Excerpts from a speech by Andrea Dempster Chungkingston, co-founder and CEO of Creative, at the Grounation 2024 conference
Reclaiming physical space is resistance. Challenging the status quo is resistance. Defining arts and culture as a driver of social and economic transformation is seen as resistance. Placing artists and cultural workers in a prominent position and position in our society is resistance. Deliberately betting on what is strongest in us as a country – our culture – even though it was created by those we consider to be the working classes of society – is resistance. Deciding to transform our city, our economy, and empower our most culturally vibrant communities is to resist. Envisioning a new future together, and taking action together from the ground up, not the top down, to achieve this new future – is an act of resistance.
If you ever asked me if I was interested in politics, I would say, like many creative people, that I am not political. Our policy is framed in a restrictive way, because it forces us to think about development in volatile four-year cycles rather than the strategic 25- and 50-year cycles that lead to real transformation and sustainable national development. To be creative, one has to be in a certain state of mind, and I often find it necessary to block out the partisan chatter we often find ourselves embroiled in as a society.
But the word “politics” is taken from the Greek word “politika”, and is simply defined as “the affairs of cities”. In the literal sense, politics is simply a set of activities associated with making decisions in groups and managing power relations among individuals. Irish political scientist Michael Laffer put it this way:
“Politics is about the distinctive mixture of conflict and cooperation that can often be found in human interactions. Pure conflict is war. Pure cooperation is true love. Politics is a mixture of both.”
If I were to stick to the true definition of politics, the work we do at Kingston Creative is very political. Artists and creatives are actively changing the city's affairs through every mural, every film, every book, and every cultural tour.
Tremendous vision
Kingston Creative is a movement that came into existence about seven years ago, so let me say first, happy 7th anniversary to the entire Kingston Creative family. I distinctly remember being upstairs in my house in London, and making this call to my co-founder Alan Disley who was in Miami. My hands were shaking, and I was completely filled with fear. This was a very big vision, and I didn't want to appear disturbed. I didn't even want to speak out loud, but it was so urgent that I felt like I would explode if I didn't.
Even as a potential thinker and eternal optimist, I know how the world works. I'm a dark-skinned Black person, I'm a woman, and I don't have any generational wealth to fund a huge vision, so who are we to think we can really change the affairs of the city?
But we stepped out on faith and developed our ten-year plan with David Mullings and Jennifer Bailey. Back home in Jamaica, we took another small step forward, first presenting the concept at the University of the West of England's Imagine Kingston conference in 2017. We formed a core team with Doris Gross and Dr. Kim Marie Spence. Very quickly, a group of 100 volunteers and creatives came on board, all playing a crucial role in hosting Artwalk festivals and monthly meetups, painting murals and moving this vision forward.
We registered a non-profit company in 2019, then a charitable organisation, and were able to raise money to fund operations. This couldn't have happened without the support of what we call the Top 50 founders, individuals and companies who donate $1 million annually because they want to be part of the downtown transformation and economic growth they believe Creative Entrepreneurs and Orange are. The economy can achieve.
Developing creative people
Since 2017, we've painted 101 murals, opened a co-working space downtown, launched Artwalk – a monthly public art festival, and created a cultural tourism destination on Water Lane that is now listed on Tripadvisor. This street arts trail connects the Jamaica Institute Museums on East Street with the National Gallery of Jamaica on Orange Street, and the talent of these artists has brought many visitors to this part of town.
Our key partners in these developments are the Tourism Promotion Fund, Sherwin-Williams, KSAMC, the Development Bank of Jamaica (DBJ), the CB Facey Foundation and the Kingston Restoration Company, but it is important to note that none of this will have an impact. It started without the time and money contributed by ordinary Jamaicans, both here and in the diaspora.
Our vision is one of 'people and place' and with partners including IDB Lab, DBJ, PIOJ, JAMPRO, HEART and Sagicor, we invest heavily in developing creative people. We have provided over 5,500 free training opportunities, enabled nine artists to travel abroad with travel grants, developed an e-commerce platform called Kulcha Connect, and developed an online directory for creatives called the Caribbean Creative Network where the world can now find over 409 Creative design – and their employment. We hosted four editions of the Best Pitch Competition, the first pitch competition exclusively for Jamaican innovators where $2.2 million in seed capital was awarded to creative entrepreneurs.
