Creating and Dreaming Big on Bequia

Reflection is the hallmark of a grateful life. At The Hub Collective, we start 2023 looking back on the abundant programming, training, collaborations and opportunities that made last year, truly, one of a kind. Here we share how our activities have aligned with our pillars: Music, the Arts, Culture and Heritage, Healing and the Environment as we continue building on the foundations established to best serve our communities.

We started off 2022 with a focus on the intersections of the Environment, Healing and Heritage through our Bush Medicine Revival (BMR) project by hosting a three-day research trip to mainland St. Vincent. We visited important biodiversity hotspots as well as met with collaborators who shared on the uses of bush medicine and the importance of ecological methods and intergenerational exchange. Of these people were permaculture experts Luke and Alex Punnett of Chatoyer Gardens, who were brought on shortly after as official partners through the design and execution of our Ecological Medicinal Garden in Port Elizabeth.

We initiated with their guidance our first Permablitz, which saw a living fence come to life and first holes dug for fruit trees and hearty medicinals. Chatoyer Gardens routinely visit Bequia to track the garden’s progress and have mapped the central mandala of the garden which is designed to imitate the four compass directions. The East/West axis aligns to the spring and autumn equinoxes. This connects us to the celestial bodies, which reflects the holistic nature of the garden. Through BMR, we also interviewed 12 Elders and other traditional knowledge keepers, as well as began sketching and highlighting over 20 medicinal plants with the support of Vincentian Illustrator Anusha Jiandani. Together with launching our community garden, we will be releasing a documentary and illustrated medicinal guide later this year to bring together this knowledge to be preserved for current and future generations.

Music reverberated within The Hub’s physical and virtual walls all year long, starting with our ‘Higher Vibrations’ music workshop. Ten Bequians from all ages and backgrounds attended biweekly sessions at the Creative Arts Centre. Our Studio started to warm up with “Changes”, a collaborative song written and produced by the workshop graduates. The song is an ode toward overcoming the hardships brought on by the pandemic and the volcanic eruptions in 2021. From the workshop came the selection of our first Music Studio Intern: Dravin Peters who stood out immensely in his dedication to the craft. Dravin is an aspiring songwriter and producer, is currently completing his one-year internship, and recently joined our staff officially as Centre Assistant.

Very excitingly, we also hosted the world-famous Melisizwe Brothers with the financial support of Action Bequia. The Brothers led a full-day music workshop and performed at our intimate and interactive event featuring over a dozen of our Hub performers. Our most recent music projects included holding auditions and weekly rehearsals for our 2023 Positive Vibes Festival (Save the Date: Saturday, February 25th at De Reef!) and collaborating with Devaney on her latest single and music video, “Up From Here”!

Our Healing pillar also saw several activities come to life, including ‘Beam of Hope’: a series of psychosocial workshops and therapy sessions for youth, adults, families and NGO workers, hosted by Barbadian Creative Arts Psychotherapist, Nicollette Williams. She introduced nonverbal techniques in a safe space to begin breaking down walls people experiencing trauma so often put up. The program comprised one-on-one and family counselling, a summer camp for youth, and a training session for staff and other NGO workers across SVG hosted at our Creative Arts Centre. Other psychosocial programs in 2022 included a 4-week Online Listening Circle with Maureen St. Clair and Sobaz Benjamin, and a 3-week “Movement to Feel and Heal” program with Judy Antoine of Grenada.

After a year of planning and shaping our approach to supporting the re-education of youth, with gracious assistance from the Grenadines Initiative and so many of you through our ongoing GlobalGiving Campaign, we were able to produce the inaugural Creative Recovery Summer Camp (CRSC) with facilitators from across the country. CRSC introduced 18 youth to creative activities like drumming, exploring the natural and lived environment, writing, storytelling, dance, painting, yoga, meditation, poetry and drama - culminating with a beautifully received and inspiring Youth Show at De Reef.

