a. Research

E-mail communication was submitted to the Institute of Figuring from June 2022 - October 2022. Information received from the Institute of Figuring indicated an investment of USD4000 was required for the programming fee to become a satellite crochet coral reef. Noting that the Institute of Figuring only partners with institutions, communication with the University of the West Indies Errol Barrow Centre for Creative Imagination (EBCCI) was pursued. A meeting with the Institute of Figuring and EBCCI was held in early November 2022. It was agreed at this meeting that the financial investment required for the collaboration with the EBCCI would be beyond the project funds capabilities at this time. It was determined that future communication would be pursued following the completion of the 3-month project.

With the lack of collaboration with the Institute of Figuring, it was determined that local research would be required to complete the bio-diversity aspect of the project in the form of crochet.

The book ?Barbados: A Coral Reef Paradise? was purchased to ensure the crochet replicas directly reflected Barbados coral reef.

A Crochet Coral Reef Cruise (taking the crocheters on a glass bottom boat) was also pursued to enable authentic photography and videography to be captured for project records. The photography company Cornerstone Creatives was selected for this project based on their underwater experience.

Secondary research via Google search engine resulted in the collation of a number of websites related to the execution of a crochet coral reef. These websites include patterns, tutorial videos, as well as examples from which we were able to base our creations.


b. Meetings ?

Weekly meetings were held from Saturday November 5, 2022, through to Saturday January 7, 2023, with a Christmas period break. In these meetings, participants were provided with the patterns, yarn, and crochet hooks to complete the replica selected for that week.



Session 1 ? November 5 - Different type of coral and sea animals ? pseudosphere, lettuce, star fish
Session 2 ? November 12 - Sea shells, turtles, fish, sand/sea blanket
Session 3 ? November 19 - Letters (Roofs to Reefs)
Session 4 ? November 26 - Trees (Ridge to Reef)
Session 5 ? December 3 ? Crochet Cruise (Research)
Session 6 ? December 17 ? Different type of coral and sea animals
Session 7 ? December 19 ? Christmas Celebration Workshop (Trinidad and Tobago)
Session 8 ? January 7 - Different type of coral and sea animals
Session 9 ? January 11- 20 ? Daily meetings in preparation of Ridge to Reef Exhibit
Session 10 ? January 23- 27 ? Ridge to Reef Exhibit
Session 11 ? January 28 ? Crochet Therapy (mental health session)

Within these sessions, refreshments were provided to crochet artists and each artisan was allowed to take a ball of yarn for their personal projects, separate to the yarn given for completion of the project. The time for sharing of refreshments allowed for networking and the provision of excess yarn sought to empower the crochet artists in their businesses.

c. Workshops/Seminars

To support the crochet artist skill development, courses were purchased on www.domestika.org as gift codes for participants in the project.

Four participants were able to select Domestika courses using the self-paced learning method. Participants who would not have access to online study or were more inclined to face-to-face study were given the option of face-to-face classes. One participant selected this method, and a six-week course was arranged.

A workshop was held in Trinidad and Tobago to introduce the crochet artists to the concept of using crochet as an artform to promote the impact of climate change.


d. Drafting and reviewing the project proposal

The original project proposal was a Crochet Coral Reef as a satellite reef to the Institute of Figuring. Having decided that the satellite reef would not be pursued within this iteration of the project, the Barbados government concept ?Roofs to Reefs? was proposed for the project. This title was changed at the request of the Prime Minister?s Office. The final title given for the project was ?Crochet for a Cause: Ridge to Reef?.



Community empowerment within the project included granting participants the opportunity to participate in business expos and or flea markets. This was arranged for November 29 and December 10. Regrettably, the December 10 activity was declined by participants. Therefore, this aspect of the project was not fulfilled.


It was also hoped that the Ministry of Environment and the Coastal Zone Management Unit would have been able to send representatives to speak to the impact of climate change at one of the weekly meetings. Unfortunately, these institutions were not able to officially sign off on representatives attending the Saturday afternoon schedule.

It is to be noted that the title change did not impact the overall concept of the project.



e. Other ? Photographs and/or Video footage

Elaine?s Caribbean Crochet sought to maintain proper records for the project from initiation to completion.

Photographs were taken at each meeting or workshop for the project.

Testimonial videos of the participants in the project were recorded, in addition, to the videos created showing the process used for creating the replicas.

These videos and pictures were shared across social media channels including the videos and photographs taken at the Crochet Cruise.

Elaine?s Caribbean Crochet also used television communications to share the vision of the project by reserving a 7-minute promotional session on Caribbean Broadcasting Television (CBC) ?Mornin? Barbados?.

The photographs and video were also collated weekly at the following website link - https://elainescaribbeancrochet.com/crochet-for-a-cause-gets-a-creative-boost/

The google drive link related to the project includes the photography and videography of the project - https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1IrR-8sBtLJVOm2dIchQ5kNtvf3UVDNf8?usp=share_link