Kingston, 13 March 2020 – The Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, the Honourable Olivia Grange, has announced the closure of cultural and sport facilities, including museums, galleries, and stadia run by the government.

Minister Grange says the closures — with effect from Saturday, 14 March 2020 — are in keeping with the Government’s strategy to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in Jamaica and to minimise the potential health impact on the country.

The facilities that will be closed to the public are:

• African Caribbean Institute of Jamaica/Jamaica Memory Bank;
• Alexander Bustamante boyhood home at Blenheim, Hanover 
• Bustamante Museum at Tucker Avenue, St Andrew;
• Paul Bogle Memorial Park at Stony Gut, St Thomas;
• Liberty Hall: The Legacy of Marcus Garvey;
• IOJ Junior Centres; 
• Simón Bolívar Cultural Centre;
• Fort Charles;
• National Gallery of Jamaica;
• Seville Heritage Park;
• National Gallery West;
• Natural History Museum of Jamaica;
• National Museum Jamaica; 
• Jamaica Music Museum;
• National Library of Jamaica;
• National Stadium;
• National Aquatics Centre;
• and Trelawny Stadium

The facilities will remain closed to the public until further notice, however staff will report to work as normal.

Minister Grange says “the closure of the facilities is a necessary precaution in the national effort to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and to keep people safe.”

She has encouraged members of the cultural, sport and entertainment sectors to take all necessary precautions and follow the guidance of the health authorities.

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Kingston, 4 February 2020 – The Jamaica Jamaica! exhibition — which tells the story of the island’s music; and has been seen by thousands of people in France and Brazil — is finally on show in the birthplace of Reggae music.

The Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, the Honourable Olivia Grange, officially opened the exhibition at the National Gallery of Jamaica in Kingston on Sunday.

Minister Grange said it was timely to welcome to Jamaica, the exhibition which “celebrates the musical innovations born on the island, especially during Reggae Month”.

The exhibition titled 'Jamaica Jamaica: How Jamaican Music Conquered the World’ is part of the official Reggae Month programme, but Minister Grange explains that the exhibition will run until 28 June 2020.

Jamaica Jamaica! aims to tell the story behind the musical genres of kumina, revival, mento, ska, rocksteady, Reggae, dub and dancehall. It also highlights the impact of the local sound system culture, street culture, and visual arts on popular culture.

The exhibition is being mounted at the National Gallery of Jamaica through a collaboration with La Philharmonie de Paris, which first launched the exhibition in 2017.

According to the Minister, the exhibition “brings together rare memorabilia, photographs, visual art, audio recordings and footage unearthed from Jamaica's best museums and most elusive collectors and studios, while collaborating with legendary local visual artists to convey the essence of a true Jamaican music experience.”

Minister Grange also announced that a statue of the ‘King of Reggae, Bob Marley’ that was done by Christopher Gonzales would be included in the exhibition, which she has described as “a must see”.

The opening hours for the National Gallery of Jamaica are: Tuesday to Thursday 10am-4:30pm; Friday 10am-4pm; Saturday 10am-3pm; and every last Sunday of the month from 11am to 4pm.

While Jamaica Jamaica! is mounted at the National Gallery of Jamaica, there will be a full range of programming, including film screenings, and artist and curator talks; special language group tours in German, French, Japanese by appointment; and children’s musical programming on Saturdays.

The exhibition is curated by Sebastien Carayol, Herbie Miller and O’Neil Lawrence.

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Kingston, 30 August 2019 – The Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, the Honourable Olivia Grange, has unveiled a mural exhibition in tribute to the Windrush Generation.

The exhibition is mounted at various locations in the arrival and departure sections at the Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston.

The unveiling was witnessed by the British High Commissioner to Jamaica, His Excellency Asif Ahmad.

Minister Grange said the exhibition was a tribute to the “resilience and indomitable spirit” of a generation of Jamaicans who responded to the invitation of post-Second World War Britain for labourers to help restore services and communities.

Minister Grange said:
“From the climatic shock of cold, rainy England to the prejudices and discomforts of settling in a new and often unwelcoming environment to the reality of being alone in a strange land of reluctant neighbours, our people experienced every challenge in the book of ignorance and racism.

Yet, they were undaunted. Their fearless, feisty Jamaican heritage was enough buffer against the many challenges they confronted… Armed with their Jamaican culture, heritage and traditions, they determined to make the best for themselves and their families… Through their indomitable spirit and resilience, they developed what has become the formidable Jamaican Diaspora of the United Kingdom.”

The Windrush Mural project is a collaboration between the Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport and the British Council. It features pieces by Jamaican and British artists: Honey Williams, Rosemarie Chung, Sheldon Blake, Tiana Anglin, Kirk Cockburn and Jamila Cooper.

The British High Commissioner said that “when the murals were commissioned as a joint endeavour between British and Jamaican artists, the idea was to capture the complex associations and attributes of Windrush. Hopes and dreams of travellers, immigrations rules which impacted the lives of families, the challenges migrants face finding work and vibrant community dynamics are just some thoughts that now find expression in the Windrush Murals.”

Minister Grange said it was a deliberate move to exhibit the Windrush Murals first at the Norman Manley International Airport as it “signifies the changing form of transport, from sea to air, for migrants,” as well as promotes the airport as an artistic and cultural space.

The Windrush Mural exhibition will be mounted at the airport for three months. Then it will move to Orange Park in Downtown, Kingston and become the entrance to the National Gallery of Jamaica for six months. Following that, the exhibition will travel across Jamaica.

Minister Grange says the Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport and the British Council are working on other projects to memorialise aspects of the shared history of Jamaica and the United Kingdom.

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The Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, through its agency, the National Gallery of Jamaica, will be moving to implement strategic programmes to encourage and facilitate the development of art to improve the quality of life for all Jamaicans.