Authors, Publishers & Illustrators

The Jamaica Association of Composers Authors and Publishers (JACAP) has just embarked on a three-month public education campaign to ensure greater compliance by Jamaican rights users.  Targeting everyone in Jamaica who uses music for commercial and promotional purposes – including corporate sponsors, event planners and venue operators – JACAP is seeking to raise awareness throughout the island of the legal requirement to have a JACAP license.  Failure to comply with the law can lead to a fine or imprisonment.

As part of its collaboration with the Edna Manley College of the Visual & Performing Arts (EMC), VPAJ Director Katrine Smith met last week with 2^nd year students for its first peer-to-peer learning session. Given the opportunity by the EMC Principal’s office to work directly with the students, we decided on the theme “How to Pitch/Present Yourself” on account of the importance of such presentation skills to creative practitioners regardless of their discipline or stage of their professional development. 

To foster closer linkages between Jamaica’s creative & tech professionals, VPAJ will be hosting the first of its Business-to-Business (B2B) “speed dating” events in early December 2012.  In keeping with our focus on the business aspects of the creative and tech industries, these are intended to broaden participants’ professional networks as well as enable them to source particular skills from within VPAJ’s wider community.        

Courtesy of the British Council in Jamaica, two British storytellers of international standing - Jan Blake and Michael Kerins - are visiting Jamaica to participate in the forthcoming Anase Sound Splash 2012: Storytelling Conference & Festival.  Keen to support Jamaica’s creative industries, the British Council approached VPAJ with a view to exploring additional events th

In partnership with the British Council in Jamaica, VPAJ is organising a discussion event which will examine the use of stories across different media including film, animation, music, dance, writing and tech-related ventures.  In keeping with VPAJ’s focus on the business aspects of the creative industries, we are keen to explore new business opportunities that Jamaica may not be exploiting fully - or even at all.