By Alva Solomon
SOCIAL media may be utilised soon as a method to kick-start a national discussion on the development of arts and culture in Guyana and long-awaited copyright laws may be on the horizon as the discussion on the development of a national cultural policy continues.During a consultation workshop at the Arthur Chung Convention Centre yesterday to continue the discussion on the policy, music producer Birchmore Simon suggested the use of the Internet to assist in the discussions. His suggestion won the approval of Education Minister, Dr Rupert Roopnaraine, who was involved in the deliberations.
“Let us do something on the Internet”, Simon said, adding that questions, suggestions and comments can be publicised using social media to gather information from those involved in the creative industry, as well as John Public to decipher the perceptions and thoughts of all.
He said that a database can assist in development of the policy. ”It’s a cheap, effective way and as broad a base as you can get,” he said.
The Education Minister fully supported the idea, noting that it was one which should be taken into account as soon as possible.
The lack of copyright laws was also tied into the discussions yesterday. The issue was one which has affected the music and film industries among other art groups for years and many persons within the country have been calling on the authorities to implement stringent copyright laws to protect their creative pieces from the hands of pirates.
Dr Roopnaraine noted that the issue of copyright protection was one which will be discussed before the relevant legislation is crafted.

DISCUSSIONS HAVE BEGUN
He said that the discussions have begun on this subject and at the end of the process, “we do need to ensure we can get the necessary protection for artists and cultural workers to have necessary legislative framework to enable them to benefit from their own work and their own creativity and production”.
Simon told the gathering that the Kross Kolor studios recently launched a Christmas album and some 800 copies of the CDs had been sold. “This was done in an environment of piracy,” he added.
Meanwhile, Ruel Johnson, Cultural Policy Adviser within the Education Ministry noted yesterday that there are several areas which have to be examined as the cultural policy takes shape.
He said that the overall timeline for the policy to be fully operational is within the vicinity of 10 years, but there was a two-year plan to have concrete developments of aspects of the process. He said in the short-term, which he posits to be in the next six months ahead, the plans and processes should become more stable. During the discussions, Johnson asked how the stakeholders could balance the indifference which exists, where there is a culture of conservation in the interior regions, while there is a culture of consumption on the coastland. He said that it is this balance which needed to be examined and actively pursued.
Subraj Singh, a recent awardee of the Guyana Prize for Literature, stated that while there are periodic goals, mechanisms needed to be installed to foster and develop the sector in the short-term. He said that persons in the industry may want to see initial movements in the direction of development of the relevant processes.
During yesterdays’ discussions, the economic benefits of the arts and culture were also brought to the fore. Barbados–born Denis Ward noted that many products which can be branded “Guyanese” would suffer on the international market because of the absence of copyright protection. He said he has been following the cultural industry for years and as far back as 1994, there were commitments made by the government of the day to have certain aspects of legislation streamlined by the year 2000.
Ward said that his concern lies along the lines of the economic benefits of the cultural industry for the individual who invests his/her time into the arts. He said the issue needed to be examined to ensure the man/woman investing in the industry reaps the benefits of his/her energies.

PROMISE
Dr Roopnaraine, who has been supporting the development of creative arts for some time, was adamant that the legislation will be actively pursued.
“At the end of it I hope that we can have a set of proposals to take to Parliament to enact the necessary legislation,” Dr Roopnaraine noted.
The Education Minister expressed hope that proposals can be made to the Ministry of Finance.
“I think that we need to invest in the cultural industries if we want to see the kind of progress that we want.”