The 2025 Cultural and Creative Industries Survey was officially launched on Wednesday, October 15, marking a major milestone in efforts to solidify Jamaica’s creative economy as a driver of national development.

Latoya West-Blackwood, co-chair of the Cultural and Creative Industry Alliance of Jamaica (CCIAJ), emphasised the importance of data, collaboration, and equitable investment in the sector.

Formed in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the CCIAJ emerged out of a need for a unified voice within the creative sector, according to West-Blackwood. “The CCIAJ was formed in 2021. During the height of the pandemic, there was a collective need for Jamaica’s creative sector to speak with a unified voice,” she said.

West-Blackwood acknowledged that fragmentation had long limited the sector’s ability to access fair and consistent support. “For decades, most of us were on fragmentation issues… that in turn limited the sector’s influence and ability to access equitable support. That’s a keyword because it’s not that nobody was accessing support, but equitable support”.

The 2025 survey, she said, represents a significant step toward addressing those historic challenges by establishing a baseline for data-driven decision-making. “This survey represents kind of a baseline… we’re looking to not just make this a one-off activity, but to use it as a foundation to build on.”

Four Strategic Pillars for Creative Sector Growth

West-Blackwood outlined four strategic pillars guiding the CCIAJ’s work.

1. Ecosystem Building and Convening
2. Evidence-Based Advocacy and Policy Influence
3. Education and Capacity Building
4. Infrastructure and Strategic Investment

In ecosystem building, she emphasised the need to address longstanding fragmentation.

“We believe that one of the ways to strengthen Jamaica’s creative economy is through building up this ecosystem that connects creative hubs, associations, enterprises across all sub-sectors—from music to film to fashion, literature, design, visual arts, you name it.”

Regarding the second pillar on evidence-based advocacy and policy influence, she added that the survey is to provide data necessary to make good decisions.

West-Blackwood also pointed to the importance of educating and preparing the creative workforce, which is the third pillar.

“While we’re trying to attract investment and get the data, we must have the pool of people who are ready to take advantage of opportunities, and so the fourth pillar is really looking at infrastructure and strategic investment, particularly around things like facilities.

“And so CCIAJ, we’re mobilising investment to foster meaningful infrastructure development across Jamaica’s creative value chains. We want to promote innovative financing models… We need to broaden our imagination in terms of what’s possible,” she added.

The CCIAJ brings together major stakeholders in the cultural sector, including industry associations such as Kingston Creative, the Jamaica Film and Television Association (JAFTA), Women in Film and Television (WIFT), and the Potter’s Association, among others.