Businessperson and Art Collector Wayne Chen Explores Paths to an Artist’s Success

Often times artists lay blame at entities such as government and businesspersons for their lack of advancing as a nation. On the other hand several factors are being discussed as the rationale for the tardiness in success for numbered Jamaican artists. As an example of aspirations for Jamaican artists, businessman and art aficionado Jamaican businessperson Wayne Chen highlights the story of 45-year-old Damien Hirst.Wayne Chen congratulates literary artist Marguerite Orane at the launch of her book “Free and Laughing.” In an unprecedented move, British Damien Hirst recently became the only artists for selling an entire show to Sotherby’s worth £111 million in 2008. Thus according to Wyclopedia Dictionary, he is is claimed to be the richest known artist to date. Hirst was not born rich, without a gold spoon in his mouth. Numerous business persons in Jamaica,contrary to popular belief were not born with golden spoons in their mouth so their stories too are models of aspiration.Wayne Chen is one among many businesspersons sharing his thoughts as a source of encouragement and challenge for Jamaican artists, in the following interview.ANTHEA 1. How involved are you with the visual arts locally?CHEN: I am the Chairman of the National Gallery of Jamaica and co-founder/ sponsor of the Super Plus Under 40 Artist of the year competition staged for the last 10 years in association with the Mutual Gallery. I am also the founder and sponsor of CLICK, a photography workshop and showcase for inner-city youth.ANTHEA:. How involved are you with art globally? Do you travel specifically for art?CHEN:I am not involved with Art globally in the way that I am locally. I visit galleries and museums whenever I travel and actively seek out new art and new movements.ANTHEA: What are your views on the visual arts in Jamaica?CHEN: The visual arts in Jamaica are a vital part of the bigger whole of Jamaica’s unique culture. Jamaica in the area of culture is a global superpower, widely recognized for our achievements in music. I believe that Jamaican visual arts, with the proper development and exposure, can be another area of excellence for Jamaica. There is a wealth of natural talent, that efficiently mobilized, can play a major role in our country’s development.ANTHEA: Does the National Gallery achieve its main objectives?CHEN: The National Gallery of Jamaica’s mission is: “To collect, research, document and preserve Jamaican, other Caribbean Art and related material and to promote our artistic heritage for the benefit of present and future generations.”I believe that despite the very limited, and diminishing, financial and human resources available, the NGJ has over the years managed to create and maintain a very high standard in terms of its collections, exhibitions, contribution to scholarship, and general advancement of Jamaica’s visual arts. In recent years we have worked hard to strengthen governance, communicate better with our various stakeholders, and boost attendance. We have seen significant successes in all these areas.ANTHEA: How do you view the role of the art educator?CHEN: Art education takes place at many levels. In the formal institutions of learning, the art educator should teach the technical skills required to articulate an individual’s vision, but even more important, should stimulate the lifelong thirst for knowledge and enlightenment that continuously broadens the mind.In the public sphere, the art educator, and I include journalists and critics, should actively discuss, analyze, and encourage art and artists to broaden and deepen the general knowledge of art.ANTHEA: How critical are arts, creativity, and culture to National Development?CHEN: Jamaica’s greatest product has been its culture. It is what defines us as a unique nation, has given us the greatest international recognition and is a major, if under counted and underdeveloped, economic resource.ANTHEA: What are the best models for our local artists from around the world? What roles do business, government, legislation, etc. play in Jamaica and other countries?CHEN: The most appropriate model for Jamaican artists to ensure that they can make a living while pursuing their vocation is to foster an attitude of personal economic independence that does not depend on the state or big business support. This is the most common model worldwide.That is not to say that the state and business will not help generally or even support a few individuals, but the vast majority of artists should see themselves as a branded product to develop and market. This may require the input of specialized managers, galleries and so on, but artists should focus on self-help.ANTHEA: What can our government do?CHEN: The government should focus its financial support on art education in the schools and institutions such as the National Gallery and Edna Manley College. It also has to ensure that tax laws and other regulations encourage the market in local art as ultimately it is the sale of art that will provide the economic support for the artists. Local businesses can assist in this by buying local and encouraging the use of local art in decorating corporate offices and public spaces, corporate awards and other forms of gift-giving.Some countries, especially in Europe, pay grants to artists but given Jamaica’s current fiscal constraints, that is not possible here.ANTHEA: Are you suggesting that the focus should be primarily or only on art at secondary and tertiary levels?CHEN: I am saying that art education should be at every level including in our basic and primary schools. Every student should learn skills in the visual arts and a knowledge and appreciation of art. This, I believe, will unleash a lot of Jamaica’s creative potential and enhance individual and national development.ANTHEA: What strategies/models set by other artists internationally that we could adapt hereCHEN: Our artists need to be more trained in the skills and attitudes that will enhance their chances of economic success.ANTHEA: Please elaborate on your answer above? What practical steps can our artists make for themselves based on what you see happening in other countries? i.e outside of going after more training esp when they cant find funding?CHEN: Artists need to take matters more into their own hands and depend less on state and business support. Firstly, they need to enhance their technical skills and knowledge. Secondly, they need to treat themselves as a brand to be nurtured, developed, marketed, and continuously upgraded. Thirdly, they need to work together as co-operatives, movements, schools and so on. They need to be innovative and move beyond the traditional gallery spaces and go directly to the people. Our artists need to be less concerned about affirmation from my generation and more concerned about creating a wider audience. We should be seeing our young artists staging their own exhibitions in public spaces, in shops, in derelict buildings, in the street wherever you can find an audience. If the audience won’t come to you, then you should go to the audience. We need to see more collaborations between our visual artists and musicians, poets, writers and so on. Why don’t the big stage shows and dance hall concerts include the works of our visual artists. They can use new media like video and digital photography to reach a wider audience.ANTHEA: On the basis that business persons drive artist development by supporting artists with purchases in other countries. what do you think artists can do practically to bridge more gaps between more businesspersons and artists?CHEN: Artists need to be more active in promoting local fine art. There are good reasons to buy and invest in art but we don’t hear it often enough. Today, many Jamaicans will spend a lot of money on cheap, imported furnishings and ornaments that depreciate in value as soon as the wrapping comes off. A piece of Jamaican fine art may appreciate in value and is valued and appreciated by the recipient for years, yet very few Jamaicans ever purchase or own our own art.ANTHEA: Does the competition (SuperPlus Under-40) do anything beyond exposure, and financial inputs to advance artists?CHEN: I believe that exposure is a critical element in any artist’s success. It is up to the artist then to build on the exposure and to continue producing innovative work of a high standard.ANTHEA: What is the role of the media?CHEN: The media has a responsibility to be more informed on the visual arts both locally and internationally. Context is everything and there is a dearth of good writing and reporting on the visual arts in Jamaica. More people writing and discussing at a higher standard would raise the quality of discourse and encourage our artists to raise their game.ANTHEA: Major differences between Under 40 and JCDC Competition?CHEN: The JCDC Visual Arts Competition is a broad event capturing young and old, amateur and professional, traditional and non-traditional. The Under-40 is focused on young artists demonstrating innovativeness and general excellence.ANTHEA: How important is the tourism sector in the development of art?CHEN: Tourism offers the potential to expand the market for Jamaican art by direct purchases and exposure to new markets.ANTHEA: Can you elaborate? IS THAT really all you are saying about tourism and art.CHEN: Jamaica receives over two million visitors per year coming from all over the world. We need to create more opportunities for visitors to be exposed to and buy local art. Exporting our art in this way increases its exposure overseas and creates a new awareness that over time creates new markets.ANTHEA: Is there room for other directions such as arts tourism, culture tourism?CHEN: Yes there is. There are some countries where visual art is an important tourist attraction. Italy, France, and Spain attract millions of visitors to their museums, galleries, and public art. Some developing countries such as Haiti also have a strong fine arts tradition that attract visitors who visit the galleries and studios to buy art and see artists at work. I believe that Jamaica has considerable development potential in this area.ANTHEA: Thank you for your time and thoughts!

