MRAC’s Grantee Spotlight is a new series to showcase the impact of MRAC’s funding across communities.
Disciplines: Dance, Music, Art, Culture | MRAC Grant Program: Arts Impact for Groups 2023, Flexible Support 2023, 2024
About This Grantee
Afoutayi Dance, Music and Arts is a Haitian and Afro-Caribbean cultural company led by Haitian-born Djenane Saint Juste and Florencia Pierre multidisciplinary artists, healers and Culture Bearers. The purpose of the company is to gather and celebrate the rich culture of Haiti and beyond. It is a place of welcome. It is home for all who gather.
Afoutayi’s first opportunity to engage K-12 students in an interactive program performance was at her son Hassen’s Ortega elementary school in California where the company artists met a young boy who had been told to hide his Haitian identity, but couldn’t hold back his overwhelming joy and pride in dancing and singing songs of his family’s native culture. This ignited a passion in Djenane Saint Juste (Artistic Director) and Florencia Pierre (Cultural Director) to help others, both children and adults, to celebrate the beauty of Haitian culture.
When Saint Juste moved to Minnesota in 2014 to earn a Masters in Education from St. Thomas University, she brought with her the passion and experience for teaching, dancing, performing, and creating community in addition to Pierre’s years of experience as a master artist and community leader. At the Afoutayi studio, Saint Juste and her team, including her mom Florencia Pierre “Fofo”, teach a variety of dancing, drumming, and singing classes throughout the week.
They also host large monthly events to bring together their students and the Twin Cities Haitian community at large. For Haitian Flag Day this past May, Afoutayi held an outdoor festival where two hundred people came to watch performances from Afoutayi students and local artists such as drummers, dancers, spoken word artists, and singers. Several tents were up to sell goods from Black-owned businesses and authentic Haitian cuisine. As Saint Juste led the event, she reminded the crowd of the significance of Haiti being the first Black nation to win independence. She then performed a moving dance representing the fight for freedom. At a time when the news is focused on the turmoil in Haiti, Afoutayi celebrates the beauty of the culture, spirit, history, and resilience of the Haitian people.
Impact Statement
“Culture is at the heart of our identity. For those of us living in a country other than our place of birth, finding a community grounded in our culture is coming home. MRAC grants allowed us to preserve and promote Haitian and Afro-Caribbean culture through community gathering, performances, classes, and healing ceremonies in Minnesota. The funding that Afoutayi has received from MRAC has helped instill a sense of pride and identity among Haitian, Black and mixed-race youth, as well as connected them with their ancestors and staying rooted in ancestral knowledge.
Afoutayi has been especially important to several families with children adopted from Haiti or who have a Haitian parent. The families come to the weekly parent-child classes and have formed a special community that is meaningful for both the children and parents. A parent at Afoutayi shared, “My daughter smiles a bigger smile at Afoutayi. She came here at age four, and although she was young, she craves the food, the language, the spirit, and the rhythms of Haiti. I am grateful for what Afoutayi can give her that I can’t as an adoptive parent.”
Afoutayi has also become a core member of the Twin Cities artist community, having performed at the Cowles Center, Indigenous Roots, the Ordway, The Children Hospital, The Walker West Music Academy, Hamline University, the Landmark Center, the Festival of Nations, May Day Festival, Alliance Francaise Mpls, multiple street block parties, and many other places.
Afoutayi has partnered with companies like COMPAS, MPR Class Notes, SELCO, Schubert Club Kids Jam, and Cowles Education. Afoutayi won the NAACP award in 2018 for advancing the communities of Black culture, as well as an honor for excellence from the McKnight Foundation.
As Afoutayi looks to the future, there is hope to grow its impact. An immediate need is to find a new studio home this fall, as they were recently forced to leave their space due to city zoning issues. We need a home base to gather, to dance, to celebrate, and to continue our mission to promote Haitian heritage and diversify contemporary representations of Haiti through music, art, dance, and history education.”
—Djenane Saint Juste, Artistic Director
Stay Connected
MRAC’s Grantee Spotlight is a series to showcase the impact of MRAC’s funding across communities.
Stay connected with this month’s grantee: Afoutayi Dance, Music & Arts Company
Social Media
Facebook: Afoutayi Dance, Music & Arts Company
Instagram: @afoutayidmaco
Website
www.afoutayidmaco.com
Upcoming events
Book Launch
Saturday, August 3rd, 1-5pm
227 Colfax Ave N, Minneapolis, MN 55405
Little Africa Fest
Sunday, August 4th, 12-9pm
Hamline Park
1564 Lafond Avenue, St. Paul, MN, 55104
A special note:
Afoutayi is a Flexible Support grant recipient. The Fiscal Year 2025 Flexible Support grant guidelines, webinar and other resources are available online. Visit the Flexible Support webpage to learn more about this grant.