The Bahamas closed down due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We have been experienced days, weeks, and months of curfews, lock downs, restrictions, business and border closures, phased openings, and other strict regulations and measures in an attempt to control the community spread of this invisible health foe.

Along with these measures have come significant related and expected economic upheavals. In May, the Government of The Bahamas formed an Economic Recovery Committee (ERC) comprised of various public and private citizen stakeholders tasked with developing bold recommendations to mitigate these negative economic effects for review by mid September.

Pam Burnside, President of Creative Nassau, is proud to have been invited to sit as a member of the ORANGE ECONOMY SUBCOMMITTEE of the ERC tasked with bringing cultural and creative components to the table, but has since resigned as of October 2020. Chaired by Suzanne Pattusch, the creative group comprised of Pam, Amanda Coulson, Arlene Nash-Ferguson, Fred Ferguson, and Fred Munnings (who between them represent centuries of creative acumen and Bahamian cultural expertise) have submitted their recommendations to the Office of the Prime Minister for consideration.

The OE Subcommittee members appeared in a Virtual Town Hall Meeting in July to introduce themselves and their ideas to the public. You can watch the video at this link:

https://www.facebook.com/BahEconRecovery/videos/297434551365741

as well as made several public appearances on radio shows and online media, and have begun implementing their ideas through social media with the launch of GOOMBAY GAPSEED which showcases weekly Bahamian historical and cultural tidbits to remind and encourage us to be “Bahamian and Proud!”

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/G9PH6RX 

In 2013, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) launched a free e-book entitled The Orange Economy, which outlines the importance of Creativity to the economic advancements of cities around the world. Find it at: https://publications.iadb.org/en/orange-economy-infinite-opportunity

In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic has thrust our country, along with countries all around the world, into an economic tailspin. In response and to stem the tide of loss and move ahead, the Government of The Bahamas has formed an Economic Recovery Committee (ERC) to put forth ideas and suggestions as to how best to revive our country’s economy.

Creative Nassau, as a member of the ERC’s Orange Economy Subcommittee, recognizes that our creative and cultural sector encompasses the vast majority of the country’s population. Thus, this sector (also called the “creative economy”), is the keeper of the creative and cultural flame and guardian of valuable traditional, social, and economic wisdom. We, the members of this essential group, have a duty to play a role in contributing to the nation’s recovery and growth.

Sadly, to date, not enough data has been gathered to demonstrate and authenticate the substantial monetary contribution of the creative workforce: visual artists (painters, sculptors, ceramicists, woodworkers, filmmakers, photographers, etc); performing artists (musicians, actors, junkanoos,etc); graphic and various other designers, writers, architects, crafts persons, and chefs. They, as well as many other entrepreneurs and small and medium sized and self-employed business owners, although  not sufficiently recognized, contribute significantly to our country’s GDP.

Realizing the critical need for such data, Creative Nassau has spent several years attempting to mitigate this deficiency with the assistance of the IDB and the Central Bank of The Bahamas. Our efforts have included a 2017 Orange Economy webinar (see further information below) and subsequent work towards developing a local Orange Economy database through the first survey that was launched in early 2018.

We are very pleased to be collaborating with the Small Business Development Center (SBDC) in extending this updated survey’s implementation and interpretation. Creative Nassau believes firmly that the Orange Economy/Creative Industries can become another vibrant pillar of this country's economy.

In August, 2017 Creative Nassau held an ORANGE ECONOMY WEBINAR at the Central Bank of The Bahamas' Conference Centre to introduce the concept to the public. It was very well attended and started the movement rolling!

The eminent presenters for the Webinar are outlined below and the video of the event which is 3 hours and 46 minutes long, can be accessed at:

 https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B4exO9AlfjO7V0NTeDYyWUlDR00

WEBINAR PRESENTERS

Felipe Buitrago is an economics graduate of Los Andes University (Bogotá), a passionate amateur historian, and holds a Masters in International Public Policy from Johns Hopkins University – SAIS.  He is a creative economy expert, based in Bogotá, Colombia, currently engaged in setting up think tanks for the information and communication technologies (ICTs) association of Colombia (CCIT).  He has over 14+ years of creative economy development experience, from public policy design, implementation and evaluation, to international negotiations (multilateral and bilateral) to research and to international cooperation and capacity building with impact in over a dozen countries.

