DOMINICA ACADEMY of ARTS and SCIENCES

The Dominica Academy of Arts and Sciences (hereinafter, “The Academy’) had its origin in a national development oriented collaboration between Dominican born US Attorney Gabriel Christian and Dominican born writer Raglan E. Riviere. Mr. Riviere was the founder of his own website, Sir Raglan Presents. Gabriel Christian was a frequent visitor to that site as it presented a spotlight on Dominicans at home and abroad who had accomplished much in way of academic achievement and enterprise. As a result, Gabriel Christian, a co-founder of the Washington, DC based Institute of Caribbean Studies (www.icsdc.org) contacted Mr. Riviere and proposed the formation of a Dominica Academy of Arts and Sciences as an online portal by which to network Dominicans at home and abroad, along with their  allies, to foster development of their island home.    Mr. Riviere agreed to the proposal and decided to serve as the first webmaster of the Academy. The online Dominica Academy would serve as a platform to gather the human resources of Dominicans, and friends of Dominica, in an online skills directory to service the development needs of the island and the wider Caribbean.

 

Further the Academy would be the repository for science based and other research papers, and also act as a project management portal for initiatives such as the Botanic Gardens website.  Mr. Christian incorporated the Academy as a non-profit in the State of Maryland in 2000. That same year it was decided to select Dr. Clayton Shillingford, a Dominican born plant pathologist recently retired from Dupont Labs in Delaware, to lead the organization as President.

 

The Academy was formally launched on December 7, 2001, in Brooklyn, New York at the Dominica Diaspora in the Development Process Symposium held at the Brooklyn Marriott which was organized by the Roosevelt Douglas Foundation (RDF).  Both the RDF and the Academy worked together for several years to foster greater commitment to Dominica by overseas Dominicans and engaged and completed many collaborative development projects with the Government of Dominica and allied groups in education, health care, revival of the Dominica Cadet Corps, crime fighting symposia, disaster relief and scientific partnerships with the Dominica State College and Smithsonian Institute.

  

A carefully selected Steering Committee, led by Dr. Clayton A. Shillingford, DAAS first President, laid a solid foundation for the Academy, including gaining 501 (c) tax exempt non-profit status in the USA and Charitable status in Dominica. On or about November 10, 2005, the Academy selected its first, democratically elected Board of Directors and Executive Committee.

 

In 2015 Mr. Riviere passed away after many years of distinguished service to the Academy. The Academy is committed to moving forward with a broader mandate that includes dedication to the creation of a Caribbean Academy of Arts and Sciences and/or linkages to such institutions already in place which serve a wider Caribbean mission.