We always hear people talking about preserving Belizean Culture and keeping it alive for future generations. But how can you capture culture, after all, it is in every beat our musicians play, in all the shades and hues of color the painters use and in every word inscribed by our writers and poets. How can all of them be harnessed to safe guard and uplift our Belizean-ess? Well, the Belize National Cultural Policy 2016-2026 was launched to do just that. There was a short ceremony this morning at the Biltmore and we stopped by to find out just how this new policy framework will impact the society.
Hon. Elodio Aragon, Min. of State - Education, Youth and Sports
"It provides that framework within which the government will continue to protect our archeological and colonial landmarks, recognize our national heroes, celebrate our national festivals and promote our rich cultural and creative industries nationality, regionally and internationally. This national culture policy is therefore holistic, relevant and multidimensional. It is intended to foster a greater sense of unity, diversity and nationalism among all of us."
Dr. John Morris, Director of Archeology - NICH
"Everything on this document literally comes from the people who are on the streets, the people who live Belizean culture. we simply just put their words on paper and so now it is the duty, I think, of the government of Belize, it is the responsibility of the NICH and other agencies to take this document and to say 'look we need to implement a number of these policies that are enshrined here. Because this is what the people are saying, this is what the people want. In terms of, let's say a musician, a musician needs assistance to develop their creativity, develop their capacities. How do you do that? Well you need to create funds to help them. You need to pass a legislation that will allow them to import the materials that they need, just like for instance, artists. people who do painting, an artist is considered to be poor and starving, we need to find the resources to help the artist to create what would be considered a Belizean product."
This policy took about 5 years to finalize.
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