Congratulations Michelle Raz! She is our randomly selected winner of a pair of tickets to Ra Ra Yo! the Jakmel Ekspresyon fundraiser this Wednesday.
Congratulate her in person at Martyr’s. We’ll have some great music for a good cause. Don’t forget, you can get advance tickets for $10 from http://www.martyrslive.com/
Posted in JE Updates
Tagged art, art center, contest, fundraising, fundraising campaign, haiti, haitian art, jakmel, jakmel ekspresyon, music, non-profit art center, ra ra, ra ra yo, raffle, random, winner
Check out the new website of Haiti Communitere (formerly Grassroots United) of Port Au Prince. This organization has done big work focused on the tent towns of Haiti’s capital. Their Ubuntu Blox project is very inspiring. Partnering with women who live in the Cite Soleil neighborhood, Haiti Communitere hopes to carry out two important goals – constructing homes for those that do not have them and a reuse of commonly discarded materials.
The Ubuntu team are implementing street clean-ups and rubbish collection points to take Styrofoam food containers and film plastic out of the canals and drains around Port-au-Prince to repurpose as building materials. The materials are packed into rice bags and compressed into uniformly sized building blocks using a manual compression machine. The lightweight, flexible nature of the blocks makes them far more earthquake resistant than typical brick or concrete structures. A model Ubuntu home was recently tested for seismic resistance, and passed a simulated 8.2 earthquake with minimal damage.
Posted in JE Updates
Tagged art, film, haiti, haiti communitere, haitian art, jakmel, jakmel ekspresyon, non-profit art center, port au prince, ubuntu blox
Hi everyone,I’m Alex, development director of Jakmel Ekspresyon. You’ll see me posting updates on our Facebook page, writing blog posts here and generally getting the word out about our organization. I don’t often write post here about my own travels or experiences, but I think that this story illustrates the magic of Jakmel Ekspresyon. In December I travelled to Jacmel with Sue, our Co-Director and my wife, Kristen, who led her second knitting workshop at Jakmel Ekspresyon. While in Jacmel as visitor you sometimes hear about other interesting people who are coming through town and you sometimes hope that the stars align and your paths cross in some way. We’d head about some “film maker guys” that were in town and our friends told us several times that we should meet them.
Sue, Kristen and I had gone to an outdoor dance party set up by a friend of a friend in Jacmel’s main square. This dance party was strictly for teens and kids. Loud bass, funky dancing, heavy beats and about 600 teenagers and their brothers and sisters jumping around and showing off their best dance moves. Our small group attracted other bemused adults and we were finally joined by a few guys we’d never met. As we introduced ourselves over the music, we realized that these were, in fact, Allan and Ian — the film maker guys.
Their organization, Film Maker for a Cause is a ”not for profit organization that provides free film production, photography, and media services to other NGOs.” Their goal is a noble one. They say,”We believe that through the arts of photography and filmmaking we can help tell the stories of those making a difference in our world. ”
What it boils down to is that Film Maker for A Cause travel the world making short promotional videos for organizations that need to promote themselves to the larger world. They charge nothing for their services and give the finished product to other not for profit organizations to do with as they please.
As we got to know Ian, Allan and Randall of Film Maker for A Cause I realized that their work is noble and very interesting. They came to Jakmel Ekspresyon for an evening and captured interviews with me, Kristen, Eder (a co-founder of Jakmel Ekspresyon), Aaron (our Administrator) and many others.
I am so grateful to Film Maker for A Cause for putting together one of their fantastic videos for us. I think that it perfectly captures what it is we’re trying to do with this organization. Take a look:
Let them know what you think of their videos on their Facebook page.
Posted in JE Updates
Tagged art, art center, film, film makers for a cause, haiti, haitian art, jakmel, jakmel ekspresyon, knitting, non-profit art center
Stop by Jakmel Ekspresyon this week for some amazing classes :
Sunday
“Le cour” Rinyon 3pm-4pm
Repetition 4pm-7pm
Monday
“Le cour”, Repetition 3p-6pm
Yoga Class 6pm-7pm , Adults only
Faz 1 Theater 7pm-8:30pm
Tuesday
Yoga Class 6pm-7pm, adults only
Faz 1 Theater 7pm
Wednesday
Yoga class 6pm-7pm, adults only
Spare Change Members Meeting, Mandatory for all members
Thursday
Yoga Class 6pm-7pm, adults only
Technical Theater 7pm, members only
Friday
Yoga Class 6pm-7pm, adults only
Womens Theater Class,7pm, women only
Saturday
Childrens theater class, 2pm
“Le Cour” Repetition 3:30-6:30pm
Ballroom Dance, 7pm
Fire Dance Repetition, 7pm, on the roof.
Posted in JE Updates
Tagged art, art center, haiti, haitian art, jakmel, jakmel ekspresyon, music
Did you know that we’re hosting another exciting benefit for Jakmel Ekspresyon? Yes indeed! April 18th we’ll be getting together with our friends Environmental Encroachment, MC Sparkplug and Low End Theory at Martyrs in Chicago. Want to buy tickets? Go to Martyrs Live . Also check out this fantastic flyer created by Chicago design superstar Tim Hartman :
You can also download a copy of this flyer in PDF format here.
Posted in JE Updates
Tagged art center, benefit, fundraising, jacmel, jakmel, jakmel ekspresyon, non-profit art center, ra ra yo
When Corey Rateau, A Haitian American volunteer at the ”Vie de France” school in Jacmel, Haiti faced a mountain of aluminum cans he decided to get extreme! A barge had dropped off canned water for his students and Corey hoped to turn those cans into something useful. With the help of Bayard Jean Bernard he found Bòs Gérard. Gérard has been working with aluminum for many years. You’ll be surprised at what a skilled artisan can do with a bunch of cans.
Posted in JE Updates
Tagged art center, bayard, fundraising, haiti, haitian art, jakmel, jakmel ekspresyon, recycling
Why this video? You only need to look at the name of this song to get a clue. Yes, Jakmel Ekspresyon is a busy place these days. What do we have going on? Let’s take a look at our schedule of regular classes day-by-day:
Stop by and see us at 114 Rue Bellecombe Jacmel, Haiti
Posted in JE Updates
Tagged art, art center, haiti, haitian art, jakmel, jakmel ekspresyon, non-profit art center
Tap tap – meaning “quick quick” in Creole - is the name given to privately owned vehicles that have been converted into public transport caravans. The buses run along set routes throughout the day, and though it is not necessary to pay, riders generally fork over five to ten gourdes for their services. Since most Haitians do not own a car…
The last month was a big month for us. The center ran workshops six days a week. The workshops included dance, theater, painting, fire spinning and a film club. The majority of the workshops were run by local established Haitian artists! In the US we met with our new pro-bono lawyer. With one more step to solidify this new relationship we will be on our way to establishing ourselves as a legal non-profit.
So many people have contacted the Administration to find out more about JE and how the can help. Our network just keeps growing. This is an exciting time and filled with opportunities to grow. If anyone is interested in helping by donating time and talents, please contact the Co-Director, Sue Frame, at jakmelekspresyon@gmail.com.
Posted in JE Updates
Tagged art, dance, film, fundraising, fundraising campaign, haiti, haitian art, jakmel, jakmel ekspresyon, music, non-profit art center, phyllis musical inn
