The Name: Most Trinidadians will know someone called “Tallman”. Its a popular colloquial nickname, and in fact, TheTallMan Foundation did derive its name from one family's life-altering interaction with a person called Tallman. Where the naming of the Foundation was inspired in part as a tribute to this individual, 'TallMan' also carries depth and layers of meaning, making it an apt name and symbol for an organization dedicated to intervention in the lives of young people, and particularly young men, in Trinidad and Tobago.
click here to view video: http://www.vimeo.com/12119109
A TallMan sees further, reaches higher, sets an example by standing tall.
See Wendell Manwarren, feature speaker at TallMan's 2010 graduation, as he speaks about the TallMan motto of 'Stand tall, reach further and see beyond.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwiDPAeUGpo&feature=player_embedded
Beginnings: The TallMan Foundation took its earliest steps as a member of a partnership of stakeholders, community, religious and political, that came together under the program CITY - Community Intervention Transforming Youth. (CITY has since become CIT+E, Community Intervention for Transformation and Empowerment). CITY was responsible for the birth of the movement 'Pride in Gonzales', as its name suggests, a neighbourhood/community building exercise that sought to encourage the capacity of residents to manage their own social and infrastructural development. At the start, for TallMan, beyond advisory capacity, their involvement in real terms consisted of funding and equipping a photography course for young people.
Growth: The seed was planted. The popularity of the photography course, coupled with the founding members’ own belief in the transformative powers of the Arts, led to a big jump for TallMan, from funding one course, to designing and implementing an Arts program offering workshops in different disciplines, such as videography, drama, dance, music. This marked the first steps toward the overarching dream of TallMan, to establish a performing arts company with its own performancce space in the community itself.
Building Bridges: As the program grew, one of the unexpected offshoots was the positive impact of the human relationships formed between members of the Foundation, both volunteer comittee and students. A sense of pride and accomplishment was shared by all after a successful exhibition or performance by the students. This led to the natural expansion of the initial mission of the Foundation. In addition to 'transformation through the arts' TallMan could now add 'building social bridges' to its aims, having experienced firsthand the dispelling of stereotypes, and the real relationship forming that's possible when both sides of a percieved divide are prepared to take a step towards each other and participate in achieving a common end.
TallMan Talk: In tandem with this new thrust, TallMan introduced a new workshop entitled 'TallMan Talk'. A workshop devoted to personal development this innovative workshop gives the youth a forum for discussion and an opportunity to have their voice heard. To date it has been the most popular of the workshops on offer, boasting record attendence of close to 30 students per session.
