Honorable Olivia Grange CD, MP
Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sports |
Ms. Olivia “Babsy’ Grange has had a long, productive and inspiring career as a cultural activist, working at the grassroots level in developing and managing talent. She is an artist, director, event planner and an ardent supporter and promoter of Jamaica’s creative and cultural industries. She is also a pioneer contributor to the development of the Reggae and Dancehall Music Industry in Jamaica, Canada and the United States. As a founding member and Director of the Jamaica Association of Composers, Authors and Publishers (JACAP), Ms. Grange has been instrumental in introducing policy initiatives in Jamaica to support the development of the cultural industries and advance “brand Jamaica” in the international market.
She has been a member of the Jamaican Parliament since 1997 and was appointed Minister of Information, Youth, Sports & Culture, with responsibility for Women and Gender Affairs, Entertainment, Community Development and Special Projects in 2007. In June 2009, she had the distinction of being appointed as the Caribbean Community’s (CARICOM) first Champion for Culture, with responsibility for advocating, among other things, capacity building for cultural industries, cultural institutions and individual artists.
Ms. Grange co-founded Contrast, Canada’s first black community newspaper and has served as the Chief Executive Officer of Specs Limited and Spec-Shang Music. She has managed a number of reggae acts such as Carlene Davis and Leroy Sibbles as well as gold & double Grammy selling artists, Shabba Ranks and Lady Patra, and was Damian (Junior Gong) Marley’s first manager in the early years of his career. She has also assisted in the development of the Jamaican Copyright Legislation.
