Drs. Jorien Wuite, # 3 candidate on the DP slate, Secretary General within the Government by profession, publicly calls on Sint Maarten’s creative industries to unite their voice. “On Monday Sept 12th at 7pm I would like to officially invite the “orange collars”, such as musicians, film & documentary producers, writers, dancers, graphic designers, painters, photographers, concert promoters & event planners, architects, fashion designers, chef’s & foodies etc, to a meeting at the John Larmonie Center. As an advocate for our creative industries I want to hear what are your needs for growth, support & incentives over the next years in order to prepare a program that facilitates opportunities for further development.”, stated Jorien Wuite. This will be the first time that an “Orange Economy” meeting will be held in a Caribbean nation.
Within North America and European nations, the creative industries have had representation for quite some time. The DP candidate aims at representing their voice on Sint Maarten, as she sees the “Orange Economy” as a central key for the next stage of our economy. The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) has created this term especially for the creative industries of Latin America and the Caribbean . “The Orange Economy comprises of sectors whose goods and services are based on intellectual property: advertising, architecture, crafts, design, fashion, film, games and toys, music, publishing, research and development, software, TV and radio, and video. “We mus capitalize on the large amount of creative people and enterprises on this island.. Photography, fashion, gastronomy, music and performing arts are all key areas of opportunity we can excel in to propel and diversify our economy.
“We must reinforce existing structures like USM, NIPA and small business foundations, and in some cases by creating new structures, incentives and stimuli, providing for more orange collar jobs that fit the younger generations interest to follow their dreams and ensure stable jobs or businesses that can sustain themselves. “ More important than providing jobs is the sustainability of an orange economy. “As computers become highly intelligent, they will take away jobs we know. The need for creativity and innovation can’t be taken by computers, and as stated by the world largest companies these are the jobs that will be in great demand. Therefore, an orange economy is a very sustainable one and in actuality rains true to who we are as a Caribbean nation and SXM people.