The show is a contemplation of interpersonal relationships between citizens and between states and their constituents and ways humans interact with the environment. Lindsay, Woods, Mattai, and Tilala Fall celebrate Afro Caribbean, Indo-Caribbean, African American, and African identities. They weave elements of Trinidadian, South Carolinian, East Indian, and Senegalese material culture into their celebratory narratives. Davis, Myung-Sik, Tosari, Yantis, Métura, Holder, and Arrate Hechavarria focus on the correlation between nature and creativeness. They praise the ecosystem for providing and inspiring.

This year DVCAI inaugurated a new destination, Bermuda. Throughout our exchanges with Bermudians across the socio- economic spectrum they defined themselves by referring to the Atlantic World Experience. What constitute the Bermudian iden- tity? Bermuda is an island, but it is not in the Caribbean. Many islanders have lived, studied, or travelled to North America. They do so regularly. The closest land mass to Bermuda is North Caro- lina but the island is not American or Canadian. Bermuda is part of the British Commonwealth but it’s not in the UK. Many citizens have an American or Canadian accent. Some sound British. This positions the place in a unique situation.

Inter | Sectionality: Diaspora Art from the Creole City is a bold, multidisciplinary curatorial collaboration and exploration of the emergence of the “Creole City” as a local, regional and global phenomenon. Internationally recognized curators Sanjit Sethi, president, Minneapolis College of Art and Design and former director of the Corcoran School of the Arts and Design, and Rosie Gordon-Wallace, founder and curator of Diaspora Vibe Cultural Arts Incubator (DVCAI), have designed this collaboration to provide a lens through which communities and community leaders internationally can begin to better understand themselves, their diversity and their unlimited possibilities.

From Thursday, March 30 – April 8, 2023, Readytex Art Gallery in Paramaribo Suriname will host an International Cultural Exchange Project (ICEP) in association with Diaspora Vibe Cultural Arts Incubator of Miami, Florida. This is a unique experience, in which artists from diverse backgrounds, working in various media, converge to explore the concept of ‘cultural Diaspora’, intellectually and creatively. This is the 24th exchange organized by Diaspora Vibe Cultural Arts Incubator, and it is the third exchange with Suriname, as the host country. We welcome the partnership with Readytex Art Gallery.

Chromatic Cogitations. Rhythm Reboot, a group exhibition at RedLine Contemporary Art Center, is the result of a year-long conversation and exploration between past and present RedLine resident artists. Contemplating color and cadence, the exhibition reveals similarities between seemingly disparate artists working within an engaged creative space, RedLine, while emerging from the disruption of a global pandemic. The curatorial vision for the group exhibition Chromatic Cogitations, Rhythm Reboot is one of unity and connection, where the singular works by RedLine artists converge into non-traditional exhibition zones. Visitors are encouraged to navigate the space as a singular encounter, forming their own narrative about the selection and placement of artworks while being energetically uplifted by synergistic colors, sounds, voices, rhythms, movements, and performances in this community-centric cultural space.

For the past year and a half, the pandemic has wreaked havoc on the arts and culture landscape, causing organizations to close or limit their operations as stated by Greg Guibert and Iain Hyde in their report. Consequently, to stay relevant and more importantly solvent institutions and artists have had to adapt and innovate. It is in this challenging context that DVCIA implemented its 2021 International Cultural Exchange program to Panama. The relevance of the destination is significant at different levels. The country shares part of its history with the US. Firstly, after the failed attempt by the French, the United States took over the construction of the Panama Canal which they successfully completed a decade later. Secondly, in 1989, the US army invaded Panama and overthrew the military leader Manuel Noriega, who incidentally had been recruited and trained by the CIA. Thirdly, the country constitutes a landbrige connecting the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean, linking North and South America.

Traveling to Guadeloupe for the third time provided some insight into the geography of the art and culture landscape on the island both literally and figuratively. The landmass has the shape of a butterfly with the two wings separated by a body of water, the Riv- ière Salée. From our base at the tip of the east side of the archipelago, we drove to artists’ studios, art galleries, cultural centers, museums, and organizations’ headquarters across the land. As we engaged a new pool of artists and collaborated with entities different than in 2015 and 2017, we acknowledged the diversity of working ar- rangements and the variety of exhibition and conservation centers. Also, our innovative collaboration with the art association Agence Kultur’Tour led to a pop-up art gallery/museum experiment. The partnership fostered a deeper reflection on the animation of public places in a/the Caribbean context.

In spring 2022, DCVAI returned to Belize for the second International Cultural Exchange. Participants were encouraged to write a journal, fill out a pre- and post-departure questionnaire, as well as write a reflective essay upon their return to the US.

Fed up with the continuing violence and racism in America, Hugh and Keryl, a Black couple with two teenage children, decide that it is time to leave the country. Spurred on by the presidential election of 2016, they begin to make plans to move to Hugh’s ancestral home, the island of Barbados. The family’s search for a space where there is a Black majority, Black leadership and Black power has been ongoing, taking them to and thru Atlanta Georgia, where the dangers of the day become apparent to Xavian, their son, as he joins the protests in the “Black Lives Matter” Movement, after he is the victim of a racially motivated attack. Barbados will be their final move as each struggle with identity, place and purpose. Preparations for the move take much longer than anticipated, and the family find themselves making their move in the middle of a pandemic and with a pending second term of Donald J. Trump. Feeling the urgency of the moment, they wind up in quarantine on the island as they navigate the cultural, economic, educational and generational shifts that they encounter.

Our International Cultural Arts Exchange Series extends the “creative space” beyond Miami. DVCAI has been organizing and curating ex- change projects since 1999, generally consisting of one-week to one- month exhibitions, residencies, studio visits, and a weekend program of seminars and workshops. Host countries have included St. Kitts, Dominican Republic, Aruba, Jamaica, Grenada, Barbados, Antigua and Suriname. Since its inception, Diaspora Vibe has taken over two hundred and seventy African American, Latino, and Caribbean artists abroad for residencies and exhibitions. This interaction nourishes our artists and contributes to the development of more mature and compelling work, here in our community.

Our International Cultural Arts Exchange Series extends the “creative space” beyond Miami. DVCAI has been organizing and curating exchange projects since 1999, generally consisting of one-week to one-month exhibitions, residencies, studio visits, and a weekend program of seminars and workshops. Host countries have included St. Kitts, Dominican Republic, Aruba, Jamaica, Grenada, Barbados, Antigua and Suriname. Since its inception, Diaspora Vibe has taken over two hundred and seventy African American, Latino, and Caribbean artists abroad for residencies and exhibitions. This interaction nourishes our artists and contributes to the development of more mature and compelling work, here in our community.

This year, our first International Cultural Exchange to Belize took its inspiration from the country’s motto “Sub Umbra Florero” meaning “under the shade we/I flourish.” According to the Encyclopedia Britannicus, “the Latin motto is a reference to the area’s forest and its establishment as colony under British protection.” While we visited the Image Factory Art Foundation gallery space in the heart of Belize City, its co-founder Yasser Musa stated in his introductory remarks, “Belize has 9,000 years of art practice.” It was a reminder that Belize was the center of Maya civilization. The Maya developed astronomy, calendrical systems and hieroglyphic writing. They were also known for elaborate and highly decorated ceremonial architecture, including temples, palaces and observatories. The Maya were equally skilled as weavers and potters and cleared routes through the jungles and swamps to establish trade networks with distant people.