The second Jamaica Brew Festival is scheduled for January 18 at Miramar Cultural Center in Miramar, South Florida. Like the inaugural staging, it focuses on writers and filmmakers in the Jamaican Diaspora, as well as Blue Mountain Coffee.
Oliver Mair is Jamaica’s Consul General to Miami, organisers of the event which was first held in January 2024 in Plantation, South Florida. He said the concept is similar to the Calabash Literary Festival in Treasure Beach, St Elizabeth.
“I wanted to do something to promote our writers here in the Diaspora. The primary focus for this year is our Jamaican writers, we are also promoting filmmakers because we want to get people involved in the arts, so we have to tell our stories,” Mair told Observer Online.
Dr Julius Garvey, son of Pan African icon Marcus Garvey; Michael Brown, Judith Falloon-Reid, Kwame McPherson, Malachi Smith and Kellie Magnus, are some of the writers on the Jamaica Brew Festival.
Several short films and excerpts from Jamaican movies will also be shown.
Norman Grant, chairman of the Jamaica Coffee Exporters Association, will give a presentation on the importance of coffee to the Jamaican economy. Noting that the United States is Blue Mountain Coffee’s second largest market (behind Japan), Mair said the diverse patronage gets an opportunity to learn about the world-famous brew.
“Although it’s a Jamaican event, we have people from different countries who will attend and we want them to taste the product, those who have not yet done so. We want Jamaicans to support our local products, support our Jamaican farmers and this will help to drive exports, so we’re doing our part to build awareness about Blue Mountain Coffee,” he explained.