Caribbean leaders from across the diaspora joined together for a celebratory night of heritage and leadership at Island SPACE Caribbean Museum on March 8. Eight consuls general from across the Caribbean and India, as well as Broward County Commissioner Dale Holness and a number of business leaders, convened at the museum — the first Caribbean heritage museum in the western hemisphere.
This marks the first in-person meeting of the current Caribbean consular cohort. Present were Dean of the Consular Corps Gilbert Boustany of Antigua and Barbuda, and Consuls General R. Oliver Mair of Jamaica, Linda Mackey of The Bahamas, Neval Greenidge of Barbados, Tassa Jean of St. Lucia, Stéphane Gilles of Haiti, Dianne Perrotte of Grenada (deputy), and visiting from Atlanta, Georgia, Asim Kumar of India.
Gilles presented Island SPACE with a $5,000 donation in support of the museum’s programming and development. “The consular corps are invaluable partners in executing our mission,” said the nonprofit’s Executive Director Calibe Thompson, “We appreciate their commitment to supporting Island SPACE Caribbean Museum, and their decision to visit with us for the first gathering of their cohort. We were very grateful and pleasantly surprised by this contribution from Mr Gilles on behalf of the Haitian Consulate in Miami.”
“This meeting embodied the museum’s motto ‘Island SPACE, a place where Caribbean cultures unite,’” said Mair. “We are all invested in the success of this organization, and strongly believe it will positively impact our individual and collective constituents.”
At a socially distant, informal round table, Holness championed partnerships in infrastructure, trade and commerce between the Caribbean and Broward County. Topics of conversation included local and regional development and the establishment of a world trade center within the county.
Launched in 2020, Island Society for the Promotion of Artistic and Cultural Education (Island SPACE) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to the advancement of arts, culture, history, and educational initiatives that represent the Caribbean region, in South Florida and the broader diaspora community.
Island SPACE Caribbean Museum, located in Plantation, Fla., is open Thursdays through Saturdays from 11:00a.m. through 7:00p.m. and Sundays from 11:00a.m. to 6:00 p.m. General entry fees are $10 per adult and $5 per child.
