KAMACUKA, a new platform

KAMACUKA, a new platform for Caribbean cultures

Since the waves of independence that swept the Caribbean in the 1960s, exchange between the territories has steadily re-increased. From courtesy calls to cultural exchanges to sporting events, the desire to turn the page on the colonial era and renew ties with neighbours has grown.

Yet, due to strong ties to the old "homelands", artists and cultural professionals – since it is they who are concerned by the KAMACUKA project – have continued to seek out a future for themselves in European capitals, not just to receive training but to have a chance at perhaps making a living from their profession.

Today, this trend seems to be going into reverse, and the Caribbean people are developing a new relationship with their territory of origin.

 

This is first and foremost due to the recognition of traditional and popular cultures (spearheaded by cultural activists such as Jean-Price Mars, Aimé Césaire, Dereck Walcott, Edouard Glissant, Léon Gontran Damas, Kendel Hippolyte, Hector Poullet and many more). The increase in tourism as well as the creation of new university and professional programmes have also played their part in this change. Young artists no longer systematically seek to leave, graduates are returning to invest in the region, and still others come and go on a regular basis.

 

Moreover, authorities are increasingly considering culture as an engine of development for

our regions.

Researcher Dr. Susan Burke, for example, is working on a national strategy for

cultural development in Trinidad.

In Jamaica and again in Trinidad, a European programme

supports training for 150 cultural entrepreneurs.

Cabinet of Barbados has recently approved the Cultural Industries Development Bill and passed as the Cultural Industries Development

Act in November 2013. The implementation process is now being discussed through the

establishment of the Cultural Industries Development Authority (CIDA).

In Martinique Patrick Chamoiseau has developed an Agenda for Martinican Development (PADM – Matnik solid).

The revolution we are currently experiencing with the increasingly rapid development of communication technologies has allowed networks to grow, artists to avoid isolation and collaborative work to flourish.

The KAMACUKA group project springs from a determination to pool together various experiences and approaches and connect the Caribbean to the world through art and culture. For the latter are undoubtedly the primary engines of development and innovation, uniting symbolic value (the promotion of Caribbean cultures), social value (public goods) and economic value (the production of cultural goods and services).   

 

KAMACUKA is:

·      an online collaborative platform that includes an information website and a virtual guide to operators and institutions in the Caribbean-Amazonia, in French and English initially,

·      a bilingual quarterly newsletter

·      professional encounters between professional  first, to make professional actors  think together, share analysis, and make joint proposals to the authorities and build projects together.

KAMACUKA is also the energy that you and I put into meeting the challenge of a Caribbean-Amazonia region that discusses and builds its future.

 

Axelle Beniey, Michelle Cox, Anne Lescot, Lowell Fiet, Rawle Gibbons, Karole Gizolme, Kentilia Louis, Wilfrid Louis-Régis

Photo 1 : José Pliya, L'Artchipel director and Rawle Gibbons, CarinNet Président

Photo 2  : Rawile  Gibbons, Scarlett, Jésus, Anne Lescot à Lameca, public library mediatheque dedicated to Carribean