Category: Artists

Aruba Linked/Caribbean Linked

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October 12 – 15 2012

BACKGROUND

Ateliers ’89 Foundation and the Fresh Milk Art Platform Inc. collaborated to create an international gathering of art experts which took place between October 12th and 15th 2012 in Aruba. Ateliers ’89 hosted the event which included bringing in the following persons to Aruba to participate in a symposium and a panel:

Rocio Aranda Alvarado – Curator, El Museo del Barrio, New York City, USA

Paco Barragan – Independent curator, Madrid, Spain

Holly Bynoe – Co-founder and editor of ARC magazine, St Vincent & the Grenadines

John Cox – Founder and director, Popop Studios, The Bahamas and co-curator, the National Art Gallery of the Bahamas

Annalee Davis – Founder and director, the Fresh Milk Art Platform Inc., Barbados

THE SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

During the course of the four days a symposium took place, a panel discussion, studio and gallery visits, the launch of ARC magazine and a series of meetings with stakeholders in the public and private sector. The symposium and panel discussion were streamed live via Ustream, allowing a regional and international audience to join the proceedings. Supporting the programme was the Youth Bienal organised by Ateliers ’89 as a way to exhibit the works of young Aruban and Dutch artists and expose those works to the visiting creatives. Two young Barbadian artists were also included in the exhibition.

The symposium gave the visiting creatives an opportunity to share their work as curators, publishers and founders of informal networks with the Aruban art community. It also gave the visiting creatives an opportunity to develop an understanding of the local art space. The launch of the ARC magazine created more awareness in Aruba of it’s art publication and web presence demonstrating how it functions as an integrative tool for the visual arts across the region.

Of critical importance was the series of meetings scheduled by Elvis Lopez, the Director of Ateliers ’89, which allowed us to meet Dr. Dumfries, the Director of Culture in the Ministry of Culture, Mr. Jonathan Viera, the Director of Cas di Cultura, Mrs. Lupita Gil, the Director of UNOCA, Vicki Arens, the Director of FDEC, the Weston Hotel Art Gallery and Insight Foundation.

As a result of these meetings we came to learn of the Ministry of Culture’s pending programme to promote the Rietveld Academy in Aruba and the 2013 launch of their preparatory visual arts programme that is open to art students from around the region and who want to enter a BFA course afterwards. The Ministry is keen to inform the region of this programme and ARC magazine will assist in promoting this programme through their website.

Also coming out of these events was the proposed idea of holding a Barbados Linked / Caribbean Linked programme at FRESH MILK in February 2013. The purpose of this gathering would be to extend the Fresh Milk/Ateliers ’89 conversation which took place at the Ateliers ’89 Foundation in Aruba, and to deepen the links further across the region while circulating ideas about sustainability within the creative economy of the Caribbean.

Stay tuned for more information on this venture!

Visit http://www.ustream.tv/channel/ateliers-89 to watch videos of the panel discussions.

UNESCO Workshop on Creative Entrepreneurship

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FRESH MILK was asked to be the venue for two of four workshops hosted by The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) on Creative Entrepreneurship in Barbados.

Andrew Senior, the internationally respected expert on entrepreneurship and business development in the creative sector, led the workshops with groups of young, creative Barbadians age 35 and under, to help shape his report on “Developing wider entrepreneurship in Barbados’s cultural and creative industries”.

Discussions in the morning sessions revolved around the challenges of building a creative business in Barbados, while the afternoon was reserved for focused seminars on leveraging more from your networks (October 4th) and working internationally (October 9th).

FRESH MILK is glad to have facilitated these talks among the youth, stimulating ideas and encouraging them to be proactive with their ambitions. This initiative aligns  with our vision to engage with young creatives and advance dialogue in relation to the creative economy.

Aruba Linked/Caribbean Linked: A Collaborative Project between Ateliers ’89 and FRESH MILK

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ARUBA LINKED/CARIBBEAN LINKED is a collaborative project coordinated by Ateliers ’89 and the Fresh Milk Art Platform Inc. From October 12th to15th, visiting creatives Rocio Aranda Alvarado – curator at El Museo del Barrio, NYC; Paco Barragan – Independent curator, Madrid, Spain; Holly Bynoe – Visual Artist and co-founder of ARC, St. Vincent & the Grenadines; John Cox – Visual Artist, founder of Popop Studios and co-curator at the National Art Gallery of the Bahamas and Annalee Davis – Visual Artist and founder/director of the Fresh Milk Art Platform Inc., Barbados, will gather at Ateliers ’89, Aruba.

Individual presentations about their own work as curators, editors and founders of informal networks will take place on October 13th. The panel of five on October 15th will focus on the shaping of a creative industry for practitioners from the Caribbean. Discussion about challenges and emerging possibilities in the region, the importance of mentoring young creatives, the development of new Caribbean products, the expansion of the critical arena, the role of the web and its power to democratise the field, the need to expose art production beyond ‘Caribbean’ themed exhibitions, and the promotion of artists working in non-mainstream locations will be explored.

ARC magazine will launch Issue 6 and John Cox will record a version of Blank Canvas at the Ateliers. ‘Aruba Linked’ – the Youth Biennial will open at Ateliers ’89 on October 15th bringing the programme to a close.