During her Contribution to the 2026/2027 Budget Debate, on June 17, 2026, Minister of Culture, Arts and Heritage the Hon. Leslia Brice noted that, for many years, discussions about national development often focused on infrastructure, education, tourism, healthcare, and economic growth.
“These discussions were important and necessary,” she said in the House of Assembly’. “Yet, culture was frequently treated as something separate from those conversations, despite the fact that culture influences every single one of them.”
She added: “Culture shapes our identity and influences how the world sees us. It supports tourism, inspires entrepreneurship, and strengthens communities.”
Minister Brice stated that culture also “preserves our history, creates opportunities, and above all, tells the story of who we are as a people.”
“The creation of the Ministry of Culture, Arts and Heritage, therefore represents far more than an administrative change,” she said. “It represents a shift in thinking.”
Minister Brice added: “It reflects a national recognition that culture deserves more than celebration. It deserves investment. It deserves policy. It deserves strategic planning. It deserves institutional support; and it deserves a permanent seat at the national development table.
“This Ministry exists because this Government understands that culture is not an accessory to development. Culture is development.”
She quoted Marcus Garvey, who once said: “A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots”. Minister Brice added that The Bahamas’ “roots are rich, our history is profound, and our culture is magnificent”.
“This Ministry exists to ensure those roots are never lost — and that every Bahamian, wherever they live, can draw strength from the depth of who we are as a people,” she stated.
Minister Brice added: “Every decision this Ministry makes, every programme we fund, every record we preserve, every artist we support, comes back to one question: ‘how do we ensure future generations know who we are?’.”
She then gave a hypothetical situation.
“I think often about a little girl, born right here in The Bahamas, fifty years from now,” Minister Brice said. “One day she will sit down and ask an artificial intelligence system: ‘Tell me about Bahamian culture”.
She continued: “The answer she receives will depend entirely on what we do today. Will it be drawn from documented Bahamian stories, our music, our art, our Junkanoo, our oral histories, and our community memory? Or will it be pieced together from whatever fragments happened to survive?”
Minister Brice stated that that was not a hypothetical for the future.
“It is a decision being made in this chamber, in this budget, this year,” she said.
Minister Brice added: “A nation that fails to invest in its culture risks losing its identity. A nation that fails to preserve its heritage risks forgetting its history. A nation that fails to support its creatives risks limiting its future potential.”
She stated that that was why the Ministry of Arts, Culture and Heritage mattered.
“That is why this work matters,” Minister Brice said. “And that is why I am honoured to play a role in helping to shape the next chapter of cultural development in The Bahamas.”
She added: “The question before us is no longer whether culture matters. The question before us is how we maximize the power of culture to strengthen communities, create opportunities, preserve our heritage, and contribute meaningfully to national development.
“That is the work before this Ministry; and that is the work we have already begun.”
