BrandAid Project
Effective immediately proceeds from all BRANDAID Project sales will be used to support Haitian relief efforts!
Follow the art hunters, artisans and their communities, and those who are helping to turn poverty into prosperity.
The news from Ciné Institute in Jacmel, Haiti
Grit TV continues to Broadcast Ciné Institute Reports
22 January 2010
Thank you to Laura Flanders of Grit TV for broadcasting Ciné Institute's reports from Jacmel.
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A Compilation of this week's footage by Ciné Institute
22 January 2010
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Ciné Institute Featured on CNN: Soledad O'Brien
21 January 2010
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Two More Aftershocks in Jacmel
21 January 2010
Cine Director Andrew Bigosinski just reported that Jacmel Haiti was just hit with two more strong quakes, one quickly following the other. Everyone is fine, though on edge, and have moved outdoors to continue reporting.
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6.0 AFTERSHOCK TREMOR HITS JACMEL HAIT
20 January 2010
Jacmel awoke at 6AM this morning to yet another after-shock (apparently 6.1). The students and Ciné Institute Founder David Belle, asleep in a temporary office, were on their feet and running out doors and windows in less than 5 seconds. More houses have fallen and the main tower is down, knocking out Internet.
Ciné Institute's Director Andrew Bigosinski also reports that their generator, which powers their antenna, is down due to lack of fuel.
The good news is that David Belle also reports that due to the incredible response of the media to this story, there are now relief ships and planes arriving in Jacmel and the CI students are out with 5 crews finding other towns that have been so far cut off from aid.
Filming the Haitian Crisis on NPR
19 January 2010
Annie Nocenti, teacher at the Ciné Institute, a film school for Haitian youth in the city of Jacmel, discusses the effect of the earthquake on the Ciné students and the ways in which they are documenting the aftermath.
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First Shipment of Aid Arriving in Jacmel: Report by Bayard
19 January 2010
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Ciné Institute Featured on PBS Newshour
18 January 2010
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The news from Ciné Institute in Jacmel, Haiti
18 January 2010
The awesome Molly Crabapple did a twitter auction live, drew a critter for highest bidder and raised $225 for Ciné Institute!
Thank you Molly!
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Ciné Institute Director David Belle reports from Port-au-Prince:
17 January 2010
I have been told that much US media coverage paints Haiti as a tinderbox ready to explode. I'm told that lead stories in major media are of looting, violence and chaos. There could be nothing further from the truth.
"I have traveled the entire city daily since my arrival. The extent of damages is absolutely staggering. At every step, at every bend is one horrific tragedy after another; homes, businesses, schools and churches leveled to nothing. Inside every mountain of rubble there are people, most dead at this point. The smell is overwhelming. On every street are people - survivors - who have lost everything they have: homes, parents, children, friends.
"NOT ONCE have we witnessed a single act of aggression or violence. To the contrary, we have witnessed neighbors helping neighbors and friends helping friends and strangers. We've seen neighbors digging in rubble with their bare hands to find survivors. We've seen traditional healers treating the injured; we've seen dignified ceremonies for mass burials and residents patiently waiting under boiling sun with nothing but their few remaining belongings. A crippled city of two million awaits help, medicine, food and water. Most haven't received any.
"Haiti can be proud of its survivors. Their dignity and decency in the face of this tragedy is itself staggering."
Fashion Week Event
Fashion legend, Diane Von Furstenburg hosted Brandaid Project
at her new gallery during Fashion Week in New York on Sept 12th. Vanity Fair magazine, a co-sponsor, invited the New York literati
to 'Masks and Mirrors', Brandaid Project's tribute to the spirit of international fashion.
The great Salman Rushdie was there and he purchased a large Tree of Life sculpture from Croix des Bouquets.
He crossed the room to tell me and asked what significance trees have in the cultural traditions of Vodoun.
I named Papa Grand Bois the patron spirit of all forests and the great source of healing medicines that grow there.
