The Transcultura Programme launches a unique opportunity for Caribbean musicians and music professionals
The joint UNESCO-European Union initiative Transcultura: Integrating Cuba, the Caribbean and the European Union through Culture and Creativity has built a strategic alliance with the World Music Expo – WOMEX, aimed at providing new international market access opportunities for Caribbean musicians and music professionals within the Programme’s geographic scope of the 17 Member States of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), the Caribbean Forum (CARIFORUM) and the Organization of the Eastern Caribbean States (OECS): Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Cuba, Dominica, the Dominican Republic, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Montserrat, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago.
Transcultura, a Programme funded by the European Union, will cover international travel expenses of up to three selected music projects (either individuals, duets or bands). This year WOMEX will be held in the city of Porto, Portugal from October 26 to 31. Transcultura will also facilitate free access to the online showcases’ application process on the WOMEX portal to the first 100 showcase applications within the 17 eligible countries listed above.
Due to economic constraints, Caribbean musicians have been underrepresented at WOMEX, the most international music meeting in the world and the biggest conference of the global music scene, featuring a trade fair, talks, films and showcase concerts. Therefore, Transcultura is launching this initiative to serve as a cultural bridge between the Caribbean Cultural and Creative Sectors and WOMEX, to ensure a more integrated, regular and far-reaching presence of the Caribbean in its simultaneous and multiple activities.
The COVID-19 pandemic has not curbed the creative output of Caribbean musicians and music professionals, who have shown, with innovative and bold strategies, the resilience of their art and have transformed the music ecosystem in the region into a powerful source of spiritual health and recovery.
This call seeks to empower talented Caribbean musicians and music professionals as agents for sustainable development by facilitating their active participation in international exchanges. It aims at creating interregional networks to enhance complementarity and knowledge sharing thereby strengthening entrepreneurship and innovation; fostering integration in the arts and culture sectors and promoting understanding of shared intercultural values.