Pledge of support for culture

Debate will continue today at 10 a.m. in the House of Assembly on the Cultural?Industries Development Bill 2013 introduced on Tuesday.
Minister of Culture Stephen Lashley, who piloted the new legislation, spent most of the pre-lunch session and part of the afternoon tracing the lengthy gestation period of the bill, spanning successive administrations.
The bill provides for the establishment of a regulatory framework to facilitate and encourage the sustainable growth and development of cultural industries; funding of cultural projects; and duty-free concessions and income tax benefits for cultural projects.
He said the bill represented the fruition of the calls for cultural practitioners and cultural investors to be accorded equal status like any other participant in sectors such as tourism, manufacturing, agriculture, international business and trade and commerce. (AB)