News
The Cost of Unprotected Culture
“Where are the local artists?”, This question is not simply about visibility. It’s about structure and law. And more precisely, it is about whether Turks and Caicos has fully come to terms with what it means to exist within the global framework of intellectual property while still failing to execute it locally. The absence of local artists in major developments is not an accident of taste. It is the predictable outcome of a system that recognizes rights in theory but struggles to enforce them in practice.
When culture is reduced to atmosphere, the people who produce it are reduced to suppliers as with the business license structure and how
cultural creators are categorized as retail entities which further support this framework. Their work becomes interchangeable with references and motifs. Their intellectual property becomes negotiable.
At the centre of this is the Berne Convention (1886) for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works.
Protection..But, Not Really
On paper, Turks and Caicos benefits from international copyright protections through its constitutional relationship with the UK. The Berne Convention guarantees that creators (authors, musicians, painters, photographers, sculptors, filmmakers etc). automatically own rights to their work without formal registration, that sounds modern.
But the reality is; the only operative copyright framework materially available to artists in Turks and Caicos remains the Copyright Act 1911. A law written for a different century, drafted before digital reproduction and predates the very economy that uses art as a commercial asset. So while the convention exists as an international standard, the local mechanism through which an artist must assert and defend their rights is effectively anchored in the 1911 act, while the Brene convention was revised in 1971.
Regional Contrast
Countries such as Bermuda and The Bahamas have moved beyond inherited frameworks and enacted modern copyright legislation that gives real effect to the Berne Convention within their domestic systems. They have updated copyright laws aligned with contemporary use, enacted clearer enforcement pathways, provided legal recognition of digital and commercial reproduction and have systems that better position artists within the economic structure.
In other words, they have translated the Convention from principle into practice.
The Berene Convention
The Berne Convention establishes three core principles:
- automatic protection
- national treatment
- minimum standards for rights
But none of these principles enforce themselves. They require local systems to give them force, what exists is not a functioning copyright
ecosystem. It is a legal inheritance.
There is:
- no modern, locally tailored copyright regime
- no structured licensing or royalty collection systems
- limited institutional pathways for enforcement
- and a heavy reliance on outdated legal provisions to address contemporary commercial use
In this context, the Convention becomes theoretical; while artists are left to operate within a system that has not caught up.
A Cultural Economy Being Built on Outdated Law
Turks and Caicos is not lacking in the arts. It is lacking in legal infrastructure that treats art as an economic asset in real time. The reliance on the 1911 Copyright Act produces a specific set of conditions:
- reproduction rights are often misunderstood or ignored
- commercial use of artwork in marketing exists in a grey zone until challenged
- enforcement becomes expensive, slow, and reactive
- artists must carry the burden of asserting rights that should already be structurally protected
So when developments ask for culture, what they are often engaging with is not a regulated market, but an unsecured one.
Tourism, Aesthetics, and Unregulated Value
The Turks and Caicos Islands sells an image of place. That image is not just beaches and water. It is culture, even if some persons may not agree, it is identity and visual language.
Arts sit inside this concept with a contradiction: culture is used to increase property value, brand identity, and global appeal. Yet the legal system governing that culture remains outdated and under-enforced. This creates an environme nt where art can be absorbed into commercial projects without clear frameworks, artists are treated as aesthetic contributors rather than rights holders and value flows outward without structured returns.
Not because the Berne Convention allows it, but because the local system fails to prevent it.
The Berne Convention assumes a baseline: that authorship will be respected. But in jurisdictions where: legal literacy is uneven, enforcement mechanisms are weak and power imbalances are significant, that assumption collapses. What remains is a gap between what the law says could be possible (by extension as a UK terittory) and what artists can realistically enforce. That gap is filled by the continued reliance on a 1911 statute to manage 21st-century commercial realities.
Artists’ Rights
The conversation cannot stop at inclusion. It must move to ownership and enforcement. If Turks and Caicos is serious and wishes to further
expand its economic sectors via the creative economy; its reliance on the Copyright Act 1911 is no longer sufficient. A modern legal framework is required to address digital use, marketing reproduction, and commercial exploitation of work.
- Institutional Development
Systems must exist to support licensing, rights management, and dispute resolution that are accessible to local artists. - Developer Responsibility
Cultural due diligence must become standard practice. Intellectual property cannot remain an afterthought in projects that rely on cultural branding. - Repositioning the Artist
Artists must be recognised not as optional additions, but as rights holders whose work carries enforceable economic value.
To support local culture is not to decorate with it. It is to protect it, regulate it, and ensure that those who produce it participate in the value it generates. Right now, Turks and Caicos exists in a contradiction that anchors it to a 1911 legal framework without significant revision. Until that is resolved, the system will continue to produce the same outcome and so the question is no longer just: “Where are the local artists?” but;
“What legal system has been built for artists to stand on?”
Because without that system, the Berne Convention remains what it currently is in Turks and Caicos:
A principle without power.
PHOTO CAPTION: 1 Brass Manilla, artwork from the Tears of the Trouvadore series)
SALT CAY — Residents say Salt Cay’s prolonged water shortage remains unresolved, with no visible activity or relief from the measures Government said would be advanced last week.
