The SMC Group and EMCVPA Partner to Boost Jamaica’s Creative Industries
30.6.2021 17:00:00 EEST | Business Wire | Press release
Jamaica’s creative sector has received a major boost through a partnership between global entertainment marketing agency, The SMC Group, and The Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts (EMCVPA). This arrangement aims to foster the development of Jamaican talent and the island’s Creative Industries.
The venture will begin with an investment into the development of a music production studio to support local song writers, producers, and artistes. SMC also intends to recruit EMCVPA students for apprenticeships and job placements. This ground-breaking initiative will enhance the music and audio production, animation, as well as dance specialisations at the College.
The partnership is the latest positive development in the island’s creative industries which have seen considerable growth in recent years.
In the film industry, more than 4000 film-related jobs have been created in the last three years while approximately 150 foreign productions are facilitated per year. Over 3 billion JMD in film production expenditure was contributed to GDP in the last two years, and approximately 65-70 percent of crews hired on most international film productions in Jamaica are local.
The country also has a growing animation industry with 15 local studios having participated in government-led programmes to increase their profitability and sustainability.
CEO of The SMC Group, Maurice Hamilton, revealed that the collaboration between the group and EMCVPA will add to the progress that has already been made in the creative industries by expanding investment into the areas of talent and content in the music and audio-visual sectors.
“This is the first step of an exciting initiative to establish Jamaica and then the wider Caribbean region as a creative hub that will develop creative and business professionals as well as content,” the CEO remarked. “And for SMC, it creates a solid, efficient pipeline of creative talent to service our global clients.”
The CEO also disclosed that SMC intends to build a centre of excellence in Jamaica and will be engaging in additional investments and local partnerships.
“We want to ensure that our commitment to Jamaican talent is substantive,” he insisted. “Through greater education, funding, and through our network within the global marketplace we can provide a platform from which Jamaican talent can flourish internationally.”
The island has seen several ventures over the years led by the private sector, public sector or both, which seek to advance the creative industry. Programmes such as the Business of Sustainability for Studios (BOSS) programme, JAFTA Propella film development programme, and the Film Lab initiative help entrepreneurs grow their animation and film production studios, and increase content development.
In the spirit of these collaborations between industry stakeholders, Diane Edwards, President of Jamaica’s investment and export promotions agency, JAMPRO, welcomed the cooperation between SMC and EMCVPA.
“At JAMPRO, we believe that partnership is essential to building local industries and to creating valuable opportunities for Jamaica’s people, so we are pleased to see this agreement between SMC and Edna Manley College,” she said.
EMCVPA’s Vice Principal of Administration and Resource Development, Ms. Kerry Ann Henry, shared her enthusiasm for the partnership and explained that its objectives were in keeping with the college’s mission. She stated, “This is a partnership that will not just strengthen our respective organizations, it will be of enormous benefit to the country in fields related to the visual and performing arts.”
About The SMC Group
The SMC Group operates in 17 markets across the globe and has worked on campaigns for brands like The Coca-Cola Company, Net-A-Porter, Unilever, Diageo, Cartier and a host of globally recognizable names. Their projects have also involved celebrities like Jamaican Olympian Usain Bolt, Korean pop band BTS, Colombian superstar Maluma and American celebrities such as Kevin Hart, Jason Derulo and Kanye West.
ABOUT JAMPRO
The Jamaica Promotions Corporation (JAMPRO)’s mission is to drive economic development through growth in investment and export. JAMPRO is an Agency of the Ministry of Industry, Investment, and Commerce.
For more information on JAMPRO, please visit https://dobusinessjamaica.com/.
Follow us on:
Twitter
Facebook
Instagram
LinkedIn
To view this piece of content from cts.businesswire.com, please give your consent at the top of this page.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210630005271/en/
Contact information
Integrated Marketing Communications
Tamica Parchment
tparchment@jamprocorp.com
Tele: 876-978-7755
About Business Wire
For more than 50 years, Business Wire has been the global leader in press release distribution and regulatory disclosure.
