Sosyete Koukouy -History

Established in 1985, Sosyete Koukouy, Inc. (Sos*ye*te Koo*Kouy), is dedicated to preserving Haitian culture in the United States through education and arts and cultural presentations. Its mission is to preserve, perpetuate and present, Haitian cultural performances and exhibitions, to Creole and non-Creole speaking audiences. In support of that mission, Sosyete Koukouy presents and produces cultural programs that: increase awareness of Haitian people, its language, rituals and traditions, and its deep roots in the African continent; foster greater understanding between Hatian people and people of other diverse ethnicities, cultures and heritage; and foster respect for the arts and artists of Haiti and the Americas by raising awareness of their historical and artistic contributions to the national and international cultural landscape. As performers and presenters of Haitian folkloric and contemporary dance, music, theatre and literary arts, Sosyete Koukouy, Inc. produces and presents its projects primarily in South Florida with tours throughout the United States, Caribbean, Haiti and Canada, where high concentrations of Haitian people reside. It is nationally recognized as an essential resource and repository of Haitian cultural information for academians, artists, linguists, and others seeking information about Haitian culture, politics and language. Sosyete Koukouy advocates and supports the importance, potential and impact of Haitian culture as a vehicle for social, cultural, economic development and empowerment of Haitian people for successful assimilation into American culture.

As a repertory company of 60 Haitian singers, dancers, actors and writers, Sosyete Koukouy, has spun off six new companies located in Homestead, Canada, New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Haiti. Aside from its presentations to general audiences, the organization makes a concerted effort to target Haitian and Haitian-American people who are isolated in their own communities, by using familiar art forms to support cultural and acculturation services such as language skill development. The Haitian-Creole language, learned initially through family and community interaction, has retained its original composition and is the basic form of communication used to carry on the daily activities of the Haitian people; therefore, Sosyete Koukouy’s original literary and theatrical presentations are deeply rooted in the Haitian tradition and are performed primarily in Creole with audio and visual technology aids to assist people who are non-Creole speaking.

The organization also serves as an incubator company for other emerging Haitian artists and arts groups, providing opportunities for the mounting of new work or criticism for authenticity and clarification of little known or practiced traditions. Many of its members represent noted historians and archivists of Haitian culture and heritage, contributing towards is reputation as the information center of Haitian culture and resources in the State of Florida. It is often said that “inside Sosyete Koukouy beats the heart of Little Haiti.”

An integral part of Sosyete Koukouy’s programming are collaborations with grassroots and established artists and organizations on the creation and presentation of new and traditional works reflective of the Haitian cultural experience. As the oldest and most visible of Miami’s Haitian performance organizations, its activities are year-round with a total performance season of more than 25 different events including productions and exhibitions. Its primary targeted audiences are Haitian/Afro-Cuban/Caribbean communities.  Sosyete Koukouy is the recipient of many, local, state and international community, civic and artistic awards for its performances, academic conferences, and its dedication to the presentation and preservation of Haitian language and culture.

 
Jan Mapou, Artistic Director and Founder of Sosyete Koukouy Miami, is the backbone of the Haitian-American cultural community; friends speak of him as the ‘glue that keeps the Haitian people together’. Jan Mapou offers an exciting model of an integrated approach to art. Jan, himself a published poet, playwright and author, opened a bookstore “Libreri Mapou” next door to the Caribbean Marketplace in Miami’s Little Haiti Cultural Complex which serves as the community’s hub of cultural activity. Mr. Mapou has written four plays, directed  more thn a dozen . All of them  have been presented in South Florida at the Guzman Performing Arts Center and/or Dade County Auditorium and the Caleb Center. He is the author of two books of poetry and a short story.  He is currently working on his autobiography, and an anthology of Haitian poets in the diaspora.   He is the recipient of numerous awards for his writings and contributions to the cultural development of Little Haiti and the broader community.  Among his numerous awards, Mr. Mapou is a recipient of Miami-Dade County’s highest cultural distinction, the Miami Arts Exchange “MAXIE” Award and most recently, in 2007 he was the recipient of the Florida Folklife award from the Secretary of State. Mr. Mapou serves as a board member of the Miami Book Fair, he is the co-founder and board member of the Haitian Cultural Arts Alliance and board member of the Haitian Heritage Museum.

 
2008-2009 performance season.

