Interim board in place for entertainment association

An interim board has been voted in as a catalyst for an association to represent local entertainers.
Last Tuesday, the Antigua & Barbuda Festivals Commission invited all artistes and other interested bodies to a special meeting at the Multipurpose Centre, where attendees signed to become members of the entertainment association, and voted in an interim board of seven persons.
President of the interim board Craig Christopher said the association is inclusive of all entertainers in the sphere of local music.
“It’s an association for all entertainers, not just soca artistes. It’s an association for all stakeholders [such as] artistes, producers, writers, studio owners, dancers and all involved in the art form,” Christopher said in an OBSERVER media interview.
Christopher spoke to the need for the interim board and said once a drive to get new members has been completed, a permanent board will be created.
“We elected seven persons as an interim board to put the legal framework in place and to conduct a membership drive. When we have a larger membership in three or four months, or whatever the time frame is, we will have a permanent board in place,” he said.
Among the seven members on the interim board are Deputy President Janine Jarvis and Secretary Jermain Rudd. Local artistes, such as Menace, have also joined the association.
The main goal of the board is to get the association up and running with the legal framework in place, so that all artistes have a unified voice in tackling issues that, for example, need to be taken up with the National Festivals Commission. Among them is getting music copyrighted and getting hotels to pay artistes a standard rate.