Craft vendors cry for help

Once the beating heart of Jamaica's tourism scene, the artisan craft industry is now gasping for air - and vendors at the Old Fort Craft & Heritage Park in Montego Bay say it might already be on life support.

"It dead like a dead yard, like down at the cemetery," declared 75-year-old veteran Granville Campbell, his voice laced with frustration.

"It like when you bury the dead and walk outta there and lef it, a suh it tan now. It gone to bone yard."

The Government, in 2019, tabled a national craft policy that was intended to address factors that are critical to the sustainability and growth of the sector.

Campbell, who has been carving wood and creating handmade treasures since 1979, said the industry has been experiencing a downfall for quite some time. What once paid his bills and raised his 10 children - including his daughter, former Digicel Rising Stars winner Shuga - now barely covers shop rent.

"Those days business was booming in Jamaica," he said of the glory days of craft.

"I walk up and down and couldn't get no job so I started off by doing sandpaper for my friend. That was when he started showing me what to do," said Campbell, who has been doing crafting ever since.

Campbell blames the rise of cheap, mass-produced imports and the dominance of all-inclusive resorts for squeezing out local artisans.

"Only God coulda make it better right now," he said.

"All-inclusive done Jamaica, fi wi likkle poor people business, from it come, everything mash up pon wi," added Campbell.

These days, Campbell splits his time between his craft shop and the farm, planting yam, dasheen, and bush to try and make ends meet.

"Right now, mi haffi change because mi nah survive," he said.

His creations - including roosters, lions, fish, baskets and bowls - can take up to three painstaking days to complete. But Campbell says tourists now prefer lighter, factory-made souvenirs over handmade pieces.

"Tourist don't want to buy anything big to bring on the plane again. Ships will take some but that's it," referencing the post-COVID slump in travel trends that still affects their livelihoods.

Another artisan, 63-year-old Aubrey Campbell, shares a similar story, though his tone is a little more hopeful. He told THE STAR that though business is extremely slow, he is dedicated to it.

"It is a trade that I really love. I have been doing this since 1992 and I put my all into it," stated Aubrey.

Although he occasionally receives small orders from places like The Bahamas, he admits business is far from booming.

"We just paying rent, we not getting any business. Business is up and down, but it is mostly dying than alive," he said.

Still, Aubrey believes in the future of craft - and wants to pass on the torch.

"I see it as a professional skill and I wish more youths could come and learn it. I would love to teach someone because somebody taught me," said Aubrey.