PUMA, through it’s puma.creative program and it’s Creative Caribbean Network initiative, is pleased to announce a partnership with the 35^th Annual Conference of the Caribbean Studies Association (CSA) held in St. Peter, Barbados from May 24 – 28 at the Almond Beach Resorts Hotel. The theme of the conference, Understanding the Everyday Occurrence of Violence in the Cultural Life of the Caribbean: Where Do We Go From Here?, brings together over 600 Caribbean professionals including scholars, activists, artists and writers from across the Caribbean and diaspora.

Mark Coetzee, Program Director PUMAVision; Chief Curator, puma.creative, explains “puma.creative aims to bring together individual artists and organizations, and provide them with a platform for creative exchange and international exposure. We are honored to partner with the 35thAnnual Conference of the Caribbean Studies Association to demonstrate our long term commitment to the development and visibility of art and critical debate from the Caribbean.”

The conference features eight concurrent panels, as well workshops, a literary salon with readings by poets, novelists and short story writers, and a film and performance track.

The Digital Diaspora roundtable featured PUMAVision Coordinator and puma.creative curator Claire Breukel, BIM magazine editor Esther Philips and Small Axe and Anthurium Editorial member Patricia Saunders.

As a major sponsor, puma.creative through it’s Creative Caribbean Network program, understands the importance of being able to engage in the dialogue that this signficant literary gathering inspires. As part of the sponsorship, three puma.creative Mobility Awards will be given to conference keynote speakers, Tobagonian poet, M. Nourbese Philip, Grenada-based writer, Oonya Kempadoo, and Jamaican fiction writer, Garfield Ellis. These grants are awarded in recognition of their artistic contributions and enable recipients to attend and participate in significant cultural and artistic events.

Trinidad Tobago-based independent writer Oonya Kempadoo reads from her novel Buxton Spice.

puma.creative and CreativeCaribbeanNetwork.com provided three independent writers puma.creative Mobility Awards to participate in the CSA literary salon.

A fourth puma.creative Mobility Award has been given to the Sistren Theatre Collective as part of their “Tek it To Dem” training project. This training project selected Donna Crawford, Chairperson of the Rockfort Cultural Livity group, a community street theatre group in Rockford, Jamaica whose focus is to examine issues of gender based violence, to attend the CSA conference. Ms Crawford will have the opportunity to present the Rockfort Cultural Livity group in participation with the Sistren Theatre collective panel discussion featured at the conference.

“PUMA is honored to support the Joburg Art Fair, and honored to support the spirit and creativity of the artists and representatives present here.” says PUMA Chairman and CEO, Jochen Zeitz. “The PUMA brand experiments with the new, joining together creative spirits with major figures of the sports and fashion worlds—figures such as Usain Bolt, Samuel Eto’o and designer Hussein Chalayan, now the creative director of the PUMA Sport Fashion collections. In view of our longstanding commitment to creativity and service, it feels a natural step for PUMA to participate in this important project on the African continent.

PUMAVision is PUMA’s way of uniting all initiatives that come under the heading ‘Corporate Social Responsibility’ and giving them a coherent direction and framework. It comes from a vision of a world that is better than the one we know now—a world that is safer, more peaceful and more creative. Through the programs of PUMA.Safe (focusing on environmental and social issues), PUMA.Peace (supporting global peace), and PUMA.Creative (supporting artists and creative organizations), that vision becomes practical reality.”

- Jochen Zeitz, Chairman and CEO of PUMA

Download our CEO’s statement here

PUMA is pleased to announce their support in the 2009 Joburg Art Fair, South Africa, in collaboration with CreativeAfricaNetwork (CAN). An initiative of PUMA.Creative, CAN is a virtual platform with global reach, connecting the creative world within and outside of Africa, giving visibility to the talents working in contemporary art, film, architecture, design, and the performing arts.

CAN’s social networking website, www.creativeafricanetwork.com, allows individuals and institutions to create their own profiles. CAN also includes a cultural directory that is updated weekly with event news, biennales, art and book fairs, music and film festivals, awards, reviews, calls for artists, and other opportunities providing professional information valuable to high-profile and emerging artists, as well as cultural liaisons.

