Natasha Ferguson · A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science and Master of Arts, Department of History, Philosophy and Psychology, Faculty of Humanities and Education, The University of the West Indies, Mona, and the University of Glasgow — now continuing as doctoral research.
What began as a double Master's thesis at the University of the West Indies and the University of Glasgow is now continuing as doctoral research — the same intellectual foundation that is, in real time, becoming the formal, sovereign infrastructure of Jamaica's Orange Economy. The PhD continuation is what carries this from framework to national policy: not theory waiting for adoption, but the academic architecture behind the Entertainment, Culture and Creative Economy Act and every legislative recommendation this programme makes.
The thesis established five active project sector initiatives — Music, Sport, Craft & Fashion, Arts, Film & Cultural Heritage, and New Creative Industries. Honouring the Legends is the sector initiative carrying that thesis into film, arts and heritage.
Emancipation alone could not erase the imprint of colonialism (Dillman, 2015). Jamaican Dr Frederick W. Hickling, pioneer of cultural therapy, held that the creative arts were a vehicle of change able to return reform and dignity to the people of Jamaica.
Jamaica ranks 87th of the 193 United Nations Member States in the 2026 Brand Finance Global Soft Power Index — a nation whose colours, music, freedom fighters and sporting legends carry disproportionate global cultural influence (Jagodzinski, 2026).
In 2017 Colombia placed culture and creativity at the centre of its development agenda through Law 1834, the Orange Economy Law, promoting cultural rights and increasing the contribution of the cultural and creative sectors to wealth, employment and growth (UNESCO, 2026).
Will infrastructure development to establish Jamaica's Orange Economy deliver structured economic financing and redress via its creative and cultural industries?
Economic financing · Orange Economy · Jamaica · Creative Economy · Creative and Cultural Industries · Soft power diplomacy · Integrated National Financing Frameworks.
Every figure below is sourced in APA 7th edition and listed in full in the reference list. As new data is ratified, this living document updates with it.
Annual global contribution of the Orange Economy, positioning creative and cultural industries as a frontier economy of innovation
Agarwal, 2024
Jamaica's global soft power ranking of 193 United Nations Member States
Jagodzinski, 2026
Africans forcibly displaced across four centuries of the Transatlantic Slave Trade
Africa Renewal, 2024
Of Jamaica's GDP lost annually to mental health disorders — lost workdays, reduced efficiency, healthcare cost
PAHO, 2021
Of Gen Z who consider health and wellness a top daily priority, reshaping culture-led wellbeing markets
McKinsey & Company, 2025
Project sector initiatives established by the thesis as the entities of Jamaica's Orange Economy
Ferguson, 2026
Between 1400 and 1900 the Transatlantic Slave Trade forcibly displaced an estimated 15 million Africans, reducing human beings to commodified property (United Nations, 2024). The triangular trade between Europe, Africa and the West Indies was a complex financial infrastructure at its peak in the 18th century (National Library of Jamaica, n.d.). Extractive colonialism transferred as much wealth as possible to the homeland (Council on Foreign Relations, 2023), and functioned as a psychological tool reshaping minds, identities and cultural values (Lemonius, 2023). The CARICOM 10-Point Plan, curated by the CARICOM Reparations Commission in 2013, remains the regional blueprint for structured economic financing across education, health, technology and innovation.
Transatlantic Slave Trade — an estimated 15 million Africans forcibly displaced (Africa Renewal, 2024)
Triangular trade at its peak; sugar plantations make Jamaica the most prosperous Caribbean colony
Emancipation — abolition could not erase the imprint of colonialism (Dillman, 2015)
Dr Hickling's Psychohistoriographic Cultural Therapy — culture as repair, later dismantled (Hickling, 2009)
UN Basic Principles and Guidelines on the Right to a Remedy and Reparation (A/RES/60/147)
Vision 2030 — Jamaica's National Development Plan
CARICOM 10-Point Plan curated by the CARICOM Reparations Commission
Colombia enacts Law 1834 — the Orange Economy Law (UNESCO, 2026)
Jamaica ranks 87th of 193 UN Member States in global soft power (Jagodzinski, 2026)
Doctoral continuation: framework becomes the Entertainment, Culture and Creative Economy Act
We say we have this large creative industry, but we haven't really managed to monetise it, and we need to be able to properly identify and define it. We are going through this process of rectifying, restructuring, redefining who we are as Jamaicans and what it means to be Jamaican.
