ACEGA
(Association pour la Culture et l’Education dans la Grand’Anse)
ACEGA was created in response to hurricane Matthew, when, after a fundraiser organized by my personal friend and colleague, Dr. Dasha Chapman, I decided to come up with a creative and sustainable project that would continue, rather than just spending all the money at once and make a small and temporary difference.
I first created “Grand’Anse il faut Bouger”: a dance program, that would focus on using the art of dance in order for the youth and creative artists to converse, educate, and find awareness of our human conditions in the region. This soon became an annual event, and an opportunity for the youth in the community in Jeremie to get together , dance, learn, and reflect -activate our creativity- in a safe space. It was our platform !
ACEGA was created as a result of the MOVEMENT: an organization to accompany the Youth, and the program.
I created it in collaboration with 4 other members; but today we are a total of 7 members as we recently added the two last members of our following list: Jean-Sebastien Duvilaire, Evains Weche, Natacha Clergé, Judsam Dupré, Junior, Rose Darline Jean Petuelle, and Richard Scipion.
Our mission is first to accompany our youth in Jeremie and around Grand’Anse, and to contribute to the education sector, particularly through arts and culture. And though we focus mostly on dance, we also embrace all the other forms of creative art such as poetry, visual arts, theater, music, fashion…
Jeremie in Haiti was considered to be “La ville des Poetes” (the city of poets). We hope to contribute to it also becoming “La Ville de la Danse” (the city of Dance).
ACEGA ‘s yearly activities.
For now, ACEGA is working on creating a CULTURAL ARTS CENTER in Jeremie that will contain an infirmary to care for basic injuries, a large kitchen to cook for a large number of people, and storage space to manage inventory of supplies donated for the community. The idea is to have a space that would also be able to serve as a shelter in times of recovery of an earthquake or hurricane as we now know Hayti is prone to have.
But until then we have been having yearly activities, and partnering with other organizations to ensure more cultural and art activities throughout the year for the youth. Here are just some of our activities:
International Dance Day
For three years now we’ve been celebrating international dance day.
Here is a overview of what has happened these past few years: 2 day events, beginning with a conference with a Q&A at the end, and then a second day of master classes.
Dance Summer Intensive
During our two week summer intensive, the youth have an opportunity to interact with professionals, local and international artists, who teach, perform, and choreograph for a final recital presented by the kids who participate in the program. We work with a different theme every year. The kids form long lasting relationships while experiencing intense training, with “savoir vivre” pointers all along. They not only get the chance to also be creative in the process, they get the opportunity to perform and share the stage with professionals, get theater production experience, showcase their talents, and perform at venues where visiting artists they admire usually perform.
Celebrating the Creole Language
During the month of October, considered to be the international creole month, ACEGA tries to mark the month with one or few events involving the creole language, between song, text and poetry.
Other/collaborations
We try to collaborate to mark and celebrate Independence Day/beginning of the year, Valentin’s day, Flag Day, mothers day, beginning summer, and end of year celebration. We also try to host special guest all through out the year, for training programs, master classes, performances and more. But our main goal is the cultural art center for us to be able to have continuous programs and a set platform to give our contributions for the youth of Grand’Anse !