The Caribbean Cultural Fund (CCF), in collaboration with the Caribbean Broadcasting Union (CBU), is hosting its first webinar, ‘The Impact and Value of Art in the Caribbean’ this Thursday, June 13.

The webinar aims to strengthen media practitioners’ understanding of the critical role the arts play in shaping Caribbean identity and future development and to encourage increased coverage of arts and culture across the region.

“Caribbean creativity asserts that it deserves global recognition,” said Michele Pierre-Louis, Chair of the CCF Steering Committee in describing how artists mirror society through their work. “The artistic field in the world is an immense field. So we do feel sometimes small, but I think that what we create is grand and needs to be recognised as being grand. Artists can express through their chosen medium, what society is all about, you know, its greatness, but also its disorders, its injustices, its chaos, but also its dream, and its hope,” Pierre-Louis explained.

An integral part of the CCF’s vision is reclaiming and celebrating the Caribbean’s cultural creations and artefacts. “Our countries are reclaiming their cultural creations, artefacts, works of art, you know, and it’s a whole process that needs to be upheld.”

The Caribbean Culture Fund (CCF) is a new initiative that aims to support artists and cultural organisations across the region and its diasporas.

The CCF opened its inaugural call for proposals in April and will announce the winners of its first grants in July. The overwhelming response to the CCF’s first call for proposals in April 20224, with over 400 applications, underscores the urgent need for initiatives that support the region’s artistic endeavours. 

This webinar with the CBU marks the introduction of the CCF’s second initiative – awards for media practitioners from print, television, radio and digital platforms, for their coverage of the arts.