Significance of Public Health for the Health Sector of Pakistan

Pakistan, as we all know is a developing country and we are currently going through lots of challenges and issues. These issues vary from terrorism, energy crisis and poverty to poorly developed education and health systems.Health, which is the basic human right, has unfortunately not been our priority. This statement is supported by the fact that according to the World Health Organization 2013 statistics, the health system of our country is currently ranked as 122 out of 190 countries. This is a very alarming figure especially considering the fact that one of our neighboring countries Iran is ranked as 93 in the same list. This particular figure definitely draws our attention towards issues in the health sector which we are currently facing.Firstly, we need to understand what is meant by health system. The health system does not only include hospitals and clinicians. It rather involves anything and everything which directly or indirectly affects the health of populations. The health system is composed of hospitals, environment, urban planning, food, nutrition and numerous other sectors which are directly or indirectly involved in determining the health of populations. What this means is the fact that by merely building new hospitals and producing more clinicians, we cannot make our health systems better. There has to be a multi-sectoral approach which needs to involve all the components of the health system.The next and the most important factor to consider is that we need to reshape our current health system model. If we want to improve the health status of our population, we have to base our health system on the preventive approach rather than the curative approach, that is, we need to promote public health. The time has now come where we must come out of the downstream (clinician) approach and move towards upstream (public health) approach. This is the only way by which we can survive and can make the health status of our population better. We should reconsider and amend our current health policy and we will have to develop it on the model of public health. This is the need of the time and if we want to survive and compete with the world, we must follow the public health model instead of the clinician’s model.At present, there are only a handful of institutes all across the country which offer professional studies in the field of preventive medicine. In order to produce skilled public health specialists, we need to have many academic institutes whose focus is solely on preventive medicine. The government should also support such institutes and provide appropriate funding to them, so that they can eventually become stable and sustainable. Thus the only way to make our health sector prosper is by working on public health. If this is not done on a priority basis and we are not able to shift our focus from clinicians model to public health model, it is feared that we will lag far behind as far as the health sector is concerned.

