The Kingston Creative- Adding more colour to an already dynamic city.

By: Staff Writer

August 10, 2021

The Kingston Creative is adding more colour to an already colourful and dynamic downtown Kngston, Jamaica and all are on board.

Andrea Dempster Chung, co-founder and managing director of Kingston Creative, told Caribbean Magazine Plus that the idea to paint downtown Kingston was because the city is already naturally “colourful, creative and dynamic with the sounds of reggae booming from oversize speakers at all hours of the day and night.”

She added: “But its not only vibrant in terms of music, its visually bright and colourful. The walls, shops and bars have paintings on them and murals have always been a part of the landscape. Over the years, organisations like Paint Jamaica and Life Yard led the way with their Fleet Street project, which brought visitors and income into the Downtown community of Southside, and also increased the peace.  When we started to think about a national venture to transform not only the city by creatives lives – Kingston Creative was born.”

Kingston Creative is a nonprofit arts organisation founded in February, 2017 with Ms Dempster-Chung being a co-founder along with Allan Daisley and Dr Jennifer Bailey. Their website says their vision is that Kingston is a Creative City and their mission is to enable Caribbean creatives to succeed, so that they can create economic and social value, gain access to global markets and have a positive impact on their local communities.

They are a group of Jamaicans who have a passion for culture, and want to see the city transformed and more opportunities for the talented creative people on the island. First and foremost we’re creatives but we are also engineers, software developers, architects, lawyers, writers, entrepreneurs, academics and more. 

They also believe in collaboration and work with a public-private and third sector partnership, a team of organisations that are committed to empowering creative people and transforming Downtown Kingston.  We want to develop a vibrant, inclusive Art District and a Creative Hub for training and development and in the long term, achieve sustainable national development through growing our creative economy.

The Kingston transformation is happening at a rapid pace. Ms Dempster-Chung, said: “Our 10 year transformation programme is about people and place and so far its happening faster than we thought.  In terms of creative placemaking, our goal is to create a street art walkway that connects the Museums with the National Gallery of Jamaica, and that walkway is called Water Lane. 

“We also know that it can’t be just about visual art, we have to animate the space and bring in artists, creatives and the public, so we host events like the Artwalk and Market Street – an open Art Festival with performances, food and local artisans.  We have created 64 murals so far, and probably have another 40 to go before we complete it.  We also work with other entities like Trench Town Culture Yard, the Duke Street Renewal Project  and Sounds and Pressure – different local groups dedicated to the arts.”

She also said: “The press has interviewed people who live and work in Downtown and the feedback has been very positive.  Everyone feels better when their space is being upgraded ad there is an increased perception of safety and of course the opportunity for local businesses, bars, tour operators and vendors to earn more.

“This is a 10 year vision, which will see a vibrant Art District created in Downtown, and a Hub for creative people and businesses. We have six years to go!  The murals may be completed earlier, but it takes way more than murals to develop a healthy creative ecosystem where creative people can thrive. There have to be events, and people have to have space and developmental and educational opportunities. We also have to provide the right technology and market access tools and through our 3 year project with IDB we are working on the business and tech side of things.”

Finding the artwork around Jamaica was “easy” with talent all over the place said Ms Chung as the only Art School in the English Speaking Caribbean is located in Kingston, the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts. She added: “Our first mural, “Celebration” was actually done by Bernard Hoyes, a well-known Jamaican artists who lives in California, but also has a home here in Downtown and is committed to transforming the city. Other murals were done by students, professional artists and artists who live in the community.”

Organising the downtown merchants to get on board with the initiative took small steps until it is reaching critical mass, Ms Dempster-Chung explains: “We started small, with just one owner, Ueli Bangerter, whose business, Swiss Stores/F&B Downtown has been located in Downtown since 1935 and he was willing to partner with us to develop murals and host the very first Artwalk. We worked with him, demonstrated success and then invited others to come on board.  Our approach is incremental, so that we can build trust, not only with the businesses, but with the artists and the community that lives in Downtown Kingston.

The governmental support for the Kingston Creative is also better than expected along with other private sector partners. Ms Dempster-Chung said: “The Ministry of Culture, Ministry of Tourism (Tourism Enhancement Fund) and Ministry of Industry Investment and Commerce have been great supporters of the programme. 

“The Private sector, entities like Sherwin Williams, tTech, Sagicor Bank, has also been instrumental, providing seed capital, discounts on materials for the project and funding for events.  The support has also come from NGO’s and Foundations who work on addressing social issues in Downtown Kingston.”

 The next step now is to maintain the ambiance they had added to in downtown Kingston, for which the maintenance will be an ongoing affair happening now and wull continue into the future with funds being raised with the assistance of the Jamaican government to maintain the cultural spaces.

Downtown Kingston is a “pilot” project for the Kingston Creative as Ms Dempster-Chung said: “Kingston is a pilot and we know that creative placemaking is a concept that would do very well in other cities with history and culture – Montego Bay, Falmouth, Black River… Once the concept is tested and refined, it can definitely be expanded to other areas.

 The Kingston Creative can be replicated and Ms Dempster-Chung believes other Caribbean countries can learn from their creative model and adapt it to their capital cities and that moreso they have a lot to learn from other Caribbean islands. She said: We think we have a lot to learn from them!  Trinidad, Dom Rep, Haiti, Barbados and Cuba are just a few examples of countries that all have done amazing things in the area of art, culture, and heritage.  We would love to have more dialogue so that we can learn from each other.”

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