NICH Launches Cultural Development Fund

Alexis Salazar

This afternoon at the Museum of Belize, the National Institute of Culture and History launched a first-of-its-kind Cultural Development Fund.  It is a program which will see local artists and artisans being able to access microfinance to fund cultural activities within their respective districts.  It is an initiative that is the brainchild of NICH and will be rolled out across the country through the various Houses of Culture.  Director of Museums, Alexis Salazar, explains:

Alexis Salazar, Director of Museums

“The Cultural Development Fund is designed as a mechanism through which the National Institute of Culture and History can continue to streamline and support cultural initiatives which may or may not constitute part of NICH’s overall strategic plan.  The national institute is charged to exhibit, educate, preserve, support, conserve and I could go on with a number of other adjectives that are involved with tangible and intangible cultural heritage.  Apart from all the work undertaken by NICH through its strategic plan, one of the areas that is paramount to the development and preservation of culture is source funding for cultural activities.  Microfinance indicators show that some of the most successful projects are those that are related to cultural creative industries and increasingly successful are those that empower women’s groups.  The Cultural Development Fund will seek to encompass some of those projects.  Other areas where funding can be applied to include safeguarding tangible and intangible heritage, transmission of creative arts, cultural research and they should of course focus on gender equity, youth, older citizens and other groups.  Without getting into the specifics of the Cultural Development Fund, while it was being drafted I was excited about the role that the Houses of Culture would play.  The Houses of Culture will serve as the main agent within the districts for the distribution of applications and registration of artists, artisans and other workers in the creative industry.”