The CAN project was developed by Dutch curator Macha Roesink, director of Museum de Paviljoens; Zimbabwean curator, Raphael Chikukwa; French-Cameroonian art critic and editor, Christine Eyene; and South African curator, Mark Coetzee, who serves as program director for PUMAVision and chief curator of PUMA.Creative. The website was designed by Mediamatic, a leading new media and network company based in Amsterdam.

Check out CAN here: www.creativeafricanetwork.com

Download the Press Release here: CAN Press Release

On April 2nd, 2009 puma.creative celebrated the launch of it’s most recent initiative, the Creative Africa Network (CAN), with a strong presence at the renowned Joburg Art Fair and a celebratory dinner honoring our CAN Ambassadors at the Rosebank Hotel in Johannesburg, South Africa.

A virtual platform with global reach, CAN connects the creative world within and outside of Africa, giving visibility to the talents working in contemporary art, film, architecture, design, and the performing arts. As a multidisciplinary cultural directory and social networking website (www.creativeafricanetwork.com), CAN allows individuals and institutions to connect, share ideas, and support the visibility of cultural actors involved with contemporary African art scenes both on and off the continent. Updated weekly with news of events, biennales, art and book fairs, music and film festivals, awards, reviews, calls for artists, and other opportunities, CAN provides professional information valuable to high-profile and emerging artists and cultural liaisons.

Raphael Chikukwa (London-based Zimbabwean Curator), Macha Roesink (Dutch Curator, Director of Museum de Paviljoens, Almere, Netherlends), Mark Coetzee (Program Director for PUMAVision, Chief Curator of puma.creative), Christine Eyene (London-based French-Cameroonian Art Critic and Editor)

Tumelo Mosaka (Special Projects Curator, Joburg Art Fair), Mark Coetzee (Program Director for PUMAVision, Chief Curator of puma.creative), Ross Doublas (Director, Joburg Art Fair), Francious Pienaar (Rugby Star)

Mark Coetzee (Program Director for PUMAVision, Chief Curator of puma.creative), Brooke Minto (Assistant Director, Miami Art Museum, Miami, USA), William Kentridge (South African Artist)

Ross Douglas (Director, Joburg Art Fair)

Bisi Silva (Curator, Centre for Contemporary Art (CCA), Gallery, Lagos, Nigeria), William Miko (Independent Curator, Lusaka, Zambia), Sokari Douglas-Camp (Artist)

Mark Coetzee (Program Director for PUMAVision, Chief Curator of puma.creative), Bronwyn Law-Vijoen (David Krut Gallery), Mark Reed (Everard Reed Gallery), Christine Reed

By supporting Creative Africa Network, PUMA facilitates a further development of their network and demonstrates an overall commitment to supporting creativity in Africa.

Click here for more information about the CreativeAfricaNetwork

An initiative of puma.creative, Creative Africa Network (CAN) is a virtual platform with global reach, connecting the creative world within and outside of Africa, giving visibility to the talents working in contemporary art, film, architecture, design, and the performing arts.

CAN’s social networking website, www.creativeafricanetwork.com, allows individuals and institutions to create their own profiles. CAN also includes a cultural directory that is updated weekly with news of events, biennales, art and book fairs, music and film festivals, awards, reviews, calls for artists, and other opportunities, providing professional information valuable to high-profile and emerging artists and cultural liaisons.

The CAN Ambassador Initiative is a live platform that facilitates the participation of well-known and emerging artists, curators and arts organizations at major international art events, and provides the resources and support to enable these art-minded people to enhance their networks and develop the relationships that will further their work and the goals of their institutions.

To celebrate the launch of Creative Africa Network, PUMA – through the puma.creative program - will sponsor this year’s CAN Ambassadors at the Joburg Art Fair in April 2009.

Learn more about the Joburg Art Fair:
http://www.joburgartfair.co.za/2008/about.html