Subscribe to releases from Business Wire
Subscribe to all the latest releases from Business Wire by registering your e-mail address below. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Latest releases from Business Wire
Vedanta Ltd Doubles Zinc Capacity in South Africa with US$ 600 Mn investment19.10.2026 20:19:00 EEST | Press release
Vedanta Limited doubled its annual zinc production capacity to 500,000 tonnes1in South Africa through an investment of nearly US$ 600 Mn at Gamsberg (Phase II) at Vedanta Zinc International (VZI). Gamsberg has one of the world’s most significant zinc deposits and is VZI’s flagship zinc mine. Inaugurated by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and Vedanta Limited Director Priya Agarwal-Hebbar, this expansion marks one of the decade’s largest mining investments in South Africa. It advances Vedanta Limited’s position as the world’s largest2 zinc producer, with a vision of achieving 3 million tonnes of annual production across India and South Africa. Of this, 2 million tonnes are targeted from its subsidiary, Hindustan Zinc Limited the world’s largest integrated zinc producer, while Vedanta Zinc International business aims to contribute 1 million tonnes annually. This expansion strengthens the ZAR 21 Bn (nearly US$ 1.5 Bn) investment commitment Vedanta made at the 2018 South Africa Inve
Unlocking Digital Gold’s US$700bn Opportunity19.10.2026 19:00:00 EEST | Press release
The digital gold market, worth US$45–55bn today, could unlock up to US$700bn in latent demand, according to new research from World Gold Council and Boston Consulting Group. The report points to substantial untapped appetite among retail investors, with nearly nine in ten surveyed saying they would consider digital gold under the right conditions. The US$700bn opportunity represents the report’s estimate of total latent demand that could be released if today’s barriers to adoption were removed, rather than a near-term forecast. The report’s five-year base case sees digital gold growing by around 27% a year to US$160–170bn by 2031. That could rise to US$270–280bn over the same time if more barriers fall faster. Momentum is already building as financial markets undergo a broader digital transformation, bringing tokenised investment products increasingly into the mainstream. Tokenised gold, one segment of the digital gold market alongside vaulted digital gold, has grown fivefold in value
Roquette Brings Broad Portfolio of Excipient Solutions and Technical Expertise to AAPS PharmSci 360 202619.10.2026 17:00:00 EEST | Press release
Roquette, a global leader in plant-based ingredients, excipients and pharmaceutical solutions, will showcase its expansive portfolio of excipients, capsules, coatings, and biopharma solutions at AAPS PharmSci 360 2026. The conference and trade show will take place October 26-28 in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. At Booth 1100 in the exhibit hall, Roquette’s Health & Pharma Solutions team will share their expertise across controlled-release technologies, hydroxypropyl beta-cyclodextrins, and sustainable formulation approaches, alongside a comprehensive portfolio of innovative solutions designed to address the evolving needs of pharmaceutical developers. “AAPS PharmSci 360 is a key opportunity to share our latest innovations, as well as highlight the breadth and depth of our scientific know-how that helps our customers solve complex formulation challenges,” said Peter Freed, Head of Technical Service & Development North America for Roquette’s Health & Pharma Solutions Business Unit. “From a
TestGorilla Survey: Recruiters are Faster with AI, but Not More Confident They’re Finding the Right Candidates19.10.2026 16:00:00 EEST | Press release
AI made finding candidates faster for 72% of US recruiters over the last 12 months, according to TestGorilla's Recruiting in 2026 report, a survey of 1,428 US talent professionals. That speed, however, did not make them any more confident they had found the right person. In fact, of the recruiters that claim AI has made them faster, a third reported no gain in confidence at all, and 18% say their confidence in the match actually fell. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20261019723138/en/ Recruiters report gains in speed from AI but not in certainty - TestGorilla’s Recruiting in the AI era 2026 report Recruiters are making up the difference themselves, by hand. Of those recruiters, 67% now spend an hour or more manually checking a single candidate before they trust that person can do the job, and nearly 30% spend two hours or more. That is time AI sourcing was supposed to save, not divert to new, extra work. "Recrui
Fortanix Announces Confidential AI for Enterprise Grade Kubernetes Workloads on CNCF® Confidential Containers (CoCo)19.10.2026 16:00:00 EEST | Press release
Fortanix® Inc., a global leader in data and AI security and pioneer of Confidential Computing, today announced support for CNCF Confidential Containers (CoCo) in Fortanix Confidential AI, enabling organizations to run AI workloads on Kubernetes inside hardware-based Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs), on confidential CPUs and GPUs. Enterprises keep the speed and agility of containers while protecting sensitive data, AI models, agents, and applications in use, so they can support their regulatory compliance efforts, scale AI across the business, and adopt frontier AI without compromising data privacy or intellectual property. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20261019549928/en/ Confidential AI is a critical need in the industry today and a strong ecosystem of industry leaders is collaborating to advance open innovation and help enterprises securely adopt AI at scale. Regulated industries, including financial ser
In our pressroom you can read all our latest releases, find our press contacts, images, documents and other relevant information about us.
Visit our pressroom