PM Skerrit follows up on promise to enhance Dominica’s music industry

DOMINICA:  Musicians in Dominica, particularly songwriters and engineers, can look forward to professional training to further enhance their skill.
This, as Hon. Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Dr. Roosevelt Skerrit acts on his commitment made to Dominica’s musicians last July.
An initial allocation of $500K was put towards the music industry in the 2015/2016 national budget.
At a press conference on Monday April 11^th, Prime Minister Skerrit said training was identified as one of the key aspects of developing the industry.
He believes that music, if done professionally, has the capacity to contribute more to the national economy.
“We need musicians to go out there and have some performances in the different countries such as the United States and Europe to bring in the foreign currencies into the banks. It impacts positively on the economy and we will see a greater contribution to the GDP,” he said.
Swedish national and renowned international song writer Arlena Gibson will conduct training sessions in song writing from April 26 to 29^th.
Another training session in studio recording and sound engineering is also on the cards for May 15^th by El Stu Young of Canada. Both trainings will be conducted at the Dominica State College.
The training sessions will be open to all and applications are available online and at DEXIA office.
President of the Association of Music Professionals, Mc Carthy Marie says these two areas sometimes overlooked, are important for the success of any artiste.
“The music business is a potentially lucrative business for all concerned,” he said. “There are many rules involved in the music business. One of the key rules, the one which makes quite a lot of money, is the business of songwriting. The music business rests on creating songs that the public will like and react too. It is within that context that we agreed and decided among the members, one of the things we need to do is assist people who want to be in the music business to craft better songs that will be accepted easily in the international market.”
Marie says musicians in Dominica can look forward to more of these training programmes and the Hon. Prime Minister has promised that Government will underwrite future training sessions such as these.
The Hon. Minister for Culture, Justina Charles, notes the budgetary allocation to the industry indicates Government’s appreciation of the development the industry can bring to the nation.
She expressed hope that young people will take advantage of the opportunity being presented.
“The music industry is growing very rapidly with many of our young people demonstrating interest in this industry. This is an opportunity to get them engaged in something positive.”
The training programmes will cost approximately $54K.