The Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport is encouraging stakeholders in the entertainment and creative industries to sign up with the Government’s e-registry, in order to benefit from various incentives.

Portfolio minister Olivia Grange, made the call recently during her contribution to the 2020/21 Sectoral Debate in the House of Representatives.

 “Practitioners who register with the e-registry, which is administered out of the Ministry of Gender, Culture, Entertainment and Sport, have access to fiscal incentives; access to duty free importation of equipment related to the practice of entertainment; (and) access to grant funding for events, film, dance or music production,” she said.

The e-registry, dubbed the ‘National Registry of Entertainment and Creative Industries Practitioners’, is a database portal for listing Jamaican entertainment and creative service providers and companies.

 It also facilitates research and data collection for the benefit of the industry.

According to the minister, the e-registry is open to all sectors of the entertainment industry, including dance, animation and digital media, fashion, film, audio visual, music performing arts and visual arts.

Persons can send an email to registry@mcges.gov.jm  or entertainment@mcges.gov.jm in order to sign up.

The minister said that through the e-registry, the Government also assists industry practitioners with free movement benefits in terms of the Caricom Single Market and Economy Skills Certificates and work permit attestation letters.

“We also provide some assistance with visa attestation letters,” she added.

Grange said that the devastating effects on the sectors forced the Ministry of Finance to create a special fund valued at $40 million to assist both entertainment fraternity members as well as sports persons who have been affected by the pandemic and are unable to ply their trade and earn a living. The fund will be administered by Grange’s ministry.