This Is Me V brings fashion to forefront

The programme has experienced a few manifestations over the years. The first edition took the form of a salon for community co-ordinators as part of Barrow-Maignan’s Fulbright Scholarship project. The second edition found home at Belmont Boys Secondary School, employed artists and used photography as a tool of transformation for at-risk youth. Later, “This Is Me” would return to Belmont to use theatre as yet another transformative tool.

“This Is Me” has also completed projects regionally. In Jamaica, the programme brought together people living with HIV/Aids and students to create a video campaign.

In Haiti, Barrow Maignan partnered with another NGO, Empowered Women International, to work with university students studying tourism and art history to develop businesses based on their training.

Now, the programme returns to Trinidad with its most in-depth intervention to date. Over the next two years, 200 youths in high-need communities in Portof- Spain and environs will have the opportunity to study fashion and entrepreneurship as well as access funding to start their own businesses. The students will also be exposed to life skills education and art therapy.

Barrow Maignan spent almost two years working closely with the Inter-American Development Bank’s Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF) to develop the project for which she serves as manager.

MIF has also sponsored the project through a grant. Since IDB/ MIF grants require that funding is matched for the life of the programme, Caribbean InTransit has also partnered with UTT, Citizens Security Programme, and Nedco’s IBIS programme primarily.

“I wanted to do fashion because it’s something that’s dynamic. Everybody wears fabric. Everybody must be on some level, be able to access that, even if they’re not deeply invested in it they must be able to identify with it on some level and it is a form of art,” Barrow Maignan told the Newsday.

“I think this project addresses some of the major concerns I’ve always had in Trinidad and that was marrying the aspect of the education with entrepreneurship. That’s the kind of gap we’ve seen in the Caribbean. We have this sort of start and stop culture, a train and let loose approach to things, which doesn’t look at the industry as a whole and the value chain that’s required to really make an industry successful.” According to Barrow Maignan, this isn’t just an opportunity to create designers, but also event managers, visual merchandisers, textile manufacturers and other positions and services vital to an industry which, she noted, is burgeoning in the Caribbean.

As part of the application process, potential students must create and submit a video. At the launch, a few of the videos showed young people who’ve already started their journey. Applicant videos showcased design of not only clothing, but also jewelry and even costumes. Those present from the first cohort of students also got to see young designers and entrepreneurs such as Adrian Foster, Harvey Robinson and Delia Alleyne showcase their work and tell their inspiring stories.

The inclusion of video as part of the application process is by no means novel. Video production was made a component of the programme through collaboration producer Lisa Wickham and Imagine Media. The company will also be filming a concurrent TV series which will air on TV6.

Groundbreaking intervention In addition to being the first large-scale “This Is Me” project, the programme also marks a first for IDB interventions in the Caribbean region. MIF senior specialist Vashtie Dookiesingh, one of the IDB representatives who worked with Barrow Maignan on project development, described “This Is Me” as one of the most innovative she’s come across.

“Based on what I’ve seen for the countries I oversee, I have not seen this sort of innovative approach to using art as a mechanism for both life skills and personal development.

This is the first one that will be using the fashion angle and first direct intervention into creative industries, using art as a developmental mechanism,” said Dookiesingh, who has worked for MIF for more than a decade.

Dookiesingh added that the programme met very specific needs of a generation at a crossroads.

“Our countries are at a period of transition. The traditional job and employment opportunities may not fit the interest or aspirations of this generation (of millennials) coming forward. There’s a lot more interest in forging your own destiny and appetite for non-traditional types of livelihood particularly in the creative industries.” For Barrow Maignan, the groundbreaking will come to fruition through the societal change students in the programme create.

“I would like to see students have an online presence through our website and be in conversation with clients overseas. I would like to see our students speaking as ambassadors of the programme. I would like to see them eventually changing the perspective of banks in terms of giving loans because the promise of this group is so great, once they have the mechanisms in place. I really want to see them change the face of the industry and begin to change the face of how society views our high-need youth as well.” The first cohort begins training on Monday.

For more info on “This Is Me V” visit www.caribbeanintransit.com or like the Facebook page: This is Me Global.