Art Initiative
The Haiti Project promotes Haitian art and artists. Through decade-long relationships with Haitian art galleries and artists, the Haiti Project serves as a ‘conduit’ for Haitian art to reach art markets in the United States. Over the last twenty years, the Project has proven to be a steady customer, often in times of socioeconomic disturbance, ensuring patronage for our artists and galleries in Haiti.
“Here in Haiti. I find even the poorest citizen happy with the little he has, capable of laughing at the foibles of the rich and at himself and filled with ‘joie de vivre’ and all of this is reflected triumphantly in their art”
— Selden Rodman(1998), Director of Le Centre d'Art
At one time, dozens of galleries provided art in Haiti, Cap Haitien, Jacmel, and Port-au-Prince. Only a handful of galleries have survived the economic and political turmoil of the 1980s. The 2010 earthquake further hurt the art industry; many structures and canvases were lost or severely damaged.
Today, a handful of formal galleries remain in greater Port-au-Prince. In addition, art markets can be found in every major city and wherever tourists might be expected to pass by.
Through our bi-annual trips to Haiti, the Project makes regular visits to art markets and art galleries and buys art upfront. By doing so, the Project prevents potential abuse of artists and galleries by foreign customers. After which, the Project brings back the art and handicrafts to the United States where these products are valued more highly in the market competitively.
There is, of course, so much more to Haiti than its negative statistics and unfavorable media coverage. As Seldon Rodman, founder of Le Centre D’art, Haiti’s first art gallery discovered, there is joy. Haitian art, so imaginative and colorful, reflects the hopes and dreams of a people whose spirit soars unflinchingly above the chaos of the land.
Telling the story of Haiti through fundraising art sales and outreach programs is a way to spread the joy of that country. It is also an opening to talk about the powerful economic and sociological forces that have left this little Caribbean nation devastated, destitute, and for now, devoid of tourism.
Since 2001, the Haiti Project has sold over 5,000 paintings and tens of thousands of handcrafts, supported 100 artists, held 90 art & handcraft sales, and raised $2.5 million in revenue.
Our use of art in our fundraising has 3 impacts
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It educates the public about Haiti
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Proceeds from art sales go towards organizational sustainability and functions performed by our initiatives in Chermaitre and the larger Fiervil community.
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It supports the art market in Haiti, thereby directly benefiting hundreds of Haitian artists and artisans and their families.
Projects and Programs
The Lucinda Franks & Robert M. Morgenthau Gallery in Haiti
Bring a Little Haiti to your Home
See how our customers have decorated their homes with Haitian art!
Education through Art in the U.S.
Adjacent to managing all of the art that we import from Haiti, harnessing the Haitian artworks we engage with and sell to educate ourselves, our customers, and others about Haitian history and culture has become one of the primary goals of the Art Initiative. The student committee believes in the importance of balancing the commercialization of art, which is a necessary means to achieving our fundraising goals for our sustainable development work in northwest Haiti, with the promotion of Haitian art as a cultural entity. To this end, the Initiative members have been researching Haitian artists and art movements, and presenting on the unique styles and techniques in General Body meetings and elsewhere. They also plan to generate and distribute a pamphlet or written medium that synthesizes information about Haitian art history, significant art movements, and key figures in those art movements.
Art Education in Haiti
The Art Team has come to truly appreciate the power of art as a vehicle for social change, particularly through working closely with our partner and Haitian artist Benoit Profelus, a talented young painter and art teacher in Haiti seeking to inspire youth to imagine and envision large-scale change through artistic expression. Benoit and the Art Committee are currently planning for the construction of a new art gallery and studio in Gros Morne, Haiti. This step will importantly expand the resources that Benoit has at his disposal to impart his painting skills and philosophy to the burgeoning young art students he has taken under his wing.