His relevant experience includes:

• Developing the Colombian Satellite Account of Culture of Colombia, the first in the world;

• Designing and negotiating the Colombian Cultural Reserve of the Free Trade Agreement with the United States, establishing the model followed by the country afterwards;

• Authoring or contributing the the following documents:

           - Creative Industries Mapping of Bogotá and Soacha (2002) - Co-author;

           - Economic Impact of the Cultural Industries of Colombia (2003) - Contributor;

           - Guide to Produce Regional Mappings of the Creative Industries (2005) - Contributor;

           - Art and Part: Entrepreneurship manual for cultural enterprises and creative industries (2005) - Contributor;

           - Creative Lebanon (2008) - Contributor;

            - A Tanzania for the Creatives (2009) - Co-Author;

            - T-shirts and Suits (2009) - translation to Spanish

            - Una Ventana a la Economía Creativa de Valparaíso (2010) - Co-author;

            - The Orange Economy: An Infinite Opportunity (2013) - Co-Author;

            - Arts & the Workforce (2015) - Author.

Prior to his current responsibilities, Felipe was a consultant at the Inter-American Development Bank's (IDB) Culture, Solidarity and Creativity Affairs Division.

keithnurse@me.com

Dr. Keith Nurse is Senior Fellow at the Sir Arthur Lewis Institute for Social and Economic Studies, the World Trade Organization Chair at The University of the West Indies (UWI) and adjunct teaching staff at the Arthur Lok Jack School of Business. He formerly served as the Executive Director of UWI Consulting Inc. and the Director of the Shridath Ramphal Centre for International Trade Law, Policy and Services. He is a member of the Economic Development Advisory Board, Government of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago and serves on the executive bureau of the UN Committee for Development Policy, a subsidiary body of the United Nations Economic and Social Council.

He has pioneered research on trade policy, the creative industries, global tourism, diasporic entrepreneurship, climate change and sustainable development, innovation governance and global value chains. He has served as a consultant and adviser to several international organizations such as UNESCO, UNIDO, UNECLAC, OECD, the Commonwealth Secretariat, the ACP Secretariat, the Medical Research Council UK, Inter-American Development Bank, and the Organization of American States. At the regional level he has worked for and advised the Caribbean Tourism Organization, Compete Caribbean, Caribbean Export Development Agency and the CARICOM Secretariat.

Dr. Nurse is the chair of Caribbean Tales Worldwide Distribution Inc. and the executive producer of the docudrama “Forward Home: The Power of the Caribbean Diaspora”.

Peter N. Ives is a graduate of Harvard College and Georgetown University Law Center and is a member of the State of New Mexico and Navajo Nation bars.

Peter serves as a City of Santa Fe Councilor and was selected by Major Javier Gonzales to serve as his initial Mayor Pro Tem. Having successfully sought re-election, Peter now serves as Chair of the Public Works Committee and the Water Conservation Committee, is a member of the Finance Committee, and is the Mayor’s Alternate as Director of the Coalition of Los Alamos National Laboratory Communities. He also serves as Parliamentarian for the City Council.  Peter looks to Santa Fe’s Sustainable Future as a guiding principle, acknowledges the deep ties between its diverse cultures and creative economy and respects and honors the historical richness that defines the City. Peter sees Santa Fe as a community that lives intentionally, in which real efforts are made to respect each other and the community.

Peter is the City Council contact for the UNESCO’s Creative Cities Network (UCCN) program, and served as the initial designee of the Craft and Folk Art cluster of cities to the UCCN Steering Group.

Peter has practiced law in Santa Fe, New Mexico for 34 years and for the last 19 of those as Senior Counsel at The Trust for Public Land. Working in TPL's Santa Fe Office, Peter works primarily in New Mexico, Colorado and Arizona, as well as for TPL's Geographic Information Systems division. During his tenure with TPL, Peter has worked on and facilitated the closing of hundreds of conservation transactions. The work has involved extensive work with private land owners to accomplish their financial and conservation goals, private, federal, state and local agencies and funding and work with conservation buyers, dealing with fee and less than fee (conservation easements) interests.

Peter is married to Patricia Salazar Ives, a local attorney. They have three adult children. Peter also serves on a number of nonprofit boards/foundations and sings with several local groups.