Passion and the arts!

Christmas Tree Start Date: Mar 10, 2017 - End Date: Mar 9, 2018
  • Cultural Exchange
  • Educational/Research Trip
  • Professional Development
  • Morocco
  • Hong Kong
  • Shenzhen, Guangdong, China
  • Malaysia
  • Brazil
  • Costa Rica
  • Cuba
  • Portugal

My Travel Story

by: Christmas Tree Start Date: Mar 10, 2017 - End Date: Mar 9, 2018
  • Cultural Exchange
  • Educational/Research Trip
  • Professional Development
We are two friends and project managers (I'm English but I've lived in France for 30 years, my friend is Moroccan, senior audit manager with PwC living in Casablanca) looking to finance a journey that will enable us to:
- visit Hong Kong and Malaysia in order to seal deals I've been working on for the last few years (on which I've used up all my capital getting it together!) to finance the massive, international; socio-polycultural project described briefly below;
- visit Brazil, Costa Rica, Cuba and Portugal on fact-finding missions in order to obtain information on how the project can be tailored for different communities and make the necessary contacts in governments and communities to progress the project to the next stage;
- return to Morocco to start work on the first part of the project.

SO..!

Chronozone is the structure, ALCHIMIE is the goal:

An international, socio-polycultural project with economic and environmental facets involving the creation of arts and artisanal "villages" in strategic places in emerging countries and elsewhere, the organisation of year-round events, annual festivals involving modern culture and sports, fair trade alternative economic and ecological projects to stimulate local economies and encourage transglobal sharing, exchange and promotion of ideas, resources and talent. This project is directed particularly, but not exclusively, at young people in order to provide the basic tools for an alternative, efficient local economy that equally enhances and highlights the arts and culture.

The concept is derived from our conviction that music, art and culture in general are under-employed as means to confront and resolve certain important problems in our society, where a large part of our youth are at best dissatisfied, at worst in distress. We can see, though, that participative access to culture can facilitate personal development, either through an artistic project or as a spectator, and can generate hope, constructive energy and a more positive perspective in daily life. It can also be a gateway to cultural entrepreneurship, a professional choice that is more and more relevant in economic terms, as well as to a host of other art-, culture- or artisanal-related occupations.

The result of our long experience as party and event organisers, along with a good deal of research, honed our decision to bring our concentration to bear, primarily, on a project of renovation and equipment of a decayed, former school to transform it into the first Village des Arts et de l’Artisanat (Arts and Artisanal Village) in Azemmour, Morocco, with the cooperation of the Committee for the renovation of the old Medina, where the Village will be situated, thus infusing both the site and the town with a new vitality.

The Village is destined to become a dynamic, cultural centre, where tourists will come visit, to be entertained and to contribute to the revenue flow; at the same time they will be given the opportunity of establishing closer ties with the country that they have chosen to visit, and its inhabitants, through the numerous cultural activities that will take place and the arts and artisanal products made on site.

It will also harbor, within its walls, local and national associations that fight against and inform about various problems (like AIDS, drug abuse, battered women or sexual tourism) with educational actions, information and prevention taking place. The goal is to create a socio-polycultural network that will dynamise the lives of the young creators who will make the Village live and that of those who visit them, whether Moroccan or foreign, whilst informing objectively of the relevant dangers that can strike a vulnerable population.

We’d also like to create a haven “SOS-Kids”, to which a child or a teenager who needs advice or help can turn. Funds will be available, as much for urgent one-off needs (food, medicine etc .) as for the remuneration of little jobs for those in need, so that they might be given a choice when faced with a dubious proposition by which they might otherwise be tempted, through desperation.

Sport is another federating activity for most children and teenagers. We’ll set up, with the help of local ‘bigger brothers’, a structure that will fund and organize local sports and competitions …

This means, then, creating autonomous spaces, temporary and permanent, dedicated to cultural and social development of youth, in which they can find, resource, inform and fulfill themselves. A fulfilled youth is one who participates constructively in his/her personal evolution as much as in that of their country.

As the project develops we hope to put into place alternative economic and ecological projects which will benefit not only the Village but the entire region.

Regular events and an annual festival will punctuate the year. The events will contribute to a higher profile for the festival and for the project. They’ll also help to raise funds to pay for organizational expenses, research and development, to train our team, to provide opportunities to creators and artists and to try out new ideas.

At the end of a given period, probably several years, the Village is designed to be a working model of financial autonomy that we can perpetuate as a project elsewhere across the country, the continent and the world, thus constituting a network within which exchanges can take place, ideas can be swapped, an international identity forged – without counting on external financial aid.

We’ve reflected on other ideas that would contribute not only to the long-term vision of the festival and the Village but would also create sustainable job opportunities, critical for the economic development of Azemmour. The fair-trade estate agency (see below) is one such idea. Once the Village has become autonomous our energies can be concentrated on other, similar projects in Morocco or elsewhere.

EQUITABLE ESTATE AGENCY
As an example of the imaginative, innovative spirit that we want to facilitate in the socio-economic context of the project, we reflected on Fair Trade and sustainable employment. Noticing the lack of estate agents in Azemmour (although this won’t last long) and the beginning of the rise of property prices in the medina and elsewhere, a community estate agency seemed to us an entirely credible project. With relatively modest material and financial means and a professional staff (trained by a specialist company like Century 21, which offers this training), an agency of this kind would have every chance of succeeding. The mission statement would be :
° Professional property and land sales, at controlled prices, in order to avoid crazy inflation which creates friction and drama within the community and is in nobody’s interests except property developers ;
° Job creation ;
° Profits would be paid into an investment fund specially created to buy and restore property in the medina. In the long term, the fruit of these investments can help to micro-finance individual projects, with emphasis on arts and artisanat.

The creation of such an agency, or any other project, would be preceded by a comprehensive information and consultative process which should earn the confidence of the local population and ensure the adhesion of both local sellers and foreigners (who beware of traditional estate agencies, for good reason).

DJ SCHOOL
To illustrate our intention to help creators become professional, we thought of the DJ, whose art is not only ‘convenient’ in that the logistics and equipment involved are fairly simple and inexpensive, but also has real potential in terms of career.. New technology tends to make access to the world of creation much easier. Nowhere is this better illustrated than with the DJ. A small amount of equipment and facilities will satisfy - delight! – young people who already possess a large amount of motivation, enthusiasm and will. There are a number of national and international professional DJs with whom we are in contact who would be happy to come and share their knowledge in a cultural/educational context. At the same time, the visit of such a DJ would give us the opportunity of organizing a concert, another fine opportunity to fine-tune our professionalism – and to gather the financial fruit, for the same objectives as for any of these actions.

In including the establishment of this school in the Alchimie project we’re hoping to create a greenhouse of young, Moroccan talent: young, gifted musicians who will feed our in-house events and who, with these opportunities, will acquire visibility and, when established, the possibility to earn a living.

This is just a brief outline, with a few examples, of a complex and ambitious project. This is a project that can be tailored to the particular needs and desires of any community wherever they are - and which has massive potential in a plethora of varied ways. We would very appreciate your support and thank you for it in advance!
  • Morocco
  • Hong Kong
  • Shenzhen, Guangdong, China
  • Malaysia
  • Brazil
  • Costa Rica
  • Cuba
  • Portugal