Cross Cultural Collaborative, Inc. promotes Cultural exchange and understanding through the arts. Our programs emphasize multicultural and multigenerational collaborations encouraging participants to find rewards in different forms of creativity. 

Research shows that many American artists are inspired by African art. They are drawn to its spiritual association with traditional values, but really have scant knowledge of how these traditions are integrated into our lives and work. Our goal is to bring people from different cultures together in a supportive environment where they can get to know each other through the language of art. They will see that although there are differences, there are also many common threads and that stereotypical categorizing of others is non-productive.

Americans will see that Ghanaian traditions have power and substance and are worth learning... that the stereotypes of Africa are just that. Americans can learn a new respect for their own culture by collaborating with artists that are grounded in tradition. Americans have drifted away from the spiritual components that make African art so appealing to outsiders. We want to bring this subconscious awareness to the surface. Everyone, on some level, can be creative. They just need the proper channeling and we plan to do this by opening doors to other ways of seeing the world.

Americans tend to have a narrow “western” view of the world. Exposure to customs and traditions of an ancient civilization should help them focus on a new way of seeing cultural identity. It is also important for Americans to get back to basics and to strip away the excesses layered onto a consumer based society. When they are confronted with simple tools and proven solutions they will open themselves to new perspectives that will enhance their creativity, expand their thought processes, and by extension, their view of the world. Ghanaians will benefit by coming into contact with people who solve problems from another perspective. Experiencing solutions through someone else's eyes broadens ones understanding of cultural identity and integration. Although creative in their own right, Ghanaians do not always have exposure to a world view. By bringing outside ideas to them we hope to encourage artistic growth and new problem solving techniques.

The educational goals of CCC, Inc. are to create a comfortable atmosphere where learning can take place. Our approach to education is to put students in a place where teachers and information are available, to create goals not based on grades, but on offering learning in such an interesting way that people want to be involved and can see that school based education is relevant to everyday life. We believe that everyone is both a student and a teacher and that people learn by doing and interacting with others. We feel that a combination of the African apprentice approach to learning and our more unstructured philosophy will result in a good educational program where there is something for both the casual learner and the serious researcher. CCC's artistic goal is not to create artists, although many participants are already recognized artists, but to offer techniques that come from art experiences that can be used in a wider context of communication with people who speak another language culturally or environmentally. Art has the ability to communicate non-verbally and we seek to put people from different life experiences in a situation where they can express their feelings and find a universal connection. We see art as a catalyst and not as the end goal.

Other organizations have similar goals, but they do not realize them the same way. We do not rely on grading and we do not bring Americans to Ghana to learn crafts, although that might be a side effect of the program. What makes us unique is concentration on collaboration and integration of ideas and legacies. We believe that this establishes a pattern of creativity. We are associated with the Dagbe Cultural Institute and Arts Centre in Ghana - a traditional drum and dance school - in the belief that creativity comes from all the arts.

Our vision for the future is to be a destination for Americans who want to interact with Africans in a creative and educational collaborative exchange. CCC, Inc. will be a center for visual and performing arts that addresses intercultural issues. It will be a research center and meeting place for exhibits, performances, conferences and classes, and other forms that relate to cultural awareness and more than a superficial understanding of African culture.

We intend to reach these goals by:

• offering programs in which Americans and Africans collaborate on projects that integrate the arts of both
• becoming a resource center to connect Americans with schools, organizations and individuals in Ghana who offer cultural material and programs
• exhibiting work by people who have successfully integrated creatively with ideas from other cultures
• keeping a database of artists, both American and African, who work in all creative disciplines
• working with children through programs in the humanities to help them choose wisely when making choices involving cultural identity In the true spirit of creativity CCC, Inc. wants to be an evolving group of people excited about new ways of thinking about world heritage and culture.

Some CCC projects:

August 2001 MOSAIC MURAL
Laurel True, a San Francisco artist, and the children of Nungua, Ghana conceived and constructed a mural at ABA HOUSE in Nungua. Step one was to visit the linguist (spokesman) of the Nungua chief. He related the oral history of the Ga people... how they migrated from the North stopping to hunt, plant crops and eventually settle in Nungua. They chose Nungua because it is a beautiful village next to the ocean where the abundant fish supply provided a livelihood for the Ga people. Laurel and the children translated the story into a permanent visual record using mosaic tile and working on a cement wall that encloses the workshop used by CCC, Inc. The project was so successful and generated so much interest that Laurel will return next August to continue working with the children.
click for a report by Laurel on her experience working on the Mosaic Mural.

Late MARCH-APRIL 2002 BOOKBINDING_STORYWRITING_PRINTMAKING WORKSHOP
American artists Bethia Brehmer (printmaker) and Ellie Schimelman (crafts teacher) will collaborate with Ghanaian authors to write, bind and illustrate children's stories based on life in African villages.  (for more on Bethia Brehmer, visit her web site at www.bethbrehmer.com).
click for more on this workshop and samples of participant's prints.

August 2002, POTTERY WORKSHOP 
CCC, Inc. is sponsoring a workshop in Ghana. Participants will stay in our cultural center next to the ocean in a suburb of Accra. Traditional Ghanaian potters will also be in residence and they will work with visiting artists to design and create clay furniture.

In 2003, DECORATIVE HOUSE PAINTING and DOCUMENTARY FILM 
CCC, Inc. is offering an opportunity for a diverse community of women to interact on a personal and artistic level. The women of Northern Ghana will travel south to Accra to embellish a mud house with their designs and will participate in a film documenting their traditions.

CCC, Inc. accepts and appreciates tax deductible donations to help bring artists and materials to Ghana. If you can't help financially, but have any art materials, equipment, books, cameras, etc... please contact us if you have something that you think would help our program. We'd also like to hear from you if you have an idea for a cultural exchange program.