Made in JA

Teaching Art and Entrepreneurship  to the youth of JAMAICA

Despite economic growth in recent years, Jamaica has major social problems, widespread poverty and widespread gang crime.
Its hard to get food on the table for families in ghetto areas in Jamaica and some kids go hungry to school and tend to criminality and gangs activities to support their family. 

I wanna change that. By teaching craftmanship and entrepreneurship i will give thi kids the possibility to use their hands and creative mind to get food on the table.

Two whole-day workshops in two cities of Jamaica, one in Linstead and one in Kingston, teaching the youth ART, street art, painting techniques, how to live off doing art, entrepreneurship and social media strategy. The first workshop 15. dec in Lindstead and the second workshop 21. dec in Kingston

At the end of the workshop we will co-paint a wall in the community where the workshop was held to remind and inspire the youth with their own art. We will use the techniques learned and every youth will make their mark on the wall. 

Organizer and teacher
My name is Birgitta Fontel i am the owner of the company Made in JA, Creative director at the Swedish Reggae Festival Öland Roots, lead designer at a Danish textile company and an artist in my free time. I have over 16 years of experience in Graffiti and Street art and many years of experience from teaching art at youth schools and clubs. I have a master degree in Industrial Design and have been doing big succesfull projects with culture and art for many years. I has been traveling in Jamaica 5 times every time between 3 and 4 weeks, doing art, teaching my art skills and learning about the culture.

At the workshops i will be working together with local artists in Lindstead and in Kingston artist from Life Yard. 

Life Yard is one of the primal collaborators of the workshop in Kingston  and is a community based organisation as well as social enterprise in the heart of downtown Kingston . They run a perma-culture urban farm, a restaurant, juice bar and education workshops for the local kids in their community. 

Funds raised will be used to pay the Jamaican artist who will co teach and used to buy local materials like paint, brushes, paper, pens and other tools that the particpaters of the workshop can keep to keep practice the skills they have learned. 

The aim of these kind of workshops is to give the youth a skill that they can refine and make their own. With that, the opportunity to to create a business and support them self and their family with an income.  The skills and possibility to a better life.

Jamaican Artist and materials
Its important to use local skills and local materials so that when you are not longer present in the country the people can keep practice the skills and develop and start a business.

Made in JA is a organisation who specialize in making cultural events in Europe and Jamaica with intercultural exchanges. 
After doing small pilot projects in Jamaica, these workshops are the first big events and are the building stone to do more events and start up programmes to support the young growing artists of Jamaica. 

In Scandinavia, Made in Jamaica has the last two years been supporting Jamaican culture by bringing over Artist and Dancers and arranged workshops and concerts through Linkup INTL and Öland Roots and independent with dancers;  Rifical gage, Srilanka, Godzilla, Mardz Kriptic and many more. 

To follow the journery and to get more information follow: Made in JA on Facebook  &  Made in JA on Instagram 

Learn more about  Life Yard Jamaica 

Do you have questions, want to support, sponsor or collaborate please contact us, nothing to big or to small.