Reading Time: 4 minutes

The year 2025, was marked by calamities, geo-political woes, and behaviour, talk of AI taking over the world, financial instability and natural disasters.

 Continued efforts to revitalise, rejuvenate and to once again make downtown Kingston a buzzing metropolis continued apace last year due to the efforts of Kingston Creative, led by its Executive Director and co-founder Andrea Dempster-Chung.

Andrea Dempster-Chung has always been devoted to building a nation through arts and culture. She sees Jamaica as a major cultural untapped force in the world and was quick to identify the potential of downtown Kingston.

With a few like -minded friends, she set about forming a non-profit organisation that would develop the dilapidated areas of downtown Kingston into an arts district and a creative entrepreneurial hub. They sought to raise $20 million to get going, and in 2017, launched Kingston Creative with Andrea serving as Executive Director.

For decades, government officials have announced how plans are “in the pipeline “to refresh downtown Kingston and add some vivacity. Many toasts were made with glasses of Merlot and spring rolls eaten, then all went about their business-nothing happened.

Through tenacity, chutzpah, drive, organisational skills, Andrea and her team brought their palette to downtown Kingston, transforming Water Lane with vibrant murals that reflected the culture of Jamaica. They sought donors,corporate and international support from those who admired what they were attempting to create, rolled in.

For those who are familiar with the Design District in Miami, then the efforts of  Kingston Creative would be fully appreciated.

What must be commended here is the will, foresight and ingenuity to take what was moribund and breathe new life into it.

 Taking a look at her CV, Andrea Dempster Chung would be highly unlikely to spearhead this charge. She studied at Georgia Tech in Atlanta before going on to the University of Illinois.. She holds a Master of Science in Structural Engineering and a Bachelor of Science in Civil and Environmental Engineering.

She headed the Arts portfolio for the British Council and has served as a senior executive at both GraceKennedy and Digicel. She also founded and managed the trendy bookshop and cafe Bookophilia. 

Last year, Kingston Creative hosted a number of well-attended events in downtown Kingston that revealed what is possible and the true enterprising and creative verve of the area. Water Lane has been transformed and has become a tourist attraction. Kingstonians share Andrea’s vision and applaud what she has accomplished. 

Not content with making the area fancy, Andrea has stressed the importance of capacity building for creatives. It’s all very well wanting to be a creative and harbouring those ambitions but how do you monetise your efforts? How do you make a living from what you do? Andrea believes Jamaicans should be taught this essential skill.

The Art Walk Festival in downtown Kingston has become a fixture on the events calendar of the city and the vibe from it has to be experienced. 

Kingston Creative has gone on to win a number of awards, including World’s Best Creative Destination in 2023. It has gone on to become an internationally recognised entity that has put Kingston on the map, highlighting the area’s wonderful architecture while at the same time helping to raise property values. 

In an interview, Andrea Dempster-Chung gave prescient insight into what her and the team have achieved and what they can do to help creatives in Jamaica.

She said: “ We want to ensure that Jamaican creatives have all the tools, investment and training that they need to succeed right here at  home.”

“Our creatives have a lot of talent so we don’t try to train in creative skills; we train in business skills, specifically digital skills because now creatives who want to survive have to be operating in a digital world.

“Creatives have to know about IP protection and social media management.

“Everyone understands the power of our music, our culture-it’s everywhere in the world you travel. However, when you come back and live in Jamaica, you realise the creators of the culture are not the ones benefiting from all of this talent. So how do you make sure the creators are empowered, have access to capital, global markets and can do so without migrating?”

Andrea recently announced that Montego Bay Creative will get underway in the second city where it is hoped the success in Kingston will be replicated. In Montego Bay, her team will be partnering with the Tui Foundation, more specifically its Tui Colourful Cultures arm.

Well done Andrea and keep up the good work!.