The Project

The Caribbean Culture Fund will provide comprehensive support for the arts of the Caribbean, by means of regular project grants and programs. Such support has not been consistently or inclusively available to creative producers in the Caribbean and this has been a major obstacle to the sustainability, reach, and impact of the cultural sector in the Caribbean itself and, to a lesser extent, in the Caribbean diaspora. The Caribbean Culture Fund seeks to address this gap, based on a sound understanding of the cultural and social dynamics of the Caribbean, and the needs and potential that exist in the fields of the visual arts, photography, film, music, dance, theatre, literature, the festival arts, and other cultural forms.

As envisaged, the fund is committed to supporting Caribbean cultural producers in their quest to create freely and innovatively, making the best possible use of the cultural, technological, and creative resources available to them. The initiative is also committed to fostering broad, inclusive public engagement with the arts of the Caribbean, and for these to have to the sort of socially and culturally transformative impact that the arts can, and indeed need to have. While the fund’s primary focus will be on the contemporary, there will also be scope for the popular and the traditional. Priority attention will be paid to the needs that exist in the Caribbean region itself, because that is where the funding and program needs are the greatest, but also elsewhere in the Caribbean cultural sphere.

The Vision

The Caribbean Culture Fund seeks to enable an innovative, inclusive, and socially transformative cultural ecology in the Caribbean and its diaspora, by supporting the arts and culture of the region in a manner which is respectful of tradition and cultural specificity but attuned to social and cultural change.

The Mission

The Caribbean Culture Fund aims to promote social and cultural justice and foster intercultural dialogue and mutual understanding, by providing financial resources and programs to support individual and collaborative projects led by artists and cultural organizations based in the region.

The Feasibility Study

The Caribbean Culture Fund is presently in the feasibility study stage, to articulate the guiding philosophy and practical modalities, including funding sources. The feasibility study is facilitated by Le Centre d’Art in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, and funded by the Open Society Foundations. The Caribbean Culture Fund will be funded by a coalition of Caribbean and international funders and will become active in early 2022.

The CCF recognizes the linguistic diversity of the Caribbean and this website will become available in its main languages. As a temporary measure, a Google translate function is available in the menu bar.

Supported by:

Image credits: Stephen G. E. Burrows - Conch Shell, c1980 (restored in 2021 by Kishan Munroe), photo: Kishan Munroe; At Le Festival 4 Chemins, Port-au-Prince, , Haiti, photo: Carvens R.  Adelson;Junkanoo Performer, Nassau, Bahamas, photo: Kishan Munroe;  Tessa Mars "Nou la ansanm, we are here", 2019 (detail), acrylic on canvas, 4ft x 8ft; Schoelcher Library, Fort-de-France, Martinique, photo: Veerle Poupeye.