Staff training was also a feature of 2022, including a Civil Society Organisation (CSO) Capacity Building virtual training sessions hosted by the SVG Conservation Fund. Attendees included NGOs, like The Hub, youth groups, grassroots organisations, academic groups and others nationwide. These workshops introduced CSOs to ways of increasing organisational knowledge and capacity to more effectively manage and implement projects and programmes. Upon completion of the training, we applied for their linked Environmental and Sustainable Livelihood grant and hope to share the good news soon with our communities.

We rounded off the year with a very timely conversation in collaboration with the SVG Association of Ottawa. ‘The Road Ahead Coming Out of COVID-19: Strengthening the Active Engagement of the Diaspora in Vision and Decision Making’, allowed The Hub’s Leadership to share on the challenges and triumphs encountered as seen through the lens of the value system, pillars and goals of the organisation.

2022 marked the first fully functional year at our Creative Arts Centre, and we are so thrilled to have positively impacted the lives of hundreds of Bequians.

We could not have done it without the generous support of our donors, partners and YOU! And as we gear up for 2023 we are calling in more evolution, growth and community engagement and so look forward to sharing these journeys with you.

Links:

• Bush Medicine Revival
• Creative Recovery Summer Camp
• The Hub Collective Instagram

The last six months since we touched base have been wild, creative and a period of growth and transformation for our organisation. With our eye set on securing $25,000 through our first crowdfunding campaign, today we are under $1000 away from crossing the first finish line and have you, our kind-hearted and big-spirited donors, to lift up in praise and thanks. 

With the COVID variants limiting outreach into our communities, we started to work tactfully with smaller groups and by December, there was excitement in the air as Bequians, Vincentians and visitors alike started to feel more secure and safe to explore again.  

As such, since the start of 2022 things have been in full swing at our Creative Arts Centre. We resumed painting classes for both youth and adults every Tuesday, which continues to be an exciting weekly offering to our public. We launched the Higher Vibrations music program to develop the skills within our community ensuring that the long-term vision of our community radio station can start taking shape along with building a more fortified music studio presence. 

That programme graduated 10 Bequians from all ages and backgrounds who were split into two groups, each attending a total of eight 2-hour sessions. The workshop focused on 3 aspects of music development: song writing, voice training, and recording. Participants were guided to cultivate their music skills, build an understanding of their vocal range and projection abilities, and experience recording in a music studio. The end goal was to create a collaborative song utilising the skills gained and knowledge learned.

Each participant crafted their own lyrics, and sang their respective parts to a beat produced in house. The group titled the song “Changes”, reflecting on the challenging times we continue to live in. While the sessions culminated in early February, our Creative Director continues to offer weekly voluntary classes to the graduates. It is our goal to offer more music workshops as part of our regular programming and help ensure Bequia’s musical talents continue to emerge and flourish. “Changes” is currently being mixed and mastered, and we are all excited for the anticipated release of the song in April!

Due to this workshop being such a success, we are thrilled to announce that we have on boarded a graduate as our inaugural Music Studio Intern for 2022. He is a 21-year-old aspiring songwriter-producer and is a core youth at The Hub, and will be mentored by our Creative Director to hone in and grow his skill set and talents. 

Our Music Studio Intern shares, “I am so thrilled that this is actually happening for real, to have guidance to achieve more musical capability on a professional level. The gift of being given the time to master my craft, in an authentic way without having to prove anything to anyone, feels amazing. This is the first step on my journey to becoming a real musician, songwriter and producer. I look forward to putting Bequia and SVG on the map with multiple genres of music.”

In the coming months as summer approaches we will be preparing to launch our first ever Creative Recovery Summer Camp, bringing much needed activities around play, exploration, healing, learning and knowledge transfer to the youth of Bequia. We are also working to bring on-stream the foundational blocks for our community radio station: researching best equipment and set ups, developing content and programming, and thinking through necessary training needed. 

Thank you to our donors for enabling our organisation to be resourced to do this much needed community work - the engine continues to run!