Creative Hack JA – a team effort for the New Year from Kingston Creative

The New Year brings new projects, and last month Kingston Creative launched a really interesting one for 2022. However, this is a reminder that the deadline for applications – January 14 – is just around the corner!

Here’s more…

The Kingston Creative Hub in downtown Kingston. (Photo: Shauna-Kaye Campbell)

Creative Hack JA is a hackathon that brings together entrepreneurs, tech enthusiasts, creatives and other problem-solvers to brainstorm ideas to address societal problems. The two day event sponsored by Kingston Creative, IDB Lab and Development Bank of Jamaica will leverage creativity, technology and the power of community to gather innovative ideas to address crime, energy, environment, traffic, education, health, the economy or a social issue of their own choosing. The event will culminate with the selection of the best solutions and teams receiving up to $800,000 in funding and prizes.

Participants can either apply as a fully formed team or as individuals.  Individuals will be placed in teams based on the interest they have and problems they would like to solve. The teams must contain between 3 – 6 members with half being creatives and at least one  being a tech enthusiast. The application window to participate in the Creative Hack opened on December 6, 2021 and closes on January 14, 2022. The event takes place on January 21-22, 2022. 

A crucial difference with this event is that all solutions submitted by the teams will be able to be viewed and voted on by the public. “In addition to giving funding to participants, we want to give problem solvers the opportunity to network with each other to create solutions we haven’t seen in Jamaica with near immediate feedback from the public so they know what works and what doesn’t,” commented Karen Hutchinson, project Manager for the CreaTech programme. “We think this is crucial to creating impactful solutions.”

To learn more about and apply for  the Creative Hack visit http://bit.ly/kc-creative-hack or email info@kingstoncreative.org.

The Creative Hack is one of several initiatives under the CreaTech program. To learn more about CreaTech visit: https://kingstoncreative.org/createch

Creatives should also save the date for January 11. The Incubator Summit will be a session where creative entrepreneurs share ideas & best practices to strengthen themselves for 2022. Register here: bit.ly/incubatorsummit

Kingston Creative is investing in “People and Place” – developing strong creative entrepreneurs and building a vibrant Art District in Downtown Kingston.

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