BELMOPAN, Mon. Apr. 4, 2022– The final few days of Women’s Month saw the culmination of “Girls Gone Crafty”—an art initiative spearheaded by Belmopan artist Raquel Rodriguez (Raquel-ART) in collaboration with the Ministry of Human Development, Families, and Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs, which aimed to teach women how to turn handmade crafts into sources of income. The four-day initiative, which saw fifty women from all across Belmopan and its surrounding areas in attendance, took place at the Belmopan Market Plaza and concluded on March 26. Its participants learned how to craft a wide range of products, including jewelry, key chains, handbags, and coasters, many of which are often sold in the country’s tourism industry. The women also learned the importance of branding as well as how to properly package items in preparation for becoming successful vendors and small business owners. And after spending time creating handcrafted items, they were given the chance to sell their work right off the bat, with the workshop setting up booths at the Belmopan Night Market.

Raquel Rodriguez, the owner of Raquel-ART and the facilitator behind the workshop, told AMANDALA that the motivation behind the project came from years of working as an artist in Belize both as a single mother and as a woman determined to make a living doing the thing she loves—creating art.

“Normally in the art world, you’re just an artist, you’re one person. However, this being alone, being by ourselves, pulling ourselves through the artwork, selling our art in tourism and all these things, that came to a screeching halt during COVID,” she said. With the pandemic, her profitable work selling art came to a screeching halt. But shortly after, she would begin teaching art—a skill that would be put to good use during her workshop.

“Girls Gone Crafty was brought to my attention through CEO Tanya Santos with the Ministry of Human Development. And that was very important to me, because they asked me to do something for Women’s Month,” she said. She then went on to explain how teaching women to become economically empowered through art was the first thing that popped into her mind.

According to Rodriguez, the workshop was the product of a group effort, as the women were instructed not only by her but by several artisans from across the country as well. The soon-to-be vendors were also granted the opportunity to create a vendor’s account with the National Bank of Belize, which, according to one of the participants, Miss Monilee Aspinall, will make conducting sales much easier. Aspinall, who recently began selling crystal jewelry online, spoke with AMANDALA, explaining how the workshop has helped her to expand her skills as a small business owner.

“I started a small business making jewelry a couple months ago. Before the training, it was just me kind of sitting on YouTube stressing about where to get materials from, the technique, packaging, how to find customers, all that stuff—just doing that by yourself. And so with Miss Raquel, she gave us really the foundational things,” said Aspinall, who expressed gratitude towards Raquel Rodriguez for providing them not only with crafting materials and lessons but with the chance to meet with persons who have been successfully making income as artisans.

“One of the things that is really hard in this business is that people are very tight-lipped with where they source their products from, because they view everyone as competition. So it was really nice being able to have something tangible and intangible of being able to reach out to someone. That was definitely one of the highlights for me,” she added.

The Girls Gone Crafty workshop provided the participants, all women of various ages, an opportunity to connect, not just with potential collaborators and customers, but with each other, as they shared stories of their experiences as small business owners and artists.

“Tears were shed in this workshop while so many shared these stories … some of domestic violence or some just from the need to have money coming into their homes … on the other hand, tears of joy were also spilled,” stated a press release issued by Raquel-ART, which also gave kudos to one participant, Miss Nancy Reyes, who worked on all her products during the workshop with a 2-month-old baby in hand.

“It’s so powerful how a small workshop can make such a huge impact on someone’s life,” expressed Rodriguez. She also told AMANDALA that she hopes to be able to bring Girls Gone Crafty to other parts of the country and is currently working towards getting the funding to do so.