Inauguration of the Dufort House

Dufort House, located at # 9, 2nd Avenue Travail, the first project of the FOKAL Gingerbread School Restoration Project, was inaugurated on March 21st, 2016.

This rehabilitation was part of the FOKAL overall project, in collaboration with ISPAN and other partner organizations. The goals of the project are: to better document the Gingerbread heritage, develop skills useful to the rehabilitation of homes by creating a training workshops for young masons and carpenters, to create a more pleasant living environment and beautify the Gingerbread district in collaboration with the competent authorities and residents.

As part of the inauguration, the Dufort House hosted a tribute to Burton Chenet, the famous Haitian painter murdered on March 20, 2012, with an exhibit of his works on the premises of the renovated house, from March 21st to April 21st 2016.

A series of activities will take place at the Dufort House and also to other addresses around the exhibition. Guided tours take place every working day, between 10am and 1pm and 2pm and 4pm, to better appreciate the work being done.

At the Quisqueya University's library, Sterlin Ulysses, PhD in Art History (Univ. Toulouse) will give a talk on Burton Chenet to students through a guided projection from 11 to 1pm on  March 30. On April 8, from 10:30 to 12:00, he will repeat the talk for students at  FOKAL.

On April 21st, for the closing of the exhibit, from 2 to 6pm, a roundtable hosted by the artists Ronald Mevs, Lori Manuel, Emilcar Similien (Simil), and Pascale Monnin  will talk about Burton Chenet at the Dufort Home.

Produced in partnership with the Institut du Patrimoine Wallon (IPW), a Belgian institution dedicated to safeguarding the architectural heritage and teaching and training of the old technical building, with funding from «Wallonie Bruxelles International», the completion of the first school site aims to be a significant milestone for the project. The World Monuments Fund provided methodological and technical support for FOKAL to document the process, restore the houses and make targeted studies of the area. A second field school, the Chenet House, was launched in December 2015 by FOKAL.