“The entire population of the country is 300,000. This is about the size of the suburban area where I live. To say a country this small has not developed a local art community is not fair.”
Forget an “art community” ... zero works of art in the national museum!
Last year I visited the Newark Museum, in much, maligned Newark, New Jersey, a city of 281,000 people. Some of the best works on display are by natives of Newark. And that is just one gallery of many in poor despised Newark!
http://www.ci.newark.nj.us/visitors/places_to_go.php
Newark is part of the NYC metropolitan area - one of the most sophisticated art and cultural centers of the world.
Belize is a rural country whose main product for several centuries has been lumber. It is the opposite of sophisticated, hence it’s attraction for nature lovers.
You’re right, patrons of the arts will have to keep searching.