As the novel coronavirus pandemic rages on, there is an increasing view that the creative industries can be an engine for economic growth and a mechanism for diversifying economies and improving global competitiveness.

The creative economy, also known as the orange economy, includes all sectors whose goods and services are based on the creation of intellectual property, such as design and visual arts, tourism and cultural heritage, new media and software, performing arts, music, and literary arts and publications.

To become the pillar for economic diversification in the Caribbean, there is a greater need to understand the trajectory of the orange economy and to identify the ways that micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) can benefit from the development.

Additionally, the sector is comparatively labour intensive and can, therefore, help to alleviate the chronic unemployment problem in the Caribbean.

According to the executive director of the Caribbean Export Development Agency Deodat Maharaj, there is a great urgency amid the pandemic to hone in on non-tourism-related sectors.

“Two things the pandemic has done… It has exposed vulnerabilities and our pre-existing weaknesses — being heavily indebted and climate vulnerable. But what it has done on the positive side is that it has taken us into a new business world,” he told the Jamaica Observer.