LONG AWAITED LAUNCH FOR AMPP SLU IS HERE!

The Association of Musicians, Producers and Performers of Saint Lucia (AMPP SLU) launched on Wednesday April 20 at the Auberge Seraphine Hotel. The event served to sensitize the media and in turn the public of this long awaited momentous occasion. AMPP SLU was registered as a non-profit association in The Ministry of Social Transformation, Local Government and Community Empowerment on January 5th, 2016. The association is being run by an interim executive committee headed by Interim Chairman Martin James and Vice-Chairman Ian Sanchez. The executive committee is in the process of incorporating the entity as to ensure its legal standing and credibility.

This organization has been trying to come off the ground since 1985 with a number of well-known musicians and personalities in Saint Lucia at the forefront, but nothing concrete ever came of this earlier effort.

It was not until October 2005 that the members of an interim committee, which was an amalgamation of various organizations e.g. Hewannora Musical Society, CDF, Managers and Producers, were able to start the registration process of the entity known as Saint Lucia Association of Musicians and Performers (STAMP) at the Registry of Companies and Intellectual Property.

In early 2006 the interim committee then applied for non-profit status through the Attorney General’s office. When a new regime came into government in 2006 it was deemed unfit for STAMP to be called by that name as Saint Lucia was not permitted to be used preceding the name of any association. The thinking from the 2006 Cabinet was that entities with Saint Lucia preceding the name implied that they would be supported and funded by the Government of Saint Lucia.

Following this the movement went dormant as there was a loss of interest from most of the members. A few of the members continued the struggle to retain the name STAMP through letters and meetings with persons in authority, as a logo had already been designed and the committee had already started to engage various Ministries and Associations and had also participated in certain events as STAMP.

After a few years of seeking advice from legal experts it was advised that they form a new entity and register it with a new name which would still have ‘Saint Lucia’ at the end, hence the eventual name AMPP SLU. There is also the realisation that the name is in keeping with two other entities of the same nature that have been formed in Saint Vincent and Dominica – AMP SVG and AMP DOM respectively.

The new executive committee is extremely hopeful and optimistic; it has put in place a constitution and goals and objectives of AMPP SLU and has formed a road map and action plan for 2016.

This sector in the arts has been known to have many concerns, and persons have been approaching these issues on an individual basis with very poor results. As an association, AMPP SLU will be able to lobby and advocate for members’ concerns as a body and therefore in a more organized and unified manner.

AMPP SLU will help to promote the further growth and development of the performing arts in Saint Lucia by undertaking a number of activities. The association seeks to forge alliances and partnerships with Government Ministries especially the Ministry of Tourism, Heritage and Creative Industries and entities such as SLCSI, CDF, ECCO, TEPA and others to foster the development of our members through education.

Musicians, music and video producers, and performers including DJs should look out for the grand launch later in the year when they will be introduced formally to AMPP SLU and invited to become members so as to contribute to the change and growth of the performing arts sector in the creative industries of Saint Lucia. The organization can be emailed at Amppslu@gmail.com