On October 25, The Institute of Jamaica held a panel discussion entitled “Hustle or a business making money through the arts”.

Mr. Marlon Johnson of the HEART Trust said that there are not enough Businesses applying for available grants, many of them preferring to stay under the radar.  For businesses to be eligible for these grants, they have to be registered and taxes up to date.  Mr Johnson said that many of these businesses don’t want to register because they don’t want to pay taxes.

Dr. Lisa Thompson, lecturer at the Reggae Studies Unit said that to some hustling has negative class and race connotations – only poor black people seen as hustlers.   Dr Thompson said that Jamaica has the highest entrepreneurial levels in the Caribbean.

Ms. Laura Lee Jones, product developer and designer said that artists need to show viability and not just go on gut feelings if they want to attract financing.  Ms. Jones said that many producers fear the increased responsibilities that come with growth.   It is also important for artists to network with other skillsets e.g. accounting, marketing.  Stay with the things you are good at and farm out the things that you are not good at.

Ms. Colleen Douglas, Marketing at Edna Manley School for the Visual and Performing and moderator mentioned that the Jamaica Recording Industry Association (JARIA) attracts funding because they have a formal structure.  Ms. Douglas is a member of that organization.

My two cents – there is nothing wrong with hustling.  Many highly successful entrepreneurs started out this way.   Moving beyond the hustle stage is a cultural problem.

During the food shortages of the 1970s, a group of enterprising women from the country’s underclass saw opportunity.  They took Jamaican farm produce to places like the Cayman Islands, Miami and Aruba, sold it and came back with the goods that they were able to sell to a ready market.  Many of them did so well that they were able to acquire real estate in well to do areas.  The Informal Commercial Importers as they were titled in the 1980s still exist but they have not taken the hustle to the next level.

I believe that the arts has potential to be big business.  However, for it to happen, we have to remove the limitations from our thinking.