The Kingston Creative story began in 2017 with one vision in mind, to make Kingston the Creative Capital of the Caribbean. Five years later, the vision has not changed and they are well
on their way to achieving their goal. This non-profit has established over 15 programmes and hosted over 50 events that has begun the process of debunking the stigma attached to Downtown Kingston, transforming the livelihood of local residents and creating more opportunities for creatives and cultural entrepreneurs. Here is a look at Kingston Creative’s top ten moments in 2022.
#10 – REGIONAL NETWORKING
Kingston Creative hosted a Creative Incubator Summit, a Createch networking event which took place on Jan 11, 2022 and convened international and regional experts from 500 Startups, Ten
Habitat, and more. Over 100 people registered for the one-day seminar and a list of tech tools for creatives was shared with a regional network of MSME’s.
#9 – HACKATHON ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS
Kingston Creative hosted Creative Hack JA, a 2-day hackathon that brought together tech enthusiasts, and creatives to develop ideas to address societal problems around the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The event was sponsored by Kingston Creative, IDB Lab and Development Bank of Jamaica and leveraged creativity, technology and the power of community to gather innovative ideas to address crime, energy, environment, traffic, education, health, the economy or a social issue of their own choosing. The event culminated with the selection of the 3 best solutions and teams receiving over $1 JMD million in funding. 70 people participated and the winning ideas covered Environment and Climate Change, Cultural and Creative Industries Ecosystem, and Education.
#8 – $500,000 USD IN GRANT SUPPORT FOR CREATIVES
Through the CATAPULT Caribbean Arts Grant, a partnership between Kingston Creative, the American Friends of Jamaica and the Open Societies Foundation, over half a million US dollars
was delivered in support to the arts community. This year, under Catapult II, relief grants of $500 USD each were awarded to 300 creatives. The grant has helped to complete arts projects, purchase equipment and cover living expenses for artists in dire straits due to the impact of the pandemic. 436 creatives applied from 23 countries across the Caribbean and these were
narrowed down to 300 recipients by a panel of 5 jurors. Over 2 years, the programme offered much needed financial support to vulnerable artists at a time when the Caribbean creative sector was in crisis.
#7 REGIONAL DATABASE OF CREATIVES
Kingston Creative launched an artist database, dubbed the Caribbean Creative Network (www.caribbean creative network.org) that connects artists in the Caribbean to the world. It enables artists to be found, hired and easily partnered with by international organizations and local clients. By enrolling artists in the Caribbean Creative Network, this encourages artists to develop their bios and portfolios, heighten their visibility and also to use technology to increase their access to potential new markets, new audiences, customers, and collaborators to accelerate post-COVID recovery.
#6 JAMAICAN ARTISTS TRAVEL TO THE AFJ GALA
Kingston Creative, in partnership with the American Friends of Jamaica (AFJ) and the CB Facey Foundation, sponsored two Jamaican artists to attend the annual AFJ Jamaica Charity Gala at
the Perez Art Museum, Miami (PAMM). The selected artists were Richard Nattoo and Oneika Russell, rising stars in the Jamaican visual arts scene who are also CATAPULT Caribbean Art
Grant recipients. Nattoo and Russell had their work up for auction and the AFJ Gala raised $200,000 USD to support vital social development programmes in Jamaica.
#5 ART DISTRICT DEVELOPMENT: PLANNING FOR SAFE, RESILIENT CITIES
Kingston Creative was invited to present on its work developing an Art District at the Caribbean Urban Forum 2022 in Bridgetown Barbados, Thursday 16th June, 2022. The panel discussion was hosted by United Nations Women and the focus was “Designing Resilient, Inclusive, SMART and Safe public spaces in the Caribbean” and there was a focus on Safe Cities, Gender Equality and Climate Resilience.
#4 JAMAICAN ARTISTS GO INTERNATIONAL THROUGH IDB AND DBJ FUNDED TRAVEL GRANT
Kingston Creative enabled three artists, Anthony Smith, Matthew McCarthy and Kenardo Ellis to travel to Mexico, Curacao, and Haiti in August 2022. Anthony “Taoszen” Smith, visual artist, visited the colourful Caribbean island of Curaçao to participate in the Kaya Kaya Festival which is part of a goal to revitalize Otrabanda and build community pride among the local community in Curaçao. Roots and jazz musician Kenardo “Ken Ellis” Ellis visited Querétaro, Mexico where he performed in front of a welcoming audience at the UNESCO North American Creative Cities Forum. The visit helped him to make connections with other musicians from across the globe with whom he hopes to create musical partnerships. For visual artist Matthew McCarthy, visiting Haiti has always been a part of his life goals and the opportunity to participate in the Festi Graffiti street festival in Cap-Haïtien, Haiti aligned perfectly. The festival, hosted by Urban Art Consulting featured artists from Mexico, United States, Cap-Haïtien and Port-au-Prince in Haiti, all working together to beautify the city of Cap-Haïtien.
#3 KC TAKES ON NEW ROLE AS A DBJ BUSINESS SERVICE INTERMEDIARY
The Development Bank of Jamaica (DBJ) designated Kingston Creative as a new Business Service Intermediary in its IGNITE Grant, Business Service Intermediaries (BSI) programme. This means that Kingston Creative is able to serve creative entrepreneurs across the island with a suite of various consulting services and manage grant funds for creatives, supporting them to grow their businesses and develop and commercialize innovative ideas in the Cultural and Creative Industries.
#2 THE ARTWALK FESTIVAL RETURNS TO DOWNTOWN KINGSTON
In October 2022, the Artwalk Festival came back to the streets of Downtown Kingston after over 2 years of hiatus due to COVID-19. It was funded by the American Friends of Jamaica, Main
Event and Red Stripe. The Artwalk was full of creative performances, live music by Royal Blu, Rootz Underground and The Jam is Back and high energy dance routines. Hundreds attended
the festival throughout the day and purchased guided walking tours of the new Artwalk murals which can be booked at www.kingstoncreative.org/tours.
#1 16 NEW MURALS FOR WATER LANE DOWNTOWN – LAUNCH OF PAINT THE CITY PHASE III
Kingston Creative celebrated Jamaica’s talented creatives as the Paint the City “Whole Heap a Kulcha” Launch, where 16 artists were publicly celebrated for their works highlighting icons like
Lee Scratch Perry, Rex Nettleford, Bogle, Grace Jones, Lorna Goodison, Mervyn Morris, Carlene Samuels, Oliver Samuels and more. Videos documenting the artists’ process are now available for viewing on our YouTube Channel and on Instagram. We are grateful to the Tourism Enhancement Fund and Sherwin Williams for their steadfast support of this project to develop a vibrant artwalk to connect the two major Art Institutions in Jamaica – The National Gallery of Jamaica (NGJ) and the National Museums in the Institute of Jamaica (IOJ). The final phase of Paint the City is planned for 2023.
“There are so many other moments that Kingston Creative could celebrate this year,” shared Cofounder and Executive Director of Kingston Creative, Andrea Dempster Chung. “We presented on developing creative ecosystems at the Abu Dhabi Culture Summit in the United Arab Emirates and graduated a second cohort of 10 creative entrepreneurs from the Go Global Accelerator programme. We delivered training in Downtown communities and our Creative Hub and coworking space in Downtown Kingston continues to be an incubator for new creative ideas and businesses. All in all, it’s been a great year and we want to thank our First 50 donors, all our partners, advocates, staff and volunteers who are investing in our city and sustainable development for Jamaica by developing the Orange economy. We look forward to more creativity, collaboration and transformation in 2023.”
