Caribbean InTransit, an open access online resource for the arts which provides a dynamic platform for artists, art and culture academics and professionals, will launch in Trinidad on the 7th of March 2012 at UWI, St. Augustine at the Gordon street Open Campus Auditorium . The Journal’s open access format is the only one of its kind dedicated to Artists from the Caribbean and its Diaspora. It aims at making art available to the wider public by removing the price barrier, which usually acts as a determining factor for potential readers and consumers.
The launch will focus on the works of artists and academics that have contributed to the journal’s second issue themed “Location and Caribbeaness”. Guest Editor of the issue, Dr. Honor Ford-Smith joins the team in Trinidad to present the compilation, which includes an article on 3Canal, the Garifuna, the Haiti Ghetto Biennial among many others. A panel discussion entitled “Easy Access? Art, Technology, Availability and Impact” will also serve to engage audiences in discussion on the Caribbean Arts. The panel will include prominent members of the artistic and academic community in Trinidad and Tobago: Tracy Assing, Camille Selvon Abrahm, Rubadiri Victor and Executive Director of the Provisions Library, Washington DC, Don Russell.
Our accomplished panelists will be sharing their ideas; their experiences; discussing new trends and suggesting a way forward for the dissemination of Arts in the region. Their presentations will no doubt explore the issues of access and art throughout Caribbean and its Diaspora, as it pertains to their particular field of expertise. This event is expected to be one of the most ground-breaking events with respect to the open access debate in our region as it provides an opportunity for intellectuals, professionals in the field, art enthusiasts and lay persons to come together in order to create the impetus needed to ensure continued growth and development of this sector in our society and it is one that surely, ought not to be missed.
In order to complement these activities as well as to show their commitment towards making the Arts accessible to all, Caribbean InTransit will also be conducting a two-day workshop entitled This Is Me. The Workshop which is geared towards youth within Port-Of-Spain and environs will explore the themes of accessibility through technology with participating youngsters, while serving as a platform to explore art as a tool for encouraging discussion, empathy and social transformation. Edgar Endress, accomplished filmmaker, lecturer at George Mason University and member of the Floating Lab Collective, a collective of artists in Washington DC, has partnered with Caribbean InTransit for the workshop. Endress along with photographer and contributor to this issue of the journal, Olivia Mcgilchrist will be leading the workshops.
Caribbean InTransit’s publications will be available online and all are encouraged to visit the Journal’s website at www.caribbeanintransit.com to share in this new experience. To access free e-copies of the Journal, members of the public are invited to subscribe to our newsletter via the website. For further information on the Launch and related activities please contact Caribbean InTransit at info@caribbeanintransit.com or caribintransit@gmail.com.
