Two Jamaican cultural heritage leaders from the Institute of Jamaica are among just 12 people selected for the second cohort of the Yale Directors Forum (YDF), a highly selective fellowship for executive leaders responsible for preserving and managing cultural heritage.
Dr. Kirt Henry, director of the African Caribbean Institute of Jamaica/Jamaica Memory Bank, and Faith Anderson, director of Liberty Hall: The Legacy of Marcus Garvey, are the only Caribbean representatives in the 12-member cohort, which spans nine countries across Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean.
The tuition-free, 12-month fellowship runs from June 2026 to June 2027 and forms part of Yale University’s broader efforts to strengthen long-term partnerships, knowledge exchange and collaboration across Africa and the African diaspora.
What is the Yale Directors Forum?
The Yale Directors Forum brings together leaders who are building, directing or transforming museums, cultural centres, archives and other organisations responsible for safeguarding significant cultural heritage collections.
Fellows work with Yale faculty and staff, international cultural heritage practitioners and their peers to strengthen their expertise in leadership, collections management and preservation while building a global professional network.
A major component of the fellowship takes that expertise directly to the fellows’ institutions. Yale staff and partner experts will spend one week at each institution assessing collections and working on documentation, conservation, care and short- and long-term preservation strategies.
The programme also includes opening and closing in-person global symposia and virtual sessions throughout the year. At the closing symposium, fellows will present their collections-focused work and reflect on the fellowship.
YDF is tuition-free, with fellows receiving a stipend to support international travel and participation. The programme culminates in a non-degree certificate from Yale University.
Meet Dr. Kirt Henry
Dr. Kirt Henry is a Jamaican curator, researcher, writer and cultural heritage advocate who serves as director of the African Caribbean Institute of Jamaica/Jamaica Memory Bank (ACIJ/JMB), a division of the Institute of Jamaica.
His work focuses on the research, documentation and preservation of Jamaican and African-Caribbean culture, including both tangible collections and intangible cultural heritage.
Henry holds a Bachelor of Arts in History and Heritage Studies from The University of the West Indies, Mona, and a Doctor of Philosophy in Cultural Studies from UWI’s Institute of Caribbean Studies.
His work has included research and documentation of Jamaican Revival traditions, while his responsibilities at ACIJ/JMB include collections of photographs, historical documents and other materials recording aspects of Jamaica’s cultural history and community memory.
As part of the Yale Directors Forum, the collections under Henry’s leadership will become the focus of an on-site engagement with Yale staff and partner experts aimed at strengthening collections care, documentation and preservation.
Reacting to his selection in a LinkedIn post, Henry said he was “deeply honoured” to be among the heritage professionals selected for the fellowship and looked forward to the opportunity for “growth and collaborative development.”
Meet Faith Anderson
Faith Anderson, JP, is director of Liberty Hall: The Legacy of Marcus Garvey in downtown Kingston, which also operates under the Institute of Jamaica.
Liberty Hall is dedicated to preserving, interpreting and sharing the life, work and legacy of Marcus Mosiah Garvey, Jamaica’s first national hero and one of the most influential Pan-African figures of the 20th century.
Anderson’s professional background spans anthropology, sociology, research, Pan-African history, community empowerment and cultural heritage preservation.
She also oversees the Marcus Mosiah Garvey Multimedia Museum at Liberty Hall and its collection of materials connected to Garvey, his work and legacy.
Through exhibitions, research and educational and cultural programmes, Liberty Hall engages students, scholars, researchers and visitors interested in Garvey, Pan-African history and the wider African diaspora.
As a YDF fellow, Anderson’s institution will also participate in the programme’s on-site collections care and management component, bringing Yale staff and partner experts to Liberty Hall to work directly on issues including documentation, conservation and long-term preservation.
Connecting Jamaica’s Cultural Heritage to a Global Network
Henry and Anderson are part of a 12-member cohort drawn from Jamaica, Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, the Democratic Republic of Congo, South Africa, Togo, Brazil and Panama.
Their selection gives Jamaica two representatives in a fellowship designed to connect cultural heritage leaders across Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean and strengthen the institutions responsible for preserving significant cultural collections.
It is also notable that both Jamaican fellows come from the leadership of the Institute of Jamaica, but are responsible for institutions preserving different dimensions of the country’s cultural memory.
At the African Caribbean Institute of Jamaica/Jamaica Memory Bank, Henry’s work encompasses the documentation and preservation of Jamaican and African-Caribbean culture and community memory. At Liberty Hall, Anderson leads an institution charged with preserving and interpreting the legacy of Marcus Garvey and its significance to Jamaica and the wider African diaspora.
Over the fellowship year, both institutions will become part of a wider exchange of knowledge, expertise and preservation practices connecting cultural heritage organisations across the Global South.
