As Aruba develops its Cultural and Creative Industries, we need to be clear about what we mean when we invite the sector to participate.
Are we asking people to help shape the direction? Or are we asking them to support a direction that has already been chosen?
Those are different invitations. We should be honest about which one we are making.
A seat at the table means little if nothing brought to that table can change the outcome.
The people working in a sector carry knowledge that cannot be replaced by political ambition or a consultant’s presentation. They know what it takes to keep a business running, sustain a creative practice, organise a production and create opportunities with limited resources.
Their perspective is not complete or beyond question. Neither is the government’s. That is precisely why meaningful participation matters.
In the CCIs, we should want artists, designers, producers, cultural organisations and creative entrepreneurs to question proposals. We should want them to identify gaps, challenge assumptions and suggest alternatives.
Disagreement is part of the value of involving people who know the work.
Of course, government has a responsibility to make decisions in the public interest. No single organisation speaks for everyone, and no sector’s preferences should automatically become national policy. Workers, emerging practitioners and people outside established networks also deserve to be heard.
But the authority to make a decision does not remove the responsibility to explain it, test its assumptions or reconsider it when the evidence points elsewhere.
That is the standard I want us to build into CCI development.
Before inviting participation, explain what is still open to change. Make the evidence available. Give people enough time to contribute. Afterwards, show what their input changed and explain where a different decision was made.
Participation does not guarantee that you get your way. It should guarantee that your contribution receives serious consideration.
This responsibility also applies to those of us building organisations within the sector. If we ask creatives to share their experiences, we owe them more than a thank-you. We need to show how that knowledge informs our priorities and our actions.
For me, that is the connection between mapping, organisation and development. We gather evidence to understand our reality. We organise so that different voices can contribute with greater strength. We use that understanding to build something useful.
As the sector becomes more organised, it will become more capable of proposing, negotiating and disagreeing. We should welcome that capacity.
An organised sector will have a voice of its own. Sometimes it will say something inconvenient.
The real test of participation comes at that moment.
When the people we invited challenge our direction, are we still willing to listen?