'A gift of art of painted tents' Each tent, a mobile port for learning. BASE PAINT is a utilitarian installation of goodwill for the children of Port-au-Prince from the artists of the world, playing literally on the concept of base paint: A core to build upon, an educational facility pigmented with the components of creativity, scholarship and care.

Base - the home, the core, the classroom, schooling -

Paint: the pigments, the edifying components of an education to achieve independence.

BASE PAINT - an artist s metaphor:  A portable gift of education for the children.

 By Elba Luis Lugo

The tragic earthquake that hit Haiti on January 12 left more than 3,000 schools destroyed or damaged. Some of them will remain closed for months, many of them will never reopen and the construction of new schools will take years.

This has left thousands of children languishing in camps or working in the streets to survive, their dreams crushed and their futures uncertain. They have no routine, nothing to look forward to every day, no safe place to spend their time, to meet with their friends, no safe haven. (New York Times 3/6/2010)

Antuan, in collaboration with Fundacion Manos del Sur and Step by Step Foundation has created an Art Project that supports the creation of classrooms for the children in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.  A project that elevates the spirits of a country s population -- already plagued by insufficiency-- struck by one of the worst natural disasters in history.

A breather for the Haitian children in the midst of the initial and difficult reconstruction process that has just barely begun.

The Project has 4 distinctive artistic elements:

1. Intervention on the tents by the artists: each tent will serve as a classroom.

Different groups of international artists will work on ten (10) tents which will serve as new classrooms for the children lacking educational centers. The selected artists will contribute their own perspective of Haiti, using the tents as their canvas.

The tents will be painted concurrently in MES, Miami Event Space, a multi purpose space located in Little Haiti in Miami.

2.  Auction of Donated Artwork

An auction will be held with art donated by international artists. The funds raised will finance the equipment and supplies needed for the school and the construction of additional structures.

There are no restrictions for those artists who generously donate their work for the auction. They are free to express themselves through the plastic arts as well as to choose any materials and dimensions. As topic, we suggest a positive view on Haiti?s reconstruction.

3.  Set-up of Tents in Haiti

The tents will be set up by Antuan and a group of volunteers on the property of L'Athletique d'Haiti in Cite Soleil.

The installation of the Art Tents begins with the set up, but the real art will take place when the tents, integrated to the space, are part of the daily interaction between the children and teachers. The importance of this School will go way beyond esthetics, it will change lives.

The collection of 10 tents will be appreciated as a large-scale installation not only from the ground, but also from the air when flying over this area, just 2 miles from the international airport.

4.  Documentary

The whole process, from the arrival of tents to the artists studios, the preparation of the surfaces, the design and creative process, the cifo event to the setup in Haiti, will be filmed to produce a documentary. This documentary will be presented in several film festivals, such as Sundance an Berlin.

This project is under the artistic direction of Antuan in collaboration with Fundacion Manos del Sur, Step by Step Foundation, and L'Athletique d'Haiti.

Confirmed Artists

ANTUAN*                      

ELBA LUIS LUGO  *

JOSE BEDIA*                

EDOUARD DUVAL - CARRIE   *

NICOLAS LEIVA  *

LEONEL MATHEU *

LORNA MARSH *

PEDRO BARBEITO *

RUBEN MILLARES*

ANTONIA WRIGHT *

GEAN MORENO *

VICKIE PIERRE*

GAY GARCIA 

ANDRES MICHELENA

PABLO CANO 

FEDERICO URIBE

SALUSTIANO

GUSTAVO ACOSTA

VERONICA RIEDEL  

FLORENCIO GELABERT

CARLOS BETANCOURT

FERNANDO BELLVER    

LILIANA PORTER

ELEOMAR  PUENTES

ANA QUIROZ

JOSE ANGEL VINCENCH       

NELA  OCHOA

JOSEP CASTE     

EMIL ALZAMORA

SCOTT ASHLEY   

JUAN-SI GONZALEZ

IVELISSE JIMENEZ

SERGIO GARCIA

JORGE RUBIO

TERESA ANINAT

CATALINA SWINBURN

MANEL COSTA

LILI (ANA)  

