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NICH celebrates its 10th anniversary

HighlightsNICH celebrates its 10th anniversary

National Culture 2013 (Draft) launched

The National Institute of Culture and History (NICH) today celebrated its 10th year milestone with the launch of the National Culture Policy 2013 (Draft) – a document which includes a 9-point bill of rights, among them the right to social and economic benefits derived from culture.

Speaking at the event, Minister of Tourism Manuel Heredia said, “We have a unique opportunity to address the critical issues and to find proactive solutions to Belize’s development needs. The linkage for making culture central to development is already forged by linking culture with one of our leading economic sectors – tourism. In the recently endorsed National Sustainable Tourism Master Plan, Belize’s cultural resources are identified as a pivotal element to continue building and reshaping an authentic tourism product.”

Heredia told Amandala that the policy is “long overdue.”

NICH was created by the Government of Belize in 2003, under the People’s United Party administration. At this juncture, the institute’s first decade in existence is being marked with the slogan: “igniting a cultural renaissance.”

Rosita Mai, NICH board director, said that the new policy presents future strategies to propel culture into the realm of national development.

“Our focus and passion must be culture’s economic impact. Investment in the arts, at a national level, will provide opportunities for this challenging time and is the platform for culture to become a national revival,” Mai added.

“One of the things we set out to do was to address the issue of how it is that from a policy perspective, we could collectively seek to preserve and promote Belize’s diversity of culture and its forms — its tangible and intangible cultural heritage and of course, how it is that we could seek to develop what is the creative industries,” said Nigel Encalada, Director, Institute for Social and Cultural Research (ISCR).

Leading up to the publication policy draft were broad-based consultations.

“There were four themes that ran throughout the consultations, as we travelled from district to district. One was the issue of identity; the other was the issue of the preservation, promotion and the economic development; the other was the distribution and access to available resources; and of course, the other one was youth,” Encalada detailed.

After today’s launch, a plenary was held at which persons with interest in culture were afforded the opportunity to provide further feedback on the policy. Encalada urged more feedback before the policy’s finalization. He said that public feedback is “invaluable to the process.”

“Because it is a draft document, it is going to be amended, and we intend to present the final document in November, along with an implementation plan and responsible agencies; and a mechanism for the evaluation for how we proceed into the next five to ten years,” the ISCR director commented.

NICH president Diane Haylock made the connection between the lack of cultural expression and crime – and what is proposed to reduce the scourge via cultural initiatives.

“We talk about crime in our society, but do not think about how culture can play a meaningful role in downsizing the crime statistics, and so we are partnering with RESTORE Belize, and the steel orchestra section. We want to promote the theme—which I love!—which is to beat a pan, not a man.”

She said that much more resources are needed to bring the steel pan to the youth across the country.

“We are doing our children a disservice by not fulfilling their entitlement of a cultural life,” Haylock said.

“I would like to suggest that perhaps the greatest underachievement in these ten years has been the inability to address the matter of promoting of culture and the arts as curricular projects at the primary and secondary levels—and I would like to add, the tertiary as well, because after all they are teaching our teachers there to teach our children,” she added.

According to Haylock, they hope to have the full sanction of Cabinet and Legislature before the end of the current fiscal year in March 2014.

She also spoke of linking with the Ministry of Education, to further integrate culture into the education curriculum.

Haylock reported that the annual subvention the Government provides to NICH is just under $2 million; however, NICH also earns revenues from fees collected at tourist sites, rentals and events, etc. She added that on the table of board of directors is an institutional audit which will inform significant changes they will have to make to accomplish the aims of the new policy.

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