Arts & Culture
Our Mission in Arts & Culture
Sons and Daughters of Haiti (SNDhaiti) preserves and promotes Haitian culture through music, film, literature, visual arts, and community storytelling initiatives. We work to keep Haitian traditions alive, support the artists who carry them, and share that heritage with the world.
We support the creators and traditions that define Haitian identity, from the sacred bowl of Soup Joumou that marks Haitian Independence Day each January 1st, to the handcrafted artisans whose work carries centuries of visual history, to the spiritual architecture of Haiti’s Black Church communities. Each project under this pillar is both an artistic celebration and an act of cultural reclamation.
Objectives
Preserve Haitian cultural heritage
Protect and pass on the traditions, stories, and practices that define Haitian identity.
Support Artists and Creators
Provide platforms and resources for Haitian musicians, filmmakers, writers, and visual artists.
Promote Haitian Music and Arts Globally
Bring Haitian creative work to international audiences and cultural spaces.
Strengthen Cultural Identity Across Generations
Connect youth and diaspora communities to their Haitian roots through shared culture.
Global Exhibition
Create platforms for Haitian artistic expression in international cultural spaces, galleries, festivals, museums, and diaspora events.
Youth & Cultural Education
Integrate Haitian arts and cultural history into youth programming so the next generation inherits pride, not just a name.
Projects in This Area
The Black Church
In 1955 Chicago, a Jewish accountant and a Baptist reverend risk everything to quietly support the early civil rights movement.... Join the Coding Sam Community...
A Haitian Christmas
When a 13-year-old asks for a Christmas mission trip to Haiti instead of gifts, her strained family travels to Cap-Haïtien and is forced to rediscover...
Soup Joumou
After learning on her mother’s deathbed that she was adopted from Haiti, a Chicago professor travels to Cap-Haïtien to confront the family, history, and silence...
Custom Haiti-shaped guitar
This initiative is a large-scale community development project based in Haiti. It focuses on building inclusive public spaces that support both social and economic progress....
Impact Goals
Increase visibility of Haitian artists
Working with community elders, cultural practitioners, and diaspora members to record and preserve what cannot be replaced.
Create cultural programming in Haiti and the diaspora
Direct financial support through project commissions, exhibition fees, and product sales that put money directly in creators' hands.
Support youth engagement through arts education
Bringing Haitians together on January 1st in Miami, Montreal, Paris, New York, and Port-au-Prince to celebrate and document the living tradition.
Place Haitian art in 3 international gallery exhibitions
Partner with galleries in New York, Paris, and the Caribbean to exhibit contemporary Haitian work alongside its historical and cultural context.
Reach 5,000 youth through cultural education programming
In-school and after-school programmes in Haiti and diaspora cities that introduce young people to Haitian art, music, and cultural history.
Opportunities
Sponsorship
Artist partnerships
Cultural programming
Volunteer opportunities
From the Field