CARLOS VIDAL

JULIAN NAVARRO

LUCIA PIZZANI

NATASHA PERDOMO

CAROLINA SARDI

ADRIANA CARVALHO

DANIEL FIORDA

RAFAEL LOPEZ-RAMOS

PEDRO VALD

JULIO BLANCO

?ILVIO GAYTON

EVELYN VALDIRIO

MANUEL MILLARES

FRANCISCO PERO

ANTONIO GUERRERO

ANA I. MARTINEZ

CARLOS MANUEL

DOPICO LERNER

DEMO

NORA CERVINO

ISAAC MARTINEZ

PAVEL  MIGUEL

L. GUSTAVO MARINO

ALFONSO BRAVO

GUILLERMO PORTIELES

CESAR GARCIAS

KARINA CHECHIK

GUERRERO TONDA

RAFAEL GOMEZ

HUMBERTO CASTRO

ARTURO CUENCA

YOVANI BAUTA

ALFONSO CORONA

NICOLAS RADIC

MARITZA MOLINA

ESTEBAN BLANCO

BERNARDITA DOMEYKO

JUAN CRISTOBAL

FRANCIS ACEA

CARLOS ESTEVEZ

VICTORIA QUIJANO

PEDRO VIZCAINO

CEDEY DE JESUS

OMAR SUAREZ

RAMON WILLIAMS

TATA NAVIA

RAUL GUIJARRO

MARIANO COSTA PEUSER

BEN EDWARDS

ANNA BALBOA

FRANCIS ACEA

LENI IBARGUENGOYTIA

DAMIAN SARNO

* artists who will paint a tent

Volunteers

For the first part of the project, the painted tents, the artists will work with volunteers who will work alongside with them during the whole process. We will recruit them in colleges, art schools and among the artist community.

The Organizations

Fundacion Manos del Sur

Fundación Manos Del Sur is a non-profit organization headquartered in Miami, Florida that has been working to change the lives of children in Latin America since 1999. It was founded by a group of Latin-American professionals with the vision of helping the struggling children of their countries of origin. It establishes a bridge between individual and corporate contributors and organizations in Latin America that share the vision of improving children?s lives.

Manos del Sur works in Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Peru, Uruguay, Venezuela, Ecuador, El Salvador, Mexico, and Nicaragua and now Haiti. This is achieved through our Integrated Assistance Program (IAP) - a system of distributing funds to assist with the health, nutrition and education of children in need.

Step by Step Foundation

Step by Step Foundation is helping children in communities around the world. In the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, Haiti, the foundation is building a small school and distributing life-changing backpacks. In other countries around the world the foundation continues to provide backpacks filled with tools for living and learning to children of all backgrounds and abilities.

The foundations programs are community-driven and involve partnerships with the local community, local and international non-profit organizations, governments, and international development agencies. Through this approach, the foundation aims to build community capacity to ensure the development of systemic programs that not only serve immediate needs, but also create sustainable economic impact.

L'Athletique d'Haiti

L'Athletique d' Haiti (LADH) is an after school sports program that serves the most disadvantaged children of Port-Au-Prince. Before the January 12, 2010 earthquake, LADH served 1,500 children in five geographical areas. They came to play sports in the afternoon (mainly soccer) and received a daily nutritious meal. Out of the 1,500 program participants, 180 children are schooled in LADH. These are children whose parents can't afford the $60 a year school tuition. Currently, two months after the natural disaster, LADH serves over 2,200 people who now reside on its fields (525 families plus its regular program participants).

LADH's goal is to incorporate the children who now live in their soccer fields into their regular program. To achieve this, they are looking for additional funding to expand the small school house, get additional school supplies and hire more teachers. LADH wants to build a library and a place to gather children to play games, read books ? in French or Creole -- where they can spend their time more productively. This way LADH would be rebuilding their intellects and their souls. Rebuilding structures is only part of the reconstruction, children's minds and souls should also be rebuilt.