KINGSTON, Jamaica - Pulse Investments Limited, organizers of Caribbean Fashionweek (CFW) launched its 10th anniversary this month at the Pulse Centre in Kingston, Jamaica. Government officials, diplomats, sponsors, business executives, fashion designers, models and press were in attendance at the cocktail reception.
Addressing the launch, CEO Kingsley Cooper highlighted the development and success of Caribbean Fashionweek over the years, as well as its function as a major catalyst for growth in the regional fashion industry. Cooper also used the opportunity at the forum to announce the company’s newest creative industry initiative – ‘The Haiti Art and Fashion Project.’
The Haiti Art and Fashion Project, spearheaded by the Pulse Foundation with the support of Caribbean Fashionweek (CFW), The Caribbean Fashion Industry Association (CAFIA) and participating art, music and fashion industry entities in the region, will support the rehabilitation and further development of Haiti’s creative arts, fashion and business industries, “Haiti’s art, fashion, craft, music and other creative products are among the best in the world and are mainstays of the income of many everyday
Haitians. With the occurrence of the devastating earthquake, Haiti’s creative business, like so much else in that Caribbean nation has been badly hit.
The Haiti Art & Fashion Project is therefore intended to give these creative businesses - large and small, support in their rehabilitation and reconstruction, as well as their further development” said Cooper.
As a Caribbean based and organized initiative, the Project will focus on medium to long term reconstruction and development of Haiti’s creative arts and business sector and will be managed by the Pulse Foundation headed by Jamaican entrepreneur, Artist and Honorary Consular to Lithuania, Mrs. Lois Lake Sherwood. Mrs. Sherwood, who is of Haitian and Jamaican descent, has chaired the Pulse Foundation since its inception six years ago and will work alongside the Board of Trustees which includes Mr. Jeffery Cobham and Ms. Myrtha Desulme.
The Foundation will also include representatives of the Haitian government and members of its creative industries.
Mr. Cobham, a well known career banker, is a Director of a number of listed Jamaican companies.
He is currently a member of the Board of the National Gallery of Jamaica and is Chairman of the National Dance Theatre Company of Jamaica and has previously served as Chairman of the Edna Manley College of the Visual & Performing Arts. Myrtha Desulme is President of the Haiti-Jamaica Society. She currently resides in Jamaica and is very vocal on social issues and matters relevant to her native country and Jamaica.
Supporting Mrs. Sherwood and the Board will also be the Caribbean Fashion Industry Association (CAFIA), a body of regional entities with membership in the French, Spanish, Dutch and English Caribbean aimed at unifying the regional fashion industry and aiding its development. Cooper, who is also the head of CAFIA, outlined that the Pulse Foundation intends to work in tandem with several regional organizations including Caricom as well as major international creative industry players and the official international body charged with the responsibility of planning the long term reconstruction of Haiti.
Initial responses from Caricom have been positive, although a formal process will have to pursued for endorsement of the Project by that body.
Confirming their support while participating in the launch were the Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports, The Honourable Olivia Grange; Haitian trained fine arts painter, Honorary Consular to Lithuania and Chairman of the Pulse Foundation, Mrs. Lois Sherwood; Haitian Charge D’Affairs, Max Alcie; President of the Haiti-Jamaica Society Myrtha Desulme and Jamaica Trade and Invest (JTI) President, Mrs. Sancia Bennett-Templer.
Mrs. Bennett-Templer, has been at the JTI since 2006 and has also served as chief executive officer of the National Planning Summit Monitoring Unit in the Office of the Prime Minister. As the current president of the JTI/JAMPRO, she pledged her organization’s continuous support of Pulse ventures, especially Caribbean Fashionweek, citing the collaborations as inventive and having a positive impact on ‘Brand Jamaica’.
In her address, Minister Grange also commended the Pulse team for its continued innovations and initiatives aimed at the further development of the creative industries not only in Jamaica but also in the wider Caribbean.
She also noted that CFW was an excellent vehicle for such an initiative. She indicated the Government’s strong support of the Haiti Art & Fashion Project. Caribbean Fashionweek (CFW) will make this Haiti Project a key aspect of the event over the next 3 years and have pledged 100% of the proceeds of one night of shows and activities towards the Project.
The tenth renewal of CFW will be staged this June 8-14 in Kingston, Jamaica and over the years has become a firm fixture on fashion calendars. On average, more than 50 designers from over 20 countries show each year including representatives from French, English, Spanish and Dutch Caribbean, as well as Africa, Europe, North and South America, Central America and Asia,
The event has also attracted the Hollywood A-List such as R&B Diva Kelly Rowland, Actresses Nia Long and Vanessa Williams, Rapper Eve, International Producer Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry, as well as major media entities such as Vogue, Fashion TV Paris, The New York Times, Associated Press, WE TV among others.
