Régine M. Roumain: Torch Carrier

(right to left) Régine M. Roumain and Michèle Voltaire Marcelin

Creator (Régine M. Roumain) and creation (Haiti Cultural Exchange “HCX”) are so intertwined, it’s a challenge to discern where one stops and the other begins.

If Haitian culture is the mother, HCX is the fetus, and Régine is undoubtedly the umbilical—the lifeline connecting the two.

Régine M. Roumain is co-founder and director of HCX, the organization that does much more than disseminate Haitian Culture in the New York area.  It moves us forward.

HCX is a one-stop place for Haitian musicians, writers, visual artists, poets, dancers, story-tellers—seasoned and emerging. It is a virtual womb, in a sense—a safe place to develop and grow and give birth to creative ideas.

HCX connects outside organizations to Haitian artists about whom they might not have heard. “They are out there on their own,” Régine says of most artists in the diaspora. “HCX is a central place that can link everyone.”

This mother of two is constantly on the move, facilitating programs that keep Haitian culture from fading. The signature ‘An n’ Pale’ series–a tête-à-tête between artist and audience–is always refreshing. HCX also partners with New York City Public Schools to facilitate learning objectives that help our children’s imagination to flourish.

There’s never a quiet moment in Régine world, but you will never catch her without the torch she carries in Haiti’s name.

Régine’s InnerView with VoicesfromHaiti is coming soon.