CARIFESTA XIII, August 17 – 27, 2017, will be hosted in Barbados and the Barbados Cultural Industries Development Authority will be coordinating and implementing a new programme element for the largest gathering in the Caribbean of cultural goods and services. It is hoped that the programme element; a Buyer’s Forum, will lead to extra-regional sales for Caribbean producers, with the production of a Buyer’s Book, featuring the cultural products, their creators and all other pertinent information. 
As such, the organisation is seeking to identify export ready cultural practitioners as well as to identify buyers from markets who have indicated or proven interest in purchasing Caribbean creative products, to create a market for the display and sale of cultural products specifically for buyers from export markets.
Buyers and traders from Europe, Asia, Africa as well as North & South America are expected to be invited to this market place. It is proposed that a venue will be specifically tailored so that cultural practitioners can trade with buyers in a way that buyers can see products for order or purchase. It is proposed that the cultural products of Film, Music, Fashion, Visual Arts, Gourmet Services, Literature and Festivals will be privileged in the trade event.
In light of this, personnel from the Barbados Cultural Industries Development Authority will meet in Saint Lucia with all relevant stakeholders within the cultural industries sector to discuss the various components of the Buyers’ Forum and explain exactly how the new element will work. This meeting is scheduled for Tuesday 22nd November, 2016 from 1:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. at the CDF Conference Room on Barnard Hill.
