The joint UNESCO and European Union initiative ‘Transcultura: Integrating Cuba, the Caribbean and the European Union through Culture and Creativity’ has built a strategic alliance with the World Music Expo – WOMEX, aimed at providing new international market access opportunities for Caribbean musicians and music professionals within the programme’s geographic scope of the 17 Member States of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), the Caribbean Forum (CARIFORUM) and the Organization of the Eastern Caribbean States (OECS): Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Cuba, Dominica, the Dominican Republic, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Montserrat, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago.
Transcultura, a Programme funded by the European Union, will cover international travel expenses of up to three selected music projects (either individuals, duets or bands). This year WOMEX will be held in the city of Porto, Portugal from 26-31 October 2021. Transcultura will also facilitate free access to the online showcases’ application process on the WOMEX portal to the first 100 showcase applications within the 17 eligible countries listed above.
Due to economic constraints, Caribbean musicians have been underrepresented at WOMEX, the most international music meeting in the world and the biggest conference of the global music scene, featuring a trade fair, talks, films and showcase concerts. Therefore, Transcultura is launching this initiative to serve as a cultural bridge between the Caribbean Cultural and Creative Sectors and WOMEX, to ensure a more integrated, regular and far-reaching presence of the Caribbean in its simultaneous and multiple activities.
