CROSS CULTURAL COLLABORATIVE

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In the News

New experiments in clay culture

Pushing the Boundaries of the Creative Process: Learning by Teaching in Ghana

About Cross Cultural Collaborative

OUR VISION... is to place people from different life experiences in an environment where they can exchange ideas and find universal connections

Cross Cultural Collaborative, Inc. is a non-profit educational organization that promotes cultural exchange and understanding. Our programs emphasize multigenerational and multicultural collaborations encouraging participants to find rewards in different forms of creativity. We bring artists from different cultures together in a supportive environment where they can get to know each other through the language of art. At the core of our program is the belief that interaction between African and non-African artists enriches the creativity of both groups.

CCC, Inc. invites artists and scholars from all over the world to work with Ghanaians on collaborative projects that range from mosaic walls to documentary films. Most visitors to Ghana have only a superficial connection with the people. We find that by bringing people to live and work at CCC, Inc. we break down stereotypical thinking. Our participants form lasting friendships and come to appreciate not only other cultures, but their own as well.

Visitors have an opportunity to be immersed in a spiritual culture grounded in tradition where art is part of everyday life.

THE CULTURAL CENTER: ABA HOUSE
“our participants form lasting friendships”


Cross Cultural Collaborative, Inc. is a research center and meeting place for exhibits, community based art workshops, performances, conferences, classes and other venues that relate to cultural awareness and appreciation. In the true spirit of creativity CCC, Inc. is an evolving group of people excited about new ways of thinking about world heritage and culture.

Workshops are held at our center located next to the ocean in a suburb of Accra. We provide double occupancy guest rooms with private bath, studio space and gallery. Meals are prepared by a local cook and there are many opportunities to socialize with Ghanaians and visit sites of historical interest. CCC, Inc. has a Ghanaian staff, resident manager and is in a gated community. There are clinics and hospitals nearby.

click for more about the cultural center: Aba House

BOARD OF DIRECTORS
CCC, Inc's Board of Directors are all leaders in the art/cultural community who support the organization's goals and who are committed to its growth and development.

ELLIE SCHIMELMAN
President and Clerk

Ellie graduated from Rhode Island School of Design in 1960 with a degree in Art Education. She was an art teacher and supervisor in public schools for over 20 years and taught adult education classes in the Boston area. She was also a professional potter and part owner of the Cambridge Artists Cooperative crafts gallery in Harvard Square, Cambridge, MA. Always attracted to African art, Ellie took her first trip to Ghana in 1978.Since then she has returned many times to research and study traditional crafts, do volunteer teaching and take people on crafts and culturally centered tours of Ghana. She now devotes herself fulltime to directing Cross Cultural Collaborative, Inc. and facilitating workshops held at its cultural center in Ghana.

who is Aba

MICHAEL BORTEQUAYE BORTEI
Board Member and Managing Director

Michael was one of the first Aba House children, 7 years old and eager to try whatever we offered. Now many years later he is truly a renaissance man. Michael handles logistics for our tours, is our main tour guide and partners with Aba to manage Cross Cultural Collaborative.

DAN GOODMAN
Director of outreach and business development

Dan is an experienced educational consultant and marketing/outreach director with over 15 years’ experience working in the Boston area. Dan was a senior research analyst and member services manager for over 100 universities nationally at Eduventures, Inc., a higher education consulting firm in Boston. Before that, Dan was the research manager at the Center for Public Leadership at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. Dan has also worked in consulting research at Ernst & Young LLP and Accenture. Before getting his M.B.A., Dan worked as a marketing and corporate events manager at OpenAir; equity research at Fidelity Investments; and university development at Harvard. Dan won the National Endowment for the Humanities Younger Scholar Award and served as a primary editor for Human Rights Journal at Harvard Law School. He was also a U.S. delegate to the International Honors Program (a global studies curriculum taught in 15 nations over one academic year). Dan is also a pop music songwriter signed to the Warner Brothers Music Group, BMG, Toshiba/EMI Records, and Popular Records. He has a B.A. cum laude in history and science from Harvard College, an Ed.M. in international education policy (focus on cross-cultural adjustment issues) from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and an M.B.A. from Babson. Dan directs several outreach and business development initiatives for the President of Cross Cultural Collaborative, Inc.

JACQUELINE L. MCRATH
Treasurer

Jacqueline L. McRath, a retired Boston Public Schools teacher, is concerned about the lives of young children. She facilitated the donation of 1,000 textbooks to Cameroon, West Africa, 50 pairs of sneakers to children at Aba House, and has provided educational and family support in Nigeria and Mali. She served as a board member of Action Against Poverty International, a money-lending program for Africa women engaged in small businesses. Jackie also served as a board member of the Uganda Arts Consortium, and set up residencies for two visual artists from Makerere University. She chairs the Theresa-India Young Scholarship Committee, which award funds to a student in the Fibers program at MassArt. Her travels have taken her to West Africa, Japan, Europe, and the West Indies for extended periods of time where she studied family life. She is currently working on her memoir and a collection of poems. Jackie holds a B.L.S. in social work from Boston University and M.Sc. from Wheelock College.

DAVID LOCKE

David is an associate professor of music at Tufts University. He overseas Tufts music exchange program in Ghana, brings Ghanaian musicians to do programs in the United States and has written books about Ghanaian drumming. He is also an accomplished performer of traditional African dance and drumming.

JOHN NASH

John is a web developer who has developed a number of websites for African artists, retailers and art organizations over the years (including for us). He first became interested in the work of African artisans while serving as a Peace Corps volunteer in Ghana. He started the africancraft.com web site with the aim of promoting african artists in 1999.

In the News

New experiments in clay culture

Pushing the Boundaries of the Creative Process: Learning by Teaching in Ghana