The crisis began in June after a critical filter failed at the island’s reverse osmosis plant, severely disrupting local water production.
Residents told Magnetic Media Tuesday morning that neither the replacement filter nor the promised bulk shipment of emergency water appeared to have arrived.
Minister of Innovation, Technology and Energy E. Jay Saunders, however, said the filter is already on Salt Cay.
“The RO filter is on Salt Cay and it’s being installed,” Saunders told Magnetic Media.
The large emergency water shipment has not materialised. Saunders said transporting more than 1,000 gallons in a single container requires a barge, and officials are still attempting to source one.
Government had previously indicated that it would try to deliver up to 2,500 gallons to partially replenish Salt Cay’s depleted storage tanks while repairs continued.
Saunders had initially projected that the RO plant would be fully operational by August 19. He now says the system is expected to return to full operation “in a few days.”
For residents, however, the immediate reality remains unchanged: the shortage continues, the bulk water has not arrived and the promised relief is not yet flowing.
PROVIDENCIALES, Turks & Caicos Islands: — Beaches Turks and Caicos Resort recently collaborated with the Royal Turks and Caicos Islands Police Force and the Department of Social Services to support a youth camp hosted at the Oseta Jolly Primary School, underscoring the resort’s ongoing commitment to youth development in the Turks and Caicos Islands.
The camp, which brought together security forces, government agencies and private sector entities, focused on equipping young participants
with practical life skills and character-building tools. A team from Beaches Turks and Caicos’ leadership and training departments joined the programme to deliver sessions on basic table etiquette, dining mannerisms, polite demeanour and public speaking fundamentals, all designed to help the students present themselves confidently in formal and professional settings.
General Manager of Beaches Turks and Caicos, Deryk Meany, said the resort views national development as an integral part of its corporate social responsibility. “We are always happy to be supporters in the development of the youth of the Turks and Caicos Islands. We continue to commit our team to help in creating the next generation of leaders who will provide support to the islands and help in its development,” Meany noted.
The initiative also received strong endorsement from the Ministry of Education, Youth, Sports and Community Development, which has been championing holistic programmes aimed at building well-rounded young citizens. Minister Rachel Taylor highlighted the importance of collaborations like the camp in helping youth access structured guidance and mentorship. “We are happy to join in celebrating the growth and development of our youth here in the Turks and Caicos Islands. Beaches Turks and Caicos continues to be one of our primary supporters in helping to develop well rounded individuals. This commitment from this resort has grown with the vision of the youth ministry to help in their overall development,” she said.
Taylor further emphasized that the camp’s timing was especially significant, coming as youth across the islands seek positive outlets and
constructive engagement. “This camp came at the most ideal time for our adolescents. With the support of our governor, the security forces, the social services along with Beaches Turks and Caicos, we are confident that the training needed for them to improve is on the right track,” she added.
Beaches Turks and Caicos Public Relations Manager, Orville Morgan, described the collaboration as an exemplary model of cross-sector partnership. “To be able to join with the security forces to provide support for the youth of the Turks and Caicos Islands is exceptional. We are happy to provide the necessary support to equip them to grow into being productive citizens of these islands,” Morgan said.
He noted that the resort team focused on practical etiquette and hospitality-driven skills that can be carried into the youths’ future experiences. “As a team, we were able to share in the basic table setting and dining etiquette for them, skills we are sure that they will be able to use in their next fine dining experience,” Morgan added.
Organizers expressed optimism that the camp’s blend of discipline, mentorship and soft skills training will have a lasting impact on participants. With stakeholders pledging continued support, the Beaches Turks and Caicos team and their partners aim to expand similar initiatives, further investing in the personal and professional growth of the next generation of Turks and Caicos Islanders.
TCIG knew from April that fuel factor could surge almost 80%; Minister says $500 cost-of-living payment was part of Government’s response
PROVIDENCIALES — The Turks and Caicos Government knew months before July’s shocking electricity bills that consumers faced a potentially massive increase in the fuel factor.
Minister of Information Technology and Energy E. Jay Saunders revealed Friday that Pelican Energy warned his Ministry in April that generation fuel costs were projected to rise from $3.09 per gallon in May to $4.79 in June and July.
That translated into a projected fuel factor jump from about 17.5 cents to 31 cents per kilowatt-hour — an increase of almost 80%.
Saunders said he personally advised Cabinet of the projected increase and presented options for cushioning the impact.
He characterised Government’s $500 cost-of-living payment as its “initial response” to rising fuel costs, before a separate fuel-factor subsidy was approved.
Cabinet records show Government agreed on June 24 to provide funding to mitigate the fuel-factor impact, with the relief programme approved July 8.
Eligible residential customers — those averaging less than $1,500 monthly over the previous three bills — are capped at 22 cents per kWh from July through October.
Pelican confirmed Friday that Government’s contribution was already applied to July bills, meaning the bills now triggering widespread public outrage would have been even higher without the subsidy.
Saunders did not disclose the programme’s total cost.
His admission that Government knew since April, however, raises another question amid the backlash: why were consumers not directly warned by Government about the scale of the approaching increase?
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