Kingston Creative, in partnership with the American Friends of Jamaica (AFJ), the Miami Foundation, and generous individual donors, has opened applications for the Creative Resilience Grant, an emergency financial support programme offering J$30,000 stipends to artists and creative entrepreneurs whose livelihoods have been disrupted by Hurricane Melissa.

Hurricane Melissa highlighted significant vulnerabilities within Jamaica’s cultural and creative industries, a sector that contributes to national identity, tourism, and economic development, yet remains largely unprotected within traditional disaster recovery systems.

The Creative Resilience Grant provides urgent relief for creatives needing to restock materials, replace equipment, and supplement income lost due to cancelled gigs, production downtime, or damaged materials and studio spaces.

“Creatives are at the heart of community and economic recovery,” said Andrea Dempster Chung, Co-Founder and Executive Director of Kingston Creative. “When disaster strikes, this is the sector that helps rebuild morale, that performs at the telethons to raise funds and whose music plays on repeat to give people hope. Creatives restore the spirit of the nation, and this grant is a first step in ensuring that our artists are not left behind.”

This creative resilience initiative continues Kingston Creative’s mission to work with key partners to strengthen Jamaica’s creative ecosystem through advocacy and inclusive economic development.  Kingston Creative is also advocating for stronger protections for artists and creative livelihoods in national disaster planning.

The organisation believes that supporting creatives is not charity, it is protection of Jamaica’s global cultural influence, and investment in its long-term economic recovery, as these creative entrepreneurs are the same micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises that form the backbone of the Jamaican economy.

“Hurricane Melissa has not only devastated our physical landscape and infrastructure, but she has also disrupted the industries driving the economy of Jamaica. This includes the livelihoods of our creative entrepreneurs and arts professionals who form the bedrock of our cultural tourism economy. It is critical for us to assist them during this recovery transition and get them back on their feet,” said Marlon Hill, former trustee of The Miami Foundation and fiscal director of US Caribbean Strong Relief Fund.

Applications are now open to artists, designers, performers, filmmakers, craft producers, musicians, and other cultural practitioners from the West who have been professionally active and can demonstrate hurricane-related disruption to their income or practice. Recipients will be selected each month by an independent review panel that includes members of the Cultural and Creative Industries Alliance of Jamaica (CCIAJ).