To date, the project involves seventeen Caribbean countries and territories: Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Montserrat, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago.
By capitalizing on the region’s cultural wealth, its unique heritage (numerous cultural and natural properties are inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List), its exceptional tourism resources and the dynamism of its youth, Transcultura aims to increase training and employment opportunities and contribute to the Caribbean’s sustainable development.
One key dimension is to boost synergies between countries and to increase opportunities for exchange and cooperation between artists, creators, professionals in the cultural and tourism sectors, associations and the public sector
Cuba is expected to play a pivotal role in this programme by hosting a regional training centre for cultural and creative industries. Several Cuban institutions have already signed on as partners: the San Gerónimo University College in Havana, the Higher Institute for Industrial Design, the Office of the City Historian and the Cuban Ministry of Culture. The University of the West Indies, which has campuses in three Caribbean countries, will also support the hub project. Other institutions in the region plan to participate.
The hub will promote the mobility of young professionals through scholarships, build their capacity through training workshops, enable the transfer of knowledge from one profession to another or from one country to another, and facilitate partnerships with European cultural entities
It is this economic and professional potential that we value, for example, with the Transcultura Initiative, also funded by the European Union, which aims to build bridges between Cuban, Caribbean, and European cultures and which I had the honor to launch in Cuba during my visit.
At the beginning of December, UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay, on an official visit to Cuba, had the occasion to discuss the Transcultura project with the country’s political and cultural leaders. Her agenda included a visit to the Santa Clara Convent in the historic heart of Havana, where some of the workshops organized by the regional centre will be held.
