WARE Collective gets prestigious international award for living museum

Jamaica has again stepped onto the world stage with an international award presented to the Wattle and Red Earth (WARE) Collective for its innovative concept of an ‘open-air living museum’ in St Elizabeth.

The Ilucidare Challenge 2022 Award, funded under a European Union grant programme, was recently presented to the WARE Collective’s Executive Officer Georgia Love at a ceremony in Brussels, Belgium.

According to Love, there was a call for entries and her organisation submitted a 10-page proposal of an open-air museum in Jamaica as a heritage-led innovation. She said such a museum concept is new to the Caribbean region, but well known in Europe.

“This project is visionary in our regional context,” she said.

According to Love, winning the challenge provides visibility for the Jamaican project in a space with international researchers, academics and, to some degree, funders.

“Ilucidare is a consortium of heritage professionals who want to promote heritage as an important driver for responding to contemporary needs. Although the group is Europe-focused, it used activities like the challenge to broaden international connections and bridge the silos that can happen in the heritage sector,” said Love.

FUNDS RAISED ONLINE

Last year, the WARE Collective raised funds from an online art auction featuring over 100 masterpieces from leading Jamaican and Caribbean artists. The funds raised will be used to restore and reassemble a Spanish Wall building that will be the first structure for the living museum.

Love said the reassembly of the house is set to begin in June or July this year in Southfield, St Elizabeth. “We are picking up the pace. Once the building is reassembled, we will shift gears to make the living museum operational. Until then, the WARE Collective’s heritage education programme continues with support from the CB Facey Foundation, which is the main funder for this year’s arts and heritage summer camp. We are excited for the children to see some of the reassembly process. The camp teaches children, ages seven to 11, about traditional building methods and crafts distinctive to St Elizabeth and Jamaica. The summer camp also emphasises literacy and intangible cultural practices, including storytelling,” said Love.

The participants in the summer camp will be expected to apply their knowledge to creating projects at the end of the session, which will be judged for prizes.

For more information on the WARE Collective visit its website www.thewarecollective.com, or email thewarecollective@gmail.com.