Joseph Augustin (b. 1970 – present) / Unknown, date unknown / Oil on canvas / WCA Collection
HAITIAN ARTS DIGITAL CROSSROADS “DIGITAL LAKOU” WORKSHOP
Grinnell College and Waterloo Center for the Arts
Thursday, September 21st to Saturday 23rd, 2023
During the third weekend of September 2023, specialists on Haitian art and culture gathered in Iowa for a three-day workshop to discuss the narrative of Haitian art collections within digital spaces. We invited guests from across the United States, Canada, and Haiti to join our HADC team, along with several Grinnell faculty members, to consider the impact of digital promotion, curation, and preservation in the field of Haitian art history. Through interactive dialogue, we will looked to our participants to identify the components that will help to create a digital lakou where we can consider and design best practices, historiography, accessibility, sustainability, and equity. These engagements will help vet the blueprint that allows the HADC to build a more robust, rigorous Haitian art history meta schema, and utilize digital resources and interdisciplinary methodologies to dually expand knowledge and fill gaps within the field. This is the first of many discussions to envision new futurities for Haitian art in considering innovative practices for promoting the arts.
HADC WORKSHOP SCHEDULE
Thursday, September 21, 2023 – Grinnell, IA
[HSSC A1231] – 4 pm – 6 pm (open to the public) / Join via WebEx Link
3:30 pm – HADC Workshop Registration / Sign In
4:00 pm – Welcome by President Anne Harris (Grinnell)
4:15 pm – Introduction by Fredo Rivera (Grinnell)
4:30 pm – “The Lakou System in Haiti: A Reading of Lwa Civilization” by Sabine Malebranche (SODADE)
6:15 pm – Visualizing Abolition & Freedom Viewing (https://vaf.grinnell.edu) [HSSC 1st floor]
6:30 pm – Dinner with invited Grinnell administration and faculty [Harris Center Concert Hall]
8:45 pm – Solera’s Wine Bar (optional activity)
Friday, September 22, 2023 – Grinnell, IA
[HSSC S1325] – 9:15 am – 10:45 am (open to the public) / Join via Webex Link
7:30 am – HADC Networking Breakfast [Hotel Grinnell] (optional activity)
8:45 am – HADC Progress Report & NEH 3-Year Plan by Petrouchka Moise & Fredo Rivera (Grinnell)
9:15 am – “Praxis: Social Thought, Religion, and Social Organization; the Lakou” by Patrick Bellegarde-Smith (University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee)
10:45 am – Break
[Burling Library]
11 am – Special Collections Tour: Haitian colonial and presidential letters
11:30 am – Drawing Room: Jacob Lawrence’s The Life of Toussaint L’Overture print collection
12:00 pm – Break
[Bucksbaum Center for the Arts – Rotunda]
12:15 pm – Working Lunch
12:30 pm – Lightning Round Student Presentations
1:30 pm – Workshop I & Group Discussion (Rotunda)
2:30 pm – Workshop II & Group Discussion (Gallery)
3:00 pm – Break
3:15 pm – Workshop III & Breakout Session (Gallery)
4:15 pm – Debrief
4:30 pm – Shuttle leaves to Waterloo
6:00 pm – Check into hotel – Best Western Hotel
6:30 pm – Dinner [Singlespeed]
Saturday, September 23, 2023 – Waterloo, IA
8:00 am – Breakfast [Best Western]
9:15 am – shuttle/walk to the Waterloo Center for the Arts
[WCA] 9:30 am – 4 pm (workshop participants & invited guests only)
9:30 am – Welcoming remarks by Chawne Paige (WCA) [Law Court Theatre]
10:00 am – Tour of Haitian art collection on display with LeGrace Benson [Rueling Feldman Gallery]
12:00 pm – Catered lunch [Town Hall]
1:00 pm – Exploration of the WCA vaults
3:30 pm – Group discussion [Town Hall]
6:00 pm – Catered dinner and workshop closing [Town Hall]
Sunday, September 24, 2023 – Waterloo, IA
Breakfast [Best Western]
Shuttle Departure
