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Rosie Gordon-Wallace: Founder, Diaspora Vibe Cultural Arts Incubator (DVCAI).

Rosie Gordon-Wallace:  Founder, Diaspora Vibe Cultural Arts Incubator (DVCAI).



Introduction to Rosie Gordon-Wallace. 1:27 min.  Interview:  Raymond Elman.  Editing:  Kayla Appleby.  Production:  Barbara Moreno.  Recorded via Zoom, Miami, 8/13/2020.

 

 

Rosie Gordon-Wallace is a recognized curator, arts advocate, community leader and pioneer in advancing contemporary diaspora art.  She founded the Diaspora Vibe Culture Arts Incubator (DVCAI) to serve as a local and global laboratory dedicated to promoting, nurturing, and cultivating the vision and diverse talents of emerging artists from the Caribbean Diaspora, artists of color,  and immigrant artists.  Twenty-five years later, DVCAI is recognized as a global resource and one of the region’s leading platforms dedicated to providing diaspora artists with a venue to explore and experiment with new forms and themes that challenge traditional definitions of the Caribbean and Latin American art.  DVCAI artists have traveled and engaged in conversations with artists in France, Barbados, Puerto Rico, Jamaica, Antigua, Suriname, and Guadeloupe. In addition to her service on several prominent boards, she is an active member of the PAMM Fund for African American Art and serves on The Cultural Affairs Council for Miami Dade County and Florida’s Department of Cultural Affairs panels. Her awards include The African Heritage Cultural Arts Center Third Annual Calabash Amadlozi Visual Arts Award, International Businesswoman of the Year,  and One of South Florida’s 50 Most Powerful Black Professionals.

 

The videos below were recorded via Zoom, are organized by topic, and run between 30 seconds and 8 minutes. Click on any video. You must be connected to the Internet to view the videos.

 

 

 




DVCAI EXHIBITION: 3:11 min.

 

 

EXPOSURE TO BROAD INFLUENCES: 3:23 min.




What was your first memory of art of any discipline?

 

 

SEIZES OPPORTUNITIES: 1:12 min.




When did you move to the United States and what were the circumstances?

 

 

CRITICAL THINKING: 1:50 min.




Given your medical background, what are your thoughts about the Covid-19 pandemic of 2020?

 

 

DEVELOP A VOICE: 2:22 min.




How did you transition from being a scientific medical professional to a career in the arts?

 

 

COMMUNITY VALUES: 7:45 min.




Describe the arc of your career in the arts.

 

 

CRITICAL THINKING: 0:51 sec.




Two words in the name of your organization, “Diaspora” and “Incubator,” have become very trendy over the past few years.

 

 

CREATES A UNIQUE PERSONAL BRAND: 0:39 sec.




Do you collaborate with Ludlow Bailey who founded Contemporary African Diaspora Art (CADA)?

 

 

EXPOSURE TO BROAD INFLUENCES: 3:29 min.




Picasso was influenced by African artists. What is the influence of Caribbean artwork on artists in the United States and Europe?

 

 

RESPECTS OTHERS POINTS OF VIEW: 0:31 sec.




Were you involved with the terrific exhibition of Haitian art at Miami MOCA in 2019?

 

 

COMMUNITY VALUES: 4:09 min.




Talk a bit about how DVCAI operates.

 

 

INSIGHT & INSPIRATION: 0:40 sec.




Do you know the artist Firelei Báez? We featured her on the cover of the ArtSpeak e-Magazine in the Spring of 2016.

 

 

EXPOSURE TO BROAD INFLUENCES: 2:29 min.




Did you have a chance to see Juggerknot Theatre’s production titled “Wynwood Yards,” which includes a historian-led bus tour of Wynwood?

 

COMMUNITY VALUES: 3:50 min.




We are all familiar with the endless pattern of artists moving into rundown neighborhoods, living in cheap rented or owned lofts, making the neighborhoods popular, and then being forced out due to gentrification. How can that cycle be broken?

 

 

UNDERSTANDS THE BUSINESS OF ART: 3:06 min.




Over the past few years, most of the galleries in Wynwood and the Design District have moved north along the corridor because they were priced out. What are your hopes for the new art districts?

 

 

COMMUNITY VALUES: 7:39 min.




Tell us about some of your favorite exhibitions and artists.

 

 

UNDERSTANDS THE BUSINESS OF ART: 6:33 min.




Is the art community you are describing physically close enough such that people can walk to several exhibition openings in one night?

 

 

OVERCOMES CHALLENGES TO SUCCEED: 4:23 min.




Who writes the grant applications for DVCAI?

 

 

COLLABORATION:  3:29 min.




What’s your relationship with The Betsy Hotel?

 

 

INSIGHT & INSPIRATION: 3:28 min.




Who are your role models and influencers?

 

 

UNDERSTANDS THE BUSINESS OF ART: 1:48 min.




Given that you will celebrate the 25th anniversary of DVCAI in 2021, are you grooming your own successor?

 

 

PERSEVERANCE FURTHERS: 4:49 min.




Have you tried to cultivate national or international celebrities of Caribbean origin or descent to champion DVCAI?

 

 

UNDERSTANDS ARTISTS’ NEEDS: 2:07 min.




President Obama seemed to embrace the performing arts. Did he have any impact on the visual arts?

 

 

CRITICAL THINKING: 1:44 min.




When I recently Googled the Presidential Medal of Freedom what popped up was a video of George W. Bush bestowing the honor on Bill Cosby.

 

 

COLLABORATION: 1:13 min.




Are you still involved with the National Performance Network? And how does that organization help people in Miami?

 

 

STRONG DRIVE FOR ACHIEVEMENT: 2:03 min.




How do you measure success?

 

 

INSIGHT & INSPIRATION: 0:42 sec.




What’s your favorite movie?

 

 

OVERCOMES CHALLENGES TO SUCCEED: 1:19 min.




Your perseverance and dedication to supporting and promoting Caribbean arts and artists is so inspiring.

 

 

UNDERSTANDS ARTISTS’ NEEDS: 0:58 sec.




Are you operating a physical space that people can visit during the pandemic of 2020, or are all your activities online?