The season planning process is an all-day event held in December which engages representatives from the Board of Directors, artistic staff, community artists, company artists, audience members, supporters, and a professional facilitator. The process begins with an assessment of the last two seasons and their successes and major drawbacks. The key questions addressed include: how well did these activities address the organization mission; whether or not the mission is clearly addressed to the public through the activity; and whether the productions were cost effective and financially successful, all of which lead us back to the main question, which is, are we successfully building and sustaining an audience and resource base, without compromising the organization’s mission or its artistic or cultural aesthetic.

The 2008-2009 season presents two new initiatives designed to coincide with and complement the opening of the new Haitian Cultural Complex:  Comedy Night and Classical Haitian Theater (Antigone) . These initiatives will round out Koukouy’s traditional Haitian cultural programs which include new and original plays, dance and visual arts performances and workshops. Because Koukouy’s cultural programs interface with Haitian dance, music and visual artists in Port-au-Prince and other provinces of Haiti as well as Haitian organizations throughout the United States and Canada, integral in the 2008-09 artistic planning process, is continuing to refine the artistic product to reflect a much more professional presentation. The planning process also takes into consideration the input of professional lighting and sound technicians, presenters, choreographers to adjust staging problems, adapt works for touring and enhance the overall professional image of the Company.

2008-2009 SEASON: Sosyete Koukouy celebrates forty three years of presentation of Haitian cultural performances and creating opportunities in which Haitian artists can define, preserve, develop and present works indigenous and relevant to Haitian tradition and heritage.  As a part of its strategic plan, Koukouy will devote additional attention to the issue of succession, in artists and administration for the organization. Like many organizations, engaging new and younger participants is essential to its longevity and survival. Therefore, a key component of the organization continues to be to bring emerging artists in as apprentices and performers of new and traditional repertoire. We are saturated with requests from schools seeking to motivate and encourage pride and self-esteem in Haitian children and families, particularly those situated in disadvantaged communities like Little Haiti, Liberty City, Richmond Heights. We will take our involvement with these programs to a new level by using these performances as recruitment opportunities for our classes and workshops.

Other programming scheduled for 2008-2009  include the creation of at least one major original work capturing Haitian history in a stage production of music, drama and dance; presentation of four performances of an original play; “Dances of Haiti” featuring the best choreographers of Haiti in a presentation of folkloric dances inspired from Haitian voodou to be presented at the Little Haiti Cultural Complex in November 2009; Haitian Heritage Month Celebration and Flag Day –at Notre Dame Church in Little Haiti in, May 18 , 2009, a community festival of children, games, book fair, exhibitions of Haitian art and cuisine and other uniquely and indigenous Haitian cultural events and activities; The first annual Discover Little Haiti Tour to replace Discover Miami of which Sosyete Koukouy is a popular community site  will take place  in September 2009 along the corridor of NE 2^nd Avenue and 59th Street. This program brings visiting dignitaries, Leadership Miami, tourism delegations and professional organizations into the Mapou Cultural Center where they are exposed to a company performance and provided information and resources about Haitian culture and the community; the Literary series including book signings, and guest speakers and weekly vignettes that take place at the Mapou Cultural Center; The “Literally Creole” conference whose focus is on Creole as a language, its orthography and grammar, in February ’09 at Florida International University,(North)  and the Mapou Cultural Center; Haitian Voudou Conference with guest speaker, Haitian Vodou Priest/coordinator, Max Beauvoir, . (Student delegations from St. Leo University and other colleges and universities will participate in both conferences). Several tours of Miami-Dade Public Libraries and schools with folklorists, dancers and musicians; Caribbean Dance Celebration 2009 in partnership with Jamaica Awareness, Inc. with performances in Ft. Lauderdale, Coral Springs, Tampa, Orlando and West Palm Beach.

Administrative and Management Capacity Building – It continues to be the intent of Koukouy to strategically address a wide range of issues to strengthen and sustain its own organizational development through the implementation of  Year II of its Strategic Plan. These issues include continuing the application of both short- and long-range goals and objectives that provide clear vision, direction and strategies that help to build the necessary administrative support systems to support the organization’s high quality, diverse programming and internal infrastructure. This should also assist Koukouy in becoming better managed, better marketed, improving fiscal management and operations, as well as meeting the community’s growing appreciation for high quality, culturally and aesthetically genuine Haitian cultural activities.

