G27, Jacmel

Submitted by admin on Wed, 12/05/2012 - 20:03

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A cooperative that brings over 27 artisans workshops from across Jacmel together to share overhead, increase visibility, promote Jacmel's rich culture, and teach youth how to be artisans

 
Jacmel is the cultural heart of Haiti, symbolic home to Haiti’s poets, painters, musicians, and artists. But Jacmel is truly synonymous with one thing: artisans. Jacmel’s narrow streets are covered in tiny artisan workshops, where everything from ironwork to painted kalbas to hand-made jewelry are sold. Jacmel’s artisans are most famous for their paper-maché work, and its Carnival every year is a parade of giant paper-maché figures. But because there are so many artisans in Jacmel, many times they struggle to make their works visible, to sell them for good prices, or to get a treasured space in the Carnival.
 
G27 stands for “group of 27”, because initially it was a collection of 27 different artisans workshops from across Jacmel (the cooperative now has many more members) that was founded in 2009. They each have their individual workshops, but they share a common space where the paintings are sold by a member of the cooperative. The cooperative does quality-control on what goes into the shop to ensure that everything being sold is high quality. They say this is both good for the cooperative’s sales, but also is protecting and promoting Jacmel’s culture. As a group they can also better advocate for their needs, such as getting subsidies for or prominent places in Jacmel’s famous Carnival. G27 also had a small project with UNESCO recently, where they used the upstairs part of their building to teach youth from across Jacmel how to carry on the artisan tradition of the city.
Download full report (in english): 
PDF icon artisans (1).pdf
GPS coordinates: 
Primary contact: 
Blaise Elie:37929977
English

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Commune: 
Jacmel
Partners: 
UNESCO