About Us
Our Mission:
Taller Portobelo Norte - (Portobelo Workshop North in Spanish) is a collective of emerging and established artists and scholars founded in 2001 that seeks to expose the world to the beauty and vibrancy of the African Diaspora; it's arts, culture, traditions and peoples.
We aim to:
• encourage critical dialogues around the art and culture(s) of the African Diaspora, especially as they are manifested in Latin America and the Caribbean.
• create an exchange of ideas amongst artists across cultural, generational and disciplinary lines.
• create a supportive space for experimental and non-traditional artists, writers, and scholars to experience communal intellectual stimulation as well as quiet contemplation.
• assist Taller Portobelo in documenting and preserving the culture and traditions of the Congos of Panama.We do this through creating a yearly schedule of arts-related international retreats and tours to Panama for Congo Carnival, the Summer Art Colony and the Black Christ Festival and to Senegal for the Dakar Art Biennal.
You can learn more on our Programs page.
Our Staff:
Oronike Odeleye is a founding member of Taller Portobelo Norte, acting as the Administrative Director since it's inception. She first attended the Art Colony as a film student at Syracuse University in 2001. She is a creative writer based in Atlanta, GA. She is also a Partner and Account Executive at the graphic design agency J. West Agency.
Dr. Arturo Lindsay is a founding member of our sister organization, Taller Portobelo, in Panama and a Program and Development Director for Taller Portobelo Norte. Dr. Arturo Lindsay is an artist-scholar who conducts ethnographic research on African spiritual and aesthetic retentions in contemporary Latin American cultures and a Professor of Art and Art History at Spelman College in Atlanta.
Dr. Renée Alexander Craft is a Program Director and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill liason for Taller Portobelo Norte. She is an artist and critical ethnographer whose research focuses on cultural performances of black resistance in the Americas.
