Hyde Park Open Studios takes place Sunday, September 30, 2012. This event highlights artists and their work. It is a community-wide, family event. We invite resident-artists from the Haitian Community of Hyde Park to join us.

Jean Weevens Janvier: Indicted for killing Emile sisters last year. A Suffolk County Grand Jury has indicted a former Boston man in the Nov. 2011 double-murder of two Haitian-American sisters who were gunned down in their Dorchester apartment last November. The suspect, Jean Weevins Janvier, 30, has been on the run since the homicides and authorities say that they believe he's fled the country.

Prosecutors say that Janvier had been in a previous romantic relationship with Stephanie Emile, 21, who was found shot to death alongside her sister, Judith, 23, in their Harlem Street apartment on Nov. 14, 2011.

Patrick JeromeAfter experiencing several film festivals, Patrick Jerome, Haitian-American filmmaker, realized that nothing like this existed in Boston. Arriving in America to a different film industry, he created the Boston International Film Festival (BIFF) to not only present his own films, but to bring culture and movies throughout the world to the city.

With only a small number of films accepted, the Tenth Annual BIFF will be screening over 100 movies from 30 countries at the Boston Common AMC Loews. Jerome said a record-breaking number of filmmakers are coming from South Korea, Germany, Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, the Netherlands, and France.

Dorchester’s Harbor Pilot Middle School will be one of four places on Saturday where parents will have a chance to weigh in on the Menino administration’s attempt to overhaul the school assignment process. The community meeting will last from 9 a.m.

Marjorie Alexandre Brunache, Counsel Minister for the General Consulate of Haiti in BostonMarjorie Alexandre Brunache, Counsel Minister for the General Consulate of Haiti in Boston, is the newest representative of the Haitian government in Boston. She was appointed to the position last fall and has served since Dec. 1, 2011. She succeeds Emmanuelle Dupiton and Gladys Joseph.

“What I want the community to know is we are here for them,” said Counsel Brunache. “We deliver so many important services, that outreach to educate the community on what we provide is key to our success.”

BHR 2-12The February 2012 edition of the Boston Haitian Reporter is now available in print and online.

In this month's edition, the Boston Haitian Reporter is pleased to introduce our readers to a new section of the newspaper that will feature the work of Haitian cartoonists and journalists. Their work has been brought to our attention through a groundbreaking project led by an international organization called the Cartoon Movement.

We encourage our readers to learn more about the background of Cartoon Movement and their Haiti project by going to their website. You can also view more work from very talented Haitian artists, cartoonists and journalists who have teamed with Cartoon Movement in recent months. There is also a video that documents the month that the Cartoon Movement’s editorial team spent in Haiti last July.

On January 12, 2012, the second anniversary of the earthquake, Cartoon Movement published the first chapter of the 75-page comics journalism project focused on life in Haiti— the first section of which is printed here in the Reporter.

Written by Port-au-Prince reporter Pharés Jerome, and illustrated by Chevelin Pierre, Tents Beyond Tents takes us down to the Champ de Mars in front of the crumbled presidential palace to the squalid conditions in tent camps on the outskirts of town. Jerome tells us of the forced evictions by state authorities and the modest progress that is finally allowing some families to relocate.

STATE HOUSE, BOSTON, JAN. 30, 2012. As Haiti continues to recover from the devastating earthquake of 2010, state leaders on Monday recommitted themselves to helping Haitians and their families living in Massachusetts to rebuild their lives.

“This was not about some distant calamity, but our neighbors, friends, co-workers and their families,” Gov. Deval Patrick said during an event Monday morning commemorating the second anniversary of the earthquake.

To mark the anniversary, state officials gathered at the State House with members of the Haitian community where Patrick presented a proclamation recognizing the earthquake and promising to continue the state’s efforts to help refugees and their families who have since arrived in Massachusetts.

Rep. Linda Dorcena Forry, a Dorchester Democrat and a Haitian American, led the event, which also attracted House Speaker Robert DeLeo, Senate Ways and Means Chairman Stephen Brewer, Rep. Russell Holmes of Dorchester, and Rep. Alice Wolf of Cambridge.

Karen Keating Ansara of The Haitian Fund at The Boston Foundation, was the keynote speaker at the Jan. 7 gala dinner hosted by Haitian-Americans United, Inc.

Emeline Michel performs at Harvard on Nov 18Nedgine Paul, a student at the Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE), has admired Emeline Michel’s music since she was a child.

“My passion for raising awareness about Haiti included inviting friends and colleagues to attend Emeline’s performances,”
said Paul.

When HGSE for Haiti decided to organize the Haiti Arts and Awareness Event to commemorate the historic Battle of Vertieres, the last victory before the Haitian independence, they invited Emeline Michel to perform on Nov. 18. The core theme of the event was the Haitian motto L’Union Fait La Force, In Unity there is Strength.