We had a technical recession—two consecutive quarters of negative growth—in 2015. The Bank of Canada cushioned the blow by cutting policy rates twice, to 50 basis points. The Canadian dollar depreciated by more than 20 percent against the US dollar. That facilitated the adjustment to lower commodity prices.
Over the years, awardees have included emerging talent, and it has also provided a platform for other established artists to showcase their work, including Winston Farrell, the late Honourable Edward Kamau Brathwaite, and Esther Phillips, Barbados' first poet laureate.