Home » Funded projects » Creation and Heritage: Art and Culture to Revive Connections on a Caribbean Scale

Creation and Heritage: Art and Culture to Revive Connections on a Caribbean Scale

ZOFI - Story Lab - Cultural Station

The Zofi association's mission is to promote cultural and artistic development in the Caribbean. It actively contributes to the production, publishing, distribution, and outreach related to contemporary arts, culture, and heritage, both in Martinique and internationally. These strong values make Zofi a key player in preserving and revitalizing Caribbean cultural identities. For this project, it is partnering with two other Martinican organizations with complementary expertise: Le Labo des Histoires, an expert in storytelling through writing, and La Station Culturelle, a specialist in Caribbean cultural development. Each will be responsible for specific areas of intervention.

Context

An Ba Lanmè: what binds us

In the Caribbean, young artists and cultural professionals often struggle to access training, distribution, and organizational opportunities, despite the vitality of their creative expressions. With "Ce qui nous lie" (What Binds Us), the ZOFI association, created in 2021, is initiating an inter-island dynamic based on training programs, residencies, collective creations, and professional exchanges aimed at promoting Caribbean cultural heritage and its stakeholders.

Countries: Dominica; Saint Lucia
Sector of intervention:
Culture, Heritage
The Guild's endowment: €120,000
Project cost: €165,600
Project leader: ZOFI - Story Lab - The Cultural Station

Funder(s):
• Coreom
• La Guilde
• The Fondation de France

Project objectives

Strengthening the skills of young Caribbean artists and cultural actors in training and professionals
Stimulating regional cultural cooperation and collective creation
Preserving and promoting the intangible cultural heritage of the islands

Activities

Cross-disciplinary training and artistic residencies
Intergenerational and inter-island encounters: a collective creation
Networking of cultural stakeholders from the three territories
Promoting heritage through artistic practices

Direct beneficiaries

Emerging artists, young people in training in the arts and culture fields, local cultural actors, local communities participating in events and workshops, users of digital resources

Expected results

A core group of trained artists and cultural professionals integrated into a regional network
Creations celebrating Caribbean cultures
Increased visibility of intangible cultural heritage
Cooperative model for sustainable cultural development

A dual support and funding mechanism for overseas civil society organizations, the CORÉOM program – Overseas Regional Cooperation – encourages regional and international cooperation dynamics among associations based in Guadeloupe, French Guiana, Martinique, Mayotte, and Réunion. Financially supported by the French Development Agency (AFD) and the Fondation de France, CORÉOM is implemented by La Guilde, with a set of territorial networks and relay partners in the five territories.