Survey participation encouraged from the Cayman Islands public of Development of the Culture and Heritage Policy and Strategic Plan

Progress continues on the creation of the Cayman Islands’ first National Culture and Heritage Policy and Strategic Plan.

There is now a comprehensive survey designed to garner widest possible feedback from all individuals in the Cayman Islands, so that the public is given full access to contribute to this important policy.

The survey is designed to give the public the opportunity to have a voice in the information-gathering stage of the policy formation as well as to contribute to what will become the vision, values and potential objectives of the policy.

Members of the public can access the survey at: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/ZDQK8C2

The survey closes 30th June.

The findings of the survey will be used along with the reports from the six Focus Groups of the Steering Committee, to be compiled into a main situational analysis on culture and heritage in the islands, which will be submitted to the Ministry of Culture by the end of July.

Survey results will be used to feed into the framework for the new policy and strategic plan, which is expected to roll out over a 10-year period, from 2017 to 2027.

Background
In late 2015 Cabinet tasked the Ministry of Health & Culture with developing a 10-year National Culture and Heritage Policy and Strategic Plan (2017-2027).
A fifteen-member Culture and Heritage Steering Committee was convened which has met five times to date. Six focus groups were also convened, comprising a total of approximately 70 area-experts, each specialising in a specific area of culture and heritage, to assist with the policy development.

This survey was developed to get the widest possible input from the people of the Cayman Islands on culture and heritage matters, to inform the policy development work. Feedback and directions from this survey will be included in the policy and strategic plan, which will be complete by early 2017.

Definitions:
Culture:
The arts and other manifestations of human intellectual achievement regarded collectively; The ideas, customs, and social behaviour of a particular people or society; The attitudes and behaviour characteristic of a particular social group.

Heritage:
Property that is or may be inherited; an inheritance having particular significance or values associated with it; Valued objects and qualities such as historic buildings and cultural traditions that have been passed down from previous generations and which have particular significance and values associated with them; Denoting or relating to things of special architectural, historical, or natural value that are preserved for the nation; Denoting a traditional brand or product regarded as emblematic of fine craftsmanship. A skill or knowledge about the making of crafts which has been shared from generation to generation; Practices, knowledge, ways of being in the world which have been shared from one generation to another, adapting to change and challenges, but retaining core values.

Creative Industries
Products, goods and services which emerge from innovation within the cultural and heritage domain. Creative industries are valued at several different levels: (1) family, (2) local/district or island-specific, (4) national, (5) regional and (6) international.