2 weeks ago
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Investing in the arts through education or funding can unlock new earning power and build stronger industries, according to musician and educator Seretse Small.
“It means building stronger bridges between industry and education,” he said, urging policymakers to take Afro-Jamaican traditions seriously. “Our culture – our songs, stories, dialects, and rituals – are often treated as amusing but primitive,” said Small, while delivering the annual Walter Rodney Lecture, at the University of the West Indies, Mona.
Pleasing, perhaps, but not profound, he said: “And that, I believe, is Jamaica’s foundational problem”.
Small argued that art forms that are supported grow in complexity and economic value. Despite Jamaica’s global reputation for music and creativity, cultural expression often gets sidelined; they are seen as entertainment, not enterprise. That mindset, Small said, stems from colonial history and still shapes how schools and industries engage with local talent.
He also pointed to spiritual traditions, such as Obeah and Myalism, which remain misunderstood or criminalised.
Embracing these practices, he argued, could spark innovation and reclaim suppressed knowledge.
“If we truly want economic growth, we must seek freedom from mental slavery – not just as a moral issue, but as a necessity for survival,” Small said.
His argument echoes the Greek philosopher Aristotle’s view that freedom fuels thought, and thought drives innovation. Added Small: “Freedom is not chaos; it’s the order that emerges when a people trust their own intelligence”.
Small urged Jamaicans to rethink schools – not as places of control, but as communities of practice. He cited Vietnam and the United States as examples of countries that built strong economies by aligning education with culture and industry. Jamaica can do the same, he said.
The cultural economy contributes an estimated 5.1 per cent to Jamaica’s GDP, according to a recent survey by the Cultural and Creative Industries Alliance of Jamaica.
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