Kingston, 11 February 2023 –The Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, the Honourable Olivia Grange, has announced that the Ministry will select 60 students to be interns and match them to 60 companies in the creative sector as another of the activities to celebrate Jamaica’s 60th anniversary of Independence.

On Thursday, February 9, the Jamaica Conference Centre was filled to near capacity with students from close to 30 secondary and tertiary schools from across the island. They were there to participate in the second annual Jamaica Creative Career Expo 2023. The Expo is an initiative of Jamaica Creative an entity of the Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport.

Minister said, “My Ministry wants to stimulate the continued exponential growth of the creative sector by causing you all to awaken and use your collective imagination and expressions. We will do so in a focused and measured way.”

Among the panellists was Dr Miles Davis, President of Linfield University in Oregon, in the United States. He spoke on creative practitioners understanding the business of show business. At the end of Dr Davis’ presentation, he called Minister Grange on stage to formally announce that Linfield University would offer five scholarships a year to students from Jamaica, beginning in September 2023. He hopes to work with the Ministry to identify those students, with special attention being given to those in the performing arts.

Dr Davis doesn’t have any Jamaican heritage but felt it was important to help students in the African diaspora no matter where they come from.

He said, “I believe on a very personal level, those of us in the diaspora who are in positions of responsibility to make decisions have to reach out and give back. Jamaica is a hotbed of creativity. And even though people know about Reggae, they need to know about the other arts.”

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