Haiti's Talented Artists Touch the World
USAID FrontLines - July 2009

Port-Au-Prince, Haiti—Music and art are part of the fabric of life in Haiti, whose creations are found in galleries of world capitals and sold on street corners of Port-au-Prince. Oil paintings, wood carvings, metal sculptures, Compás music. They all grow out of the long history of African and Caribbean influences nurtured over the centuries.

Haitian painting depicting the nation’s colorful tropical landscape.
Haitian painting depicting the nation’s colorful tropical landscape.
A riot of colors is everywhere.

They adorn the Tap-Tap painted trucks that transport Haitians through crowded streets. A kaleidoscope of art and messages abound with whimsy as well as religious themes as murals on dilapidated walls left by anonymous artists.

Music of Haiti and its Caribbean region has shaped the world’s tastes. It is always in the background in Haiti but emerges in its own right mostly at night, when the noises of the day diminish.

To tap into the creative talent of Haiti and use it as a catalyst for economic growth, USAID has partnered with Aid to Artisans (ATA), spreading Haitian art and music beyond this island nation.

Einstein Albert’s woodworking skill in crafting bowls has found outlets in such high-end retailers as Nieman Marcus. He is one of many who benefitted from an ATA/USAID grant.

When asked how he got his name, Albert smiled in anticipation of the question. He came from a family of musically talented siblings.

He was the last child and his parents thought his name would destine him for celebrity.

This was perhaps not a matter of pure whimsy since high schools on the island have been named after John Paul Sartre, Sir Isaac Newton, and Immanuel Kant. Applying the names of geniuses may be seen as a way to encourage genius.

Albert uses the wood from the obeechi tree for his bowls and has a plantation of 22,000 trees to sustain his enterprise.

“Obeechi is a soft wood,” he explains, “so it can’t be used for charcoal.” It is also a fast growing tree that makes it ideal for soil reclamation and redeeming the deforested hillsides that afflict so many people with mud slides, flooding, and erosion.

He would like to see the tree more widely planted and exploited for commercial purposes—furniture making, for example.

The Haiti MarChe Project builds local skills and links producers with regional and international buyers. Those links were severely damaged when the United States imposed a comprehensive trade embargo on Haiti in the 1990s to force a return to constitutional government.

Small scale exporters were devastated, Albert said.

MarChe also targeted the tourism sector by getting local talent better known in hotels and resorts throughout the region.

Over the past 10 years, ATA efforts have produced $230 million in retail sales, helping 125,000 artisans—70 percent of whom are women—sell products in 41 regions of the world. ? —J.W.