Old Barracks property on Hospital Street, Christiansted. Photo Credit: THE V.I. ARCHITECTURE CENTER FOR BUILT HERITAGE AND CRAFTS
The V.I. Architecture Center for Built Heritage and Crafts announced Wednesday that it will be observing Virgin Islands History Month by celebrating the Built Heritage of St. Croix, St. Thomas, and St. John.
“We have begun our strategic development process and in conjunction with Virgin Islands History Month, we will be engaging the community as we create a plan to restore the Old Barracks property on Hospital Street, Christiansted into an educational institute that teaches the architectural and building crafts of the Virgin Islands and Caribbean,” said Board Chair Mary Dema. “The institute will also provide entrepreneurship training and opportunities for its students.”
VIAC’s observance of Virgin Islands History Month and Built Heritage will be threefold. The nonprofit is taking the following actions:
- Partnering with the Division of Virgin Islands Cultural Education to explore Built Heritage under the theme “Step into Heritage in Both Space and Mind.” We will collaborate by providing cultural exploration experiences for students and the public on the history and legacy of our towns and historic places.
- Launching a stakeholder opinion survey during the months of March and April to gain an accurate understanding of the opinions, understandings, challenges and experiences of preservation skills training, student/parent interests in preservation education and industry experiences within the preservation economy. VIAC will survey current and post high school students, parents of high school students and local businesses. The survey results will become a part of the feasibility study for this project.
- Inviting the community to participate in VIAC Vision Weekend – with a Meet and Greet on Friday, March 11 at Walsh Metal Works in Peter’s Rest, St. Croix from 5:30 to 9:00 pm where we will exhibit preliminary concepts for the restoration of the Old Barracks property, present speakers on the importance of Virgin Islands built heritage and provide an opportunity for attendees to take the stakeholder opinion survey. Persons wishing to attend should RSVP at www.viacstx.com. It will be a masked event. Light refreshments will be served.
“We hope that the community will join us in celebrating the built heritage of our islands this month and participate in one or all of these events,” said Dema.
The project is funded by the U.S. Department of Interior’s Office of Insular Affairs and sponsored by the UVI Research and Technology Park, Island Analytics, Leatherback Brewing and Coca Cola, Virgin Islands. For more information email [email protected].
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