Minister with responsibility for Culture, Senator Dr. Shantal Munro-Knight, said Government is planning to create an Atlantic Sound Stage as part of its Reclaiming Our Atlantic Destiny Project, which will include recording studios for various different types of productions. (C. Pitt/BGIS)

Government is planning to create an Atlantic sound stage as part of its Reclaiming Our Atlantic Destiny (ROAD) Project.

Minister with responsibility for Culture, Senator Dr. Shantal Munro-Knight made this disclosure as she delivered remarks during the National Consultation on Film, held today at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre, Two Mile Hill, St. Michael.

Senator Munro-Knight explained that Barbados possesses the ability to be a premier destination for film production, and as part of the Division of Culture’s plans to create and foster an enabling environment, it is seeking to catapult and devise opportunities for the sector. 

“Government’s ROAD project is a five-prong project with many different elements. One of the elements of that ROAD project is an Atlantic sound stage and that Atlantic sound stage is intended to provide the opportunity for our stories to be told.  It is intended to provide the opportunity to build capacity within the sector to make sure that our voices are projected globally that our stories are redefined for ourselves and globally as well,” Minister Munro-Knight disclosed.

She shared that the Atlantic sound stage would include recording studios for various types of productions and that the Government is actively talking to partners and seeking investment to ensure that it comes to fruition.

In briefly explaining what the ROAD project is all about, Dr. Munro-Knight said: “Essentially the ROAD project is about saying to Barbadians and saying to the globe that we are in a moment where we are one; reflecting on our cultural history; where we are intending to value it; where we are intending to monetise it; where we are also intending to celebrate it, but most importantly, what the ROAD project does is also says we are in a moment in which we are redefining the story of our history in our own terms.”

The Minister with responsibility for Culture also commended those in the industry for “staying the course” and for their spirit of resilience and strength, along with the resourcefulness and innovativeness demonstrated during the past two years, as the cultural industries dealt with the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

She gave the assurance that Government, with the Division of Culture, is 100 per cent committed to the development of the industry, which includes the film and videosector. 

sheena.forde-craigg@barbados.gov.bb

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