I took the shuttle from Spanish Court Hotel down to Orange Street, Downtown Kingston, otherwise known as “Beat Street” which runs north from the corner of Parade, last Sunday, February 23rd for one of Kingston Creative’s activities in partnership with Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment & Sports, the Kingston and St Andrew Municipal Corporation to commemorate Reggae Month.

Home of reggae icons like Bob Marley, Peter Tosh and, the Wailers, the community of Trench Town, in association with Kingston Creative, hosted “Trench Town Live!” a community day of arts and craft, walking tours and a concert. Trench Town Live! Artwalk The day starts with a cultural walking tour around the Trench Town community, famously dubbed the “birthplace of reggae” due to the many Reggae icons the community produced. The aim of the walking tour, in association with Kingston Creative, is to promote community tourism and empowerment. The Trench Town Live! walking tour was led by local volunteers and youth from Trench Town.

The theme for Kingston Creative’s Artwalk for the month of February was music. Kingston Creative conducts monthly themed activities, where art including live mural painting and several discussions involving the arts community are held in different sections surrounding Water Lane and the restaurant F&B Downtown on Harbour Street. This month, they organized a mural tour by bus, taking patrons to visit the thirty (30) murals done by artists under the initiative of Kingston Creative. As a Love Not Likes member, I was asked to cover the Artwalk for the month of February.

Just blocks away from the General Penitentiary, in the heart of Rae Town, Kingston Creative, in association with Women Empowering Women, held their first Rae Town ArtWalk last Saturday. It is the first in a series of community arts events that will be held by the group in hopes to "encourage more earning from community tourism and to position Kingston as the creative capital of the Caribbean."

In light of the impact on creative people and businesses from the COVID-19 outbreak, Kingston Creative is introducing a new pot of funds for virtual arts activities, called Digital Commissions. Understanding that it is critical to keep creatives earning and visible during this time, the local arts NGO is allocating $2,700,000 to new commissions that creatives in Jamaica can apply until - May 31, 2020 by contacting info@kingstoncreative.org.
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