Tips for Finding the Right Warehouse Location in North America – A Canadian Perspective

Business, at its core, is about “supply and demand.” With corporate supply chains experiencing never-before-seen pressure, it has never been more challenging for businesses to get the first half of that equation, supply, right.Supply-Chain Kinks: A Perfect Storm in North AmericaTechnology is changing traditional retail models. Vendors previously had to operate out of brick-and-mortar facilities, which meant large inventories had to be kept onsite. Yet the Internet-with its instantaneous global communication, online shopping and drop-shipping-has turned this model on its head.Today, expanding a business’s market reach is easier and more affordable than ever. Third-party logistics companies (3pls) are part of an entire industry that helps businesses, large and small, to ship, transport, track and warehouse inventory.In an effort to raise their bottom lines and stay ahead of the competition, many North American retail businesses are contracting 3pls to help increase and manage their inventories. Although this might seem a daunting concept for some small business owners, as this article will show, such expansion is not as complicated or risky as it might sound.12 Factors to Consider When Acquiring Warehouse SpaceMost real estate agents and bean counters will say ‘price is king’ when acquiring new warehousing facilities. Obviously, price is an important factor, but focusing on it can also make a business lose sight of other important requirements for its long-term health. There’s usually a reason why a property is so cheap, and, consequently, the savvy executive should consider the following factors when planning warehouse acquisitions:1. Size2. Layout3. Truck accessibility4. Trailer storage5. Turning lanes6. Freeway access7. Cubic Capacity8. Flow9. Possibility for material-handling equipment integration10. Staging11. Proximity/distance to customers12. Overall locationCaveats to Warehouse SeekersMany companies hire consultants to help them determine the best places to locate their warehouses. This is often in addition to hiring brokers and real-estate agents who help locate the best value in a given market.However, these out-of-house professionals might have their own agendas. And, unless you have a general understanding of these sub-contractors’ fields, it is impossible to tell if they’re doing their job properly.For example, many consultants and real-estate agents hired to find warehouse locations often over-prioritize proximity to consumers. Not only can this lead to higher property cost, but, as Los Angeles’ history will show, it can ultimately inhibit your business processes.Consumer Proximity Doesn’t Make the Ideal Warehouse Location: Take Los Angeles Over the last several decades, many businesses have chosen to locate their warehouses near Los Angeles ports, believing such locations are ideal. And, according to conventional wisdom, such locations would seem to minimize drayage costs, thus lowering overall processing overhead.And yet, Los Angeles traffic congestion has long been notorious, and the above-mentioned rise in truck traffic has only added to this issue. Theoretically, Los Angeles might seem the ideal port because it imports goods straight from Asia and is in relatively close proximity to many North American business’s customers. But, while seemingly logical, these assumptions overlook key details about Los Angeles’ realities.Because of the city’s overwhelming traffic congestion, even short-distance trucking between one of the city’s ports and a nearby warehouse can be expensive and time-consuming. In many instances, trucking to and from a warehouse in a more distant location can require less gasoline. And it can also require less time-important when considering payments to trucking companies-if shipments are not constantly idling on the L.A. freeway.What’s more, surrounded by parks, Los Angeles suffers from unique zoning laws that limit the city’s expansion. Consequently, real estate prices and property taxes in the greater-Los Angeles area are the highest in the United States. According to CBS Los Angeles (Nov 2013), Malibu, California boasts the absolute highest U.S. real estate prices, with the average home selling for $2.1 million.Warehousing and Distribution – Looking to CanadaThese two factors alone should be reason enough to persuade many businesses to disregard common wisdom and locate their warehouses elsewhere. Less active are Canada’s own Pacific ports and the Great Lakes ports on both sides of the border. As Collier’s reports, one regularly overlooked trend is the shift toward the Great Lakes’ ports, which now account for 25 percent of U.S. GDP growth from shipping.Locating warehouses farther from even these areas, then, might seem counterintuitive, but it can offer several advantages if coupled with increased inventories. For one thing, overall drayage costs can actually be lower for far-removed warehouses. After all, as fuel costs rise, it is better for trucks to make one trip, rather than several, through a congested area.Consider, after all, that a business with warehousing in a congested area must not only hazard lost efficiency when its warehouse receives inventory shipments; the business is also losing ground from the same traffic congestion when it ships from its distribution hub. It is bad enough for incoming inventory to sit in L.A. traffic, but the costs can become astronomical if outgoing fulfillment does so as well.The paradoxical drayage savings of locating a warehouse in Canada, then, only add to such a warehouse’s lower property-tax and lower real estate-price savings. But, again, location and price are not the only factors to consider. Additionally, anyone concerned with acquiring more warehouse capacity should consider availability in Canada for following reasons:1. Because of lower demand for property, Canadian warehouses can be larger and offer more space.2. Though not in the United States, Canadian warehouses are still in close proximity to/are a short distance from the majority of customers.3. Larger warehouse capacity and lower ship- and highway-traffic congestion mean the number of shipments, in containers, a Canadian warehouse must receive and ship annually can remain comparatively low.Considering these factors, it’s no wonder why so many U.S. companies are choosing to warehouse in Canada.