The platform encourages the exchange of thought-provoking ideas and works within a vibrant community.
The platform encourages the exchange of thought-provoking ideas and works within a vibrant community.
The platform encourages the exchange of thought-provoking ideas and works within a vibrant community.
Caribbean InTransit is an arts education and ecosystem non-profit registered in Trinidad & Tobago and the US. Over the last 13 + years, Caribbean InTransit has fostered relationships in more than 21 countries across the Caribbean; in addition to the US; and Africa since 2016 executing more than 30 projects.
Collaborating with international agencies such as UNESCO, UN Women, Inter-American Development Bank, Smithsonian Center for Folklife & Cultural Heritage, and the Organization of American States, Washington DC; Ministry of Planning and Sustainability and Ministry of Culture, Youth and Community Development Trinidad & Tobago, National Art Gallery of Jamaica, National Art Gallery of the Bahamas, National Museum of Trinidad & Tobago and University of the West Indies, Rutgers University, American University, University of Haiti (IERAH) and numerous non-profits across the region and beyond.
Caribbean InTransit is a critical Meeting Place for social change through creativity and a showcase for Caribbean Creatives in the visual, culinary, performing and literary arts and architecture. As a site of learning, our programming since 2013 has included the Caribbean InTransit Arts Journal multi-lingual, open access, peer-reviewed journal (7 editions); a The Meeting Place Festival –hybrid roving arts festival (4 editions), This is ME- a creative entrepreneurship series targeting at-risk youth (5 editions), and persons living with HIV/Aids; the InSitu branch for research and collaboration (4 editions); and since 2022 an ecosystem platform that hosts courses, events and social engagement with a pilot Synapse Ecosystem Incubator – aCreative Entrepreneurship Incubator hosted. Our new platform is like a Linkedin for Creatives,…. Our initiatives are COLLABORATIVE, MULTI-LINGUAL, HYBRID and ROVING
We work with a community of scholars, cultural producers, students, entrepreneurs, activists, policy makers and businesses to cultivate a union between entrepreneurship and artistry, and create conversations that are important to the forward movement of the Caribbean and the Diaspora. We achieve our goals through strategic partnerships and collaborations harnessing the transversal nature of the Creative Industries- our intersectoral linkages include Tourism, Education, Urban Planning, Agriculture, Social Justice and Environmental sustainability .
The Caribbean InTransit team has spanned more than 30 professionals across 13 countries in the US, Europe and the Caribbean while programming and partnerships has extended across 17 Caribbean Countries, Africa and the US. Addressing concerns of high inter-island travel costs; language barriers and high youth unemployment, our transnational approach facilitates multi-lingual, transnational and intersectoral teams.
Our enterprise includes the Caribbean InTransit internal team; the Journal Editorial Team; The Caribbean InTransit Consortium; and the Caribbean InTransit Caribbean Board.
Dr. Barrow Maignan is a Fulbright Scholar, Social Entrepreneur, Arts Management Consultant and Visual Artist. Her passion and vocation are to realize real social transformation through arts-based socio-economic interventions. She has worked across the Caribbean, in the US and Africa in cultural programming and as a consultant in the Creative Industries for the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), CARICOM and Broward County Florida. She founded Caribbean InTransit in 2010, a non-profit with a volunteer team of more than 33 professionals operating across 13 countries spearheading the production of an open-access peer-reviewed journal, arts festivals, research projects and the This is ME program.
Dr. Marielle Barrow Maignan served as Coordinator of a Cultural and Creative Industries Innovation Fund at a Development Bank from 2018- 2021. She led a an impressive team of motivated professionals which developed and coordinated programming for the bank’s 19 Borrowing Member Countries including design of programming, managing grantee projects, engagement with a range of stakeholders and mobilizing additional resources for the fund.
Dr. Barrow- Maignan spearheaded the inception of the Cultural and Creative Industries Innovation Fund at the Caribbean Development Bank transforming the fund into a program that executed over 8 accelerators in multiple sub-sectors across CDB’s 19 Borrowing Member Countries leading to university programs in at least 7 institutions across 5 countries. Sub-sector accelerators included Festivals and Carnivals (2), Festival Tourism, Data Collection with a focus on Intellectual Property, Music, Animation and Gaming, Film, Visual Arts (2) and Fashion (2). Establishing the CIIF Community of Practice Guidelines as an intellectual policy based policy to guide interactions, she introduced a range of Knowledge Products including Creative Industry Profiles for 10 countries, Intellectual Property Toolkits by sub-sector, as well as a panel series, CIIF Creative Talk and CIIF Connect Events.
Dr. Brett Pyper,
Associate Professor at Witerswand University
Dr. Brett Pyper is an Associate Professor at the Wits School of Arts, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. He is a South African cultural practitioner, arts administrator, festival director, music researcher, and academic with over thirty years of experience advancing and studying the country’s transitions in the arts.
Dr. Pyper holds a BA, BAHons, MA, and PhD from New York University.
He began his career as a facilitator of developmental music projects during the transition from apartheid before taking up a Fulbright scholarship to study in the U.S. He earned Master’s degrees from Emory University (in Public Culture) and New York University (in Ethnomusicology and Popular Music Studies), and was awarded his PhD by NYU in 2014.
Between 2005 and 2007, Dr. Pyper headed the Division of Heritage Studies and Cultural Management in the Wits School of Arts, incorporating the Centre for Cultural Policy and Management. From 2008 to 2013, he served as CEO of the Klein Karoo National Arts Festival (Absa KKNK), one of South Africa’s major festivals of art, popular, and vernacular culture.
His interdisciplinary approach combines critical arts practice with academic study at local, national, and international levels, contributing significantly to the understanding and development of South African arts and culture
The Caribbean is brimming with creators and entrepreneurs ready to turn bold ideas into world-shaping ventures, but the journey to success is full of obstacles. Synapse is here to break down those barriers. We are more than a platform—we are a launchpad for your creative ambitions, giving you access to the resources, networks, and funding opportunities you need to scale your vision.
Whether you’re seeking to collaborate, learn new skills, or secure funding for your next big project, Synapse puts you at the center of opportunity.
Have questions or need assistance? Our team is here to help you with anything you need. Reach out today and let’s connect!
202 765 9742
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