COMMUNITY WORK

East Yard

Established in 2017, as a physical space in the heart of Arima, East Yard has earned its place as a home for the arts in East-Trinidad. A project that has been through many iterations, the space is the permanent home of East Yard Enterprises and For Common Good Platform and currently houses my permanent exhibition of creative work and the work of my collaborator and multi-disciplinary artist and founder of Joki One, Walda George-Waithe.

Over the years, both through For Common Good but more so East Yard, our community engagement has happened in many different forms but we've have had the greatest success with community led mural projects, in terms of scale and life-span.

As we speed into 2024, the space is set to take to on yet another look as we AMPLIFY our focus to providing technical support, capacity building opportunities and physical space for nonprofits, creative practitioners and social enterprises in a more holistic way.

Arima Arts Festival

I piloted the Arima Arts Festival in 2023 with a taste of a vibrant and diverse series of events from August 24th to 30th, held in Arima - with the support of Cultures of Resistance Films and a team of local practitioners.

The festival fosters connections, celebrates artistic talents, and embraces the spirit of togetherness through a range of captivating activities, showcasing the vibrant cultural scene of Arima and environs.

Arima Arts Festival (A Taste) was made possible through the Cultures of Resistance Awards (CoR Awards) initiative, which recognizes proactive, creative citizens whose work is connected to positive change.

For Common Good Platform

For Common Good started off as the theme for an event, back in 2018 and years later, in late 2022 gave way for the incorporation of For Common Good Platform as an entity in its own right.

For Common Good Platform is a Trinidad and Tobago based non-profit organization that aspires to be known as a leading global platform that showcases the goodwill, creative capital and genius of those committed to social change.

The organization's main objectives are:

To implement socially engaged arts programming that can serve as a catalyst for strengthening youth voice.
To facilitate professional exchange opportunities and artist residencies for Caribbean and internationally based creative professionals and students interested in community development work that is in alignment with our programs.
To host cultural events to include exhibitions, festivals, seminars and conferences.
To produce films, publish books and create other educational resources that document and tell stories about the contributions of Caribbean and diaspora contemporary social change youth pioneers or those working with youth.

Visit www.forcommongoodplatform.org to learn more