Old groves and trees are frequented by believers as the residences of our ancestors. Candles are lighted in the folds of tree trunks,
gifts are hung from branches, marriages are held beneath their canopy. Old trees are the companions to generations forming a living
link with those who've gone before us. But when we cut down old growth forests we are according to Vodoun making our ancestors
homeless which poses dangers to the living. Mister Rushdie commented that the sacred and mysterious importance of trees is common
to the many cultures of which he has personal experience and we both recalled the chapter ' The War of the Trees' in Robert Graves
book about ancient Druid tree worship called 'The White Goddess'.
It is a great pleasure that part of my work for Brandaid Project is learning about cultural traditions from everywhere.
The artisans we meet and work with are channels for ancient stories that are fascinating as well as valuable.
Cite Soleil
This morning I set out for Cite Soleil to visit Raphael Jean Francois.
This huge slum that snakes along the Port au Prince waterfront for miles is a world unto itself.
Raphael lives in a section called Boston. There are two hundred thousand people in Cite Soleil and one in two or
three hundred have a computer.
Raphael repairs hard discs, keeps them running as long as possible. His hut is ten feet square.
He works outside in the walkway between rows of cinderblock huts. There is a stack of shiny parts, circuit boards and several
teenagers and children watching him work. Raphael has a grade four education but owns many books which he buys in the used book
market in Rue Pavee.
I had been told that he built a helicopter for the annual artisan fair in the Champs de Mars. He invited
me into his hut where I saw a six foot long perfect replica of the white UN choppers that hover over the capital. The body is
made from discarded computer covers. It is very light. He had powered it with an adapted fan motor. It was able to hover about
six inches off the ground.
The day he demonstrated it at the fair the Haitian people were so proud he collected $30 in donations.
Raphael started his career as an artisan making toys for the children of Cite Soleil. Trucks, cars and buses made from tin cans
found at the dump. Pull toys for little boys. The wheels had springs, the steering worked, and the tires were rubber. All of it
recycled material.
Many years ago I had bought one of his creations in the old Iron Market which has since burned to the ground.
It was a small replica of a U.S Army Humvee made from a blue milk tin from France. It was 1994 and the Americans had just invaded
Haiti. I gave it away as a gift and have wanted another one ever since. Today I finally ordered one from Raphael. I paid him in
advance. He said it would be ready tomorrow
Poverty Needs Marketing
BRANDAID Project is a global initiative committed to closing the market divide that isolates thousands of Artisan microenterprises and deprives them of the full value of their creation. BRANDAID Project brings the capabilities of modern marketing, photography, filmmaking and
e-commerce to the hand-made artisan world.
Through collaboration with UNESCO and other global networks of experts BRANDAID PROJECT identifies artisan communities that are Master led and community based. We then create a brand
name, wordmark and positioning for a collection which will represent the best work of a given Master Artisan community. Working with the communities and Masters, we select and buy an entire collection
of their finest, most authentic and representative work. The Collection is then launched on BRANDAID Project’s e-commerce web site supported by a launch event and other celebrity based marketing activities. BRANDAID Project will also market the Collections to select retailers. Artisan communities share in 35% of the profits.
BRANDAID Project also works with the artisans to develop unique collections. By creating partnerships between designers and Master Artisans we are infusing the ancient traditional techniques of artisan communities with contemporary ideas to produce new, original, highly marketable creations.
The First Collection. Croix des Bouquets Metal Sculptures.
Croix des Bouquets is the first Artisan Brand now available
for sale at www.brandaidproject.com. The collection is created
from recycled oil drums by artisans from the community of
Croix des Bouquets – winners of the UNESCO Seal of Excellence.
For decades Haitian artisans have created traditional art inspired by the life of the Haitian people and cultural traditions rooted in
West Africa. Croix des Bouquets Master Artisan Serge Jolimeau describes his creative process and the importance of art:
“I create many mythic creatures from our ancestral teachings. Beings that live in the human imagination such as angels, gods and forces of nature. The Haitian's interior world is very alive with these ideas.(…) If we have something beautiful to show the world it is our art and our heart. “
Diane Lane, Josh Brolin and BRANDAID Project co-founder and Oscar winning director Paul Haggis are patrons of this collection, watch this video to discover more about their involvement and launch event in LA earlier this Spring.