5-Year strategic Plan

Sosyete Koukouy will enter the second year of its five-year strategic plan. The planning process now involves seven key areas of focus and is planned by the Director, Artistic Director and President of the Board. Briefly, a weekend retreat is held annually in August with organizational stakeholders including board, staff, artists, outside artists, community representatives, and Haitian media. The retreat is professionally facilitated which allows us to be task-specific, based on administrative, financial and artistic issues and goals discerned from a preliminary organizational assessment provided to participants.  The retreat begins with a status report of the prior year’s retreat recommendations, followed by discussion on priority areas and objectives as determined from the preliminary assessments. These issues are then addressed individually and jointly in the following breakout workshops: Strategic Management and Leadership; Community Outreach and Development; Event Operations and Management; Fundraising and Finance; Sustainable Economic Development; Marketing and Promotion; and Technology.  Summary and evaluation will involve a roundtable discussion of staff, board and artists.

Cultural Diversity

Although our artists are primarily Haitians, as is our Board of Directors, it is important to note that within the context of being Haitians, we are also a people of many ethnicities and cultures. The outreach of our performances reflects more pluralism and has a greater impact than if we were to deliberately, diversify within our Board and staff ranks because Koukouy performs in neighborhoods and venues all over Miami-Dade County, as well as the State and beyond. Our primary performance facilities include the North Miami Beach Performing Arts Center, Gusman Center for the Performing Arts, Coral Springs Performing Arts Center, all of which are located in communities which are extremely diverse. Our arts management consultant is African-American.

Sosyete Koukouy and its very active Board of Directors are committed to working to build community partnerships with artists and community organizations as well as audiences. It is our mission to work together to promote a healthy community knowledgeable about our culture and to propel and recognize Haitian culture as a part of a vibrant cultural environment. To this end, Sosyete Koukouy conducts workshops in schools, museums, community centers, colleges, etc. Our work is also videotaped and catalogued and made available throughout the Library system, colleges and universities. We work very closely with institutions whose primary mission is to educate Miami-Dade’s citizens about the many cultures in Miami-Dade County including major festivals, museums and other cultural entities and destinations.

In the broader sense of the term, “diversity,” which includes gender, gender-preference, religion, age, ability, etc., we are servicing and composed at every level of the organization, people representing true diversity.

Our largest collaboration continues to be our partnership with Jamaica Awareness, Inc. as co-producers of the “Caribbean Dance Celebration,” a presentation of dance companies from the Caribbean who represent the dance techniques and artistry of the African Diaspora. We hope to continue this partnership with community Caribbean organizations will enhance and educate the community’s knowledge about the similarities and differences between Haitian and other Caribbean island cultures.

Many of our audience members are Haitian senior citizens who enjoy what we do because it brings them a little closer to the homeland most were forced to leave. Events are also well attended by the Afro-Cuban community who recognize the close cultural ties Haiti has with Cuba and the other countries of the Caribbean and South America. Sosyete Koukouy always enjoys the opportunity to share its rituals, traditions and French influenced cultures with all of the citizens of Miami-Dade.

Partnerships or Collaborations

Participation in partnerships or collaborations has been an integral part of Sosyete Koukouy’s role in the community. As an organization, we have realized that while many of these relationships seem to be heavily dependent on the cultural information and knowledge that can be provided, we also look at the potential for the valuable opportunities and challenges that can benefit the organization, such as, performance opportunities, raising community awareness of Haitian and Caribbean culture (Jamaica Awareness, Inc., The Haitian Arts Alliance , the Haitian Artists Network Development, The Haitian Historical Museum, C.A.C.E.C. , H.A.Y.O, Koukouy of Homestead… collaborations which involve the sharing of services, facilities, human resources or ideas such as the relationship we have with Florida International University, Miami-Dade Community College (Bookfair International) or the Historical Museum. Audience development/social service  opportunities are created through our participation in or with Golden Ticket, Haitian-American Youth of Tomorrow, Haitian Organization of Women, FLA-OFF, Miami-Dade Public Library System, Miami-Dade and Broward County Public Schools, Notre Dame d”Haiti Church…

We are also active in partnerships with media (Island Magazine television, rados 1020 AM, WLRN 91.3 FM , Haiti en Marche Weekly Newspaper, Haiti Observateur) and other businesses which enable us to engage and enjoy a broad base of business and civic leadership support and to participate in community impacting events from the planning level through production. These partnerships include Miami-Dade County (Haitian American Month Celebration), and City of Miami (Caribbean Marketplace Development). Sosyete Koukouy frequently provides staff, board members and artists to sit on panels and boards addressing Haitian cultural, civic and political key issues.

Our partnerships and collaborations allow us to exponentially, expand the numbers of people that we would ordinarily serve, increase our impact, and to access community, educational, civic, and cultural resources we would not, otherwise be privy to.