The Orange Economy is presented here not as a legal claim or financial ask, but as a live, operational mechanism of repair — maximising Jamaican talent today. Mental health disorders cost Jamaica an estimated 4% of GDP annually through lost workdays, reduced efficiency and healthcare costs (Pan American Health Organization, 2021). Dr Hickling's Psychohistoriographic Cultural Therapy used creative and cultural expression to restore dignity, and stands as the historical precedent for culture-as-repair (Hickling, 2009; Cooper, 2020).
Indicative weighting of the five project sector initiatives established by the thesis as the entities of Jamaica's Orange Economy (Ferguson, 2026).
Structured economic financing builds the rail. Multilateral trade alignment, sovereign-grade intellectual property regimes, inclusive procurement and Integrated National Financing Frameworks turn cultural soft power into a sovereign instrument, making Brand Jamaica an exportable, protected and sustainably growing financial asset.
The wounds of slavery and colonialism remain embedded in our collective psyche; healing requires confronting these memories, not suppressing them.
The Orange Economy is an economic model where value is driven by human creativity, cultural heritage and intellectual property, turning talent and ideas into exportable goods and services. The aim is twofold: to present to the Prime Minister, the Most Honourable Dr Andrew Holness, how Jamaica's creative and cultural industries can be identified, defined and monetised; and to contribute these findings to advance the nation's Creative Economy Green Paper into legislation — the formal recognition of Jamaica's Orange Economy through an Orange/Creative Economy Law.
How can the industries that constitute Jamaica's Orange Economy be identified as recognisable national entities?
How can each industry be defined as tangible, quantifiable products and services through intellectual property, value chains and commercial partnerships?
How can those industries be monetised — independently and collectively — to establish and sustainably scale a national economy for global market access?
Each initiative is a financing-grade entity established by the thesis: defined revenues, defined infrastructure, defined governance, defined route to scale.
Transforming Jamaica's music industry from raw cultural asset to modern, protected, profitable engine — anchored by state-of-the-art performance infrastructure and sovereign-grade intellectual property regimes.
The first centralised digital platform to consolidate, celebrate and commercialise Brand Jamaica in sport for a global audience, with defined revenue and licensing architecture.
Redirecting ownership of the 'Made in' label — certification, export readiness and trade alignment for the innovators who set global trends from Jamaica.
The sector initiative carrying this thesis into film, arts and heritage: protecting the future, respecting the culture, and building the heritage infrastructure that returns honour — and revenue — to ancestral and cultural roots.
Jamaica's first multi-acre creative compound: soundstage, studios, coworking, content creation and wellness — infrastructure for the digital and new creative economy.
Millennials and younger generations are increasingly turning to cultural forms of therapy; music, dance, storytelling, and performance as ways of addressing mental health challenges outside the rigid structures of traditional psychiatry.
Positioned to emancipate and innovate for policy reform, legislation development and commercial partnerships that deliver sustainable productivity and long-term growth for Jamaica's Orange Economy.
Qualitative document and desk-based analysis with an explicit social justice framework, advancing the needs of underrepresented populations (ATLAS.ti, 2025; Gempes & Obenza, 2025).
Third World Approaches to International Law: laws, regulations and policies reconstructed to serve post-colonial sustainable development ambitions (Williams, 2025).
A country-led blended financing strategy that mobilises and aligns finance with every dimension of sustainability and the SDGs (INFF, n.d.).
All sources cited in this introduction, formatted to the latest American Psychological Association style with hanging indentation.
This introduction is the pillar to the advisory and is maintained as a living reference. Regardless of submission date, the citation below resolves to the most current version under the N.F. Orange Economy advisory.
Ferguson, N. (2026). The blueprint: Building creative and cultural infrastructures for Orange Economies — Introduction (Living ed., v2.0) [Interactive white paper]. N.F. Orange Economy Advisory; The University of the West Indies, Mona, and the University of Glasgow. Retrieved , from this document.