LIBERIAN CULTURAL CENTER PROJECT

In early 2020, I began a fundraiser for my dream project: to build a cultural center in Liberia, West Africa. I successfully raised about $13,000 USD with 138 individual donors which went towards purchasing over 100 acres of rural land, the legal costs associated with acquiring the land, and labor to break ground (clearing a 10 acre portion of the deep forest and planting rice on this plot of land).

The work has only just begun! We continue to foster relationships with community stakeholders, work the land to support our goals of self-sufficiency, and plan for the next stage of the process which is building our center.

If you are interested in learning more about the first grassroots fundraising initiative, you can read below. And to stay connected with the project, please subscribe to my newsletter!

Donations are always happily accepted and will help feed someone, pay their transportation, or pay for work that needs to be done on ground. I expect to start a second round of fundraising for construction very soon!

First round of Fundraising (2020)

Detailed description of my fundraiser:

Greetings! My name is Colleen Ndemeh Fitzgerald and I have created this fundraiser to continue a project that I have been working on since 2019. I want to build a cultural center in Liberia, West Africa and need financial support/community buy-in to get the project off the ground. I’m asking for $20,000 to purchase 100+ acres of rural land, and conduct a 1-month research and site visit to begin construction.

This cultural institution will be a home for Liberian indigenous, African, African diaspora creative expression. A home for our people to maintain the memory of our ancestral ways, learn from each other through cultural exchange, and create new art that reflects our current moment. This will be a multiple structure institution; a sort of cultural village. Artisan workshops, multi-disciplinary art studios, performance venue, cinema house, working farm and food garden, experimental kitchen, housing, recording studio, library, open community gathering spaces. This ultimate vision will come to be through various phases over the coming years. I have the skills, the community partners, and the on-ground experts to make this vision a reality.

Liberia currently has little to no cultural infrastructure. Due to colonialism, indigenous cultures have been severely undervalued. And due to imperialism and capitalist greed, economic resources in the country have been scarce, which leaves little money destined towards cultural policy and cultural development. Culture and art are still abundant in Liberia, but without proper investment (of money and heart), some of our indigenous cultural practices will be lost. We need spaces where adults and young people can learn together, and transmit the importance of our cultural heritage. The photo above shows my experience of learning Kpelle dance with these incredible teachers in Gbarnga, and I believe we all deserve experiences like this: to exchange knowledge, to learn, to connect with who we are, to remember the importance of our culture.

BUDGET
$8,000 land purchase (100 acres)
$2,500 land purchase closing and legal fees
$2,700 international and local travel
$2,000 palm/coconut tree investment (labor & seed)
$1,000 first dirt-block (ecological) structure
$1,500 need assessment (surveys, interviews, events)
$1,500 per diem ($50x30)
$800 malaria medication/emergency funds
TOTAL $20,000

TIMELINE
Phase 1 (2021)- acquire land and conduct 2nd research/site visit (the first one being self-funded in 2019); do need assessment in town where the center will be, neighboring villages, and further away (Monrovia/Bong); begin planting palm and coconut trees as part of self-sufficiency plan
Phase 2 (2022) - build 2 dirt-block (ecological) structures on property, a housing space and studio space; begin programming at the center with local youth and adults
Phase 3 (2023) - design layout for whole property, with all planned buildings and outdoor spaces; secure consistent funding; continue programming w/local, regional and international artists

**This project will continue to be developed after year three and will require consistent funding.

Those who know me well know that I will make this happen. Some of you received phone calls from me during my 6-month trip to Liberia in 2019 where I described the moment this idea came to me; how I knew I was stepping into my destiny, where the many parts of my lived experiences were coming together. Others have heard me name this project throughout 2020, as my “dream project”. I have been sharing this with you all in preparation for the moment when I would lean on you for support and uplifting. As an activist, I am dedicated to my role of openly criticizing white supremacist society, while also building projects and spaces that reflect the values we believe in. I believe in centering Black and Indigenous life, and this project is the ultimate manifestation of that.

WHAT I HAVE:
Skills - An independent performance artist, cultural worker and activist with 6 years of experience, and a BA in Anthropology and Dance. I am incredibly gifted at collaboration and building bridges amongst individuals and communities. I have skills around equitable organization building, and centering those who have been marginalized in our societies. I am a Kpelle (Liberian indigenous group) woman who has grown up visiting Liberia regularly, thanks to my parents. I can navigate multiple worlds, cultures and societies with ease and grace.

Land - Well almost...My mother and I have identified a piece of rural land that I have already paid a down payment on and am prepared to pay off as soon as possible.

Contacts - I know people! Extended family and neighbors in Liberia. Liberian diaspora. The global African diaspora. Non-Black allies of all ages and fields.

Collaborators - I have been acquiring more and more contacts in the field of arts & culture. Especially important are the local artists and culture bearers in different provinces of Liberia. During my 2019 trip to Liberia I spent time with Kpelle dancers and musicians who taught me intensively for 4 weeks, and shared in this cultural center vision with me. I also have important local contacts who are skilled architects and builders, farmers, lawyers, and small business owners.

On-ground advocate (and biggest fan) - My mother. Expert negotiator and knowledgable about purchasing and developing land in Liberia.

Collective mindset - NOT ME, WE. I absolutely do not subscribe to Western/USA obsession with the individual and individual success. This is not about me; it’s about using my gifts to create something that will belong to many of us and benefit even more of us. All that I know now is thanks to so many people, especially Black women, who have taught me. All that I am is thanks to those who came before me. All that I build is to leave my communities and the world better off than how I found them.

That being said, for now this project sits on my shoulders, as I take the initial steps to find the village of people who will be involved. I can’t get the phrase “if you build it they will come” out of my mind, because I know that the need is great and the right people will be attracted to this work. Some of you (*cough Instagram friends*) are already in my mind as visitings artists, administrators, and Board Members. In the mean time, the work must go on, because there are children who deserve this space to learn and love their culture. There are adults who need the space to remember where they come from. We NEED this.

I am making a very specific call to white people to pay up! This Western “civilization” is built on hundreds of years of violence, oppression, death and lies. So do not consider this a donation. Paying into this project is a reparatory action for un-derserved privilege and access to wealth, and a direct investment towards Black lives and futures. Redistributing stolen/exploitative/un-deserved wealth is something I will always demand of white people who want to work with or around me. Wealth is un-deserved when you have an unfair advantage to accumulate it, and at the expense of a racialized working class that is underpaid. As someone who has white/European heritage, I also engage in wealth redistribution regularly. This is not charity, it is a step towards more full humanity for all of us.

Thank you for making it this far! I know this is a difficult year for so many, especially financially. I thank you in advance for the love and support. I leave you with a quote from one of the most important Black feminist thinkers, and a woman whose work has changed my life:

"Hope is essential to any political struggle for radical change when the overall social climate promotes disillusionment and despair." - bell hooks

...to hope my friends! And to building better futures from that hope.