OUR HISTORY
Since 2003, Chewstick has brought Bermuda together around a simple belief: everyone has a story worth hearing. Artists, elders, young people, volunteers and audiences have made that belief a living part of our culture.
THE NEO-GRIOT MOVEMENT
Chewstick began in friendship, collaboration and the courage to share something of yourself.
In December 2003, founder Gavin Djata Smith and a circle of artists and longtime collaborators came together to share their talents. Early collaborators included co-founder Najib Chentouf. The gathering grew into the Chewstick Neo-Griot Lounge, where a first-time performer could take the same stage as an established artist and the audience helped shape the experience.
The name Neo-Griot connects that contemporary expression with the West African griot tradition of preserving history and carrying a community’s stories. Music, poetry and conversation became ways to explore identity, cross social divides and hear one another more closely.
From Hilly’s on Front Street to Champions on Reid Street, Chewstick found homes in places where people could gather and create. The red building at Court and Elliot Streets in North-East Hamilton, known as Bakatown, became another important home for the movement.
As the work grew beyond the stage, Gavin explored how to give it a lasting structure, with guidance from elders, advisers and the Centre on Philanthropy. The Chewstick Foundation became Bermuda registered charity #857 on 10 May 2009. Early investment from The Atlantic Philanthropies helped develop the organisation and its programmes.
Launched in 2006, Beachfest brought music and community celebration to Horseshoe Bay on Emancipation Day. Its stages welcomed local and visiting artists, while the Beachfest Crown Song Competition, developed with PRS for Music, encouraged original songs celebrating Bermuda.
Chewstick began its stewardship of Good Friday KiteFest in 2012, helping carry forward a longstanding tradition of kite flying, music and family activities. Both events welcomed thousands of residents and visitors. Beachfest paused in 2016 as the team focused on the Culture Hub.
Community Art grew from student painting into public murals, bringing local stories into shared spaces. Alongside it, Break The Chains and ChewSLAM used writing, poetry and performance to help secondary-school students explore their experiences and develop their voices.
Young poets represented Bermuda at Brave New Voices in San Francisco in 2012, Chicago in 2013 and Philadelphia in 2014. T.W.I.G.S.—True Wisdom In Growing Souls—gave young people the opportunity to shape their own events, perform and learn the work behind the stage.
In 2015, Chewstick moved to 81 Front Street. Volunteers helped transform the space into a Culture Hub: a home for the arts and the community that had grown around them. It opened in May 2016 with music from Mishka and Heather Nova.
On 21 July 2016, a fire destroyed the newly opened Culture Hub, including instruments, equipment and more than a decade of cultural archives. The loss reduced staffing and programme capacity and left Chewstick without a permanent venue.
The community kept the work moving through shared spaces, partnerships and volunteer effort. The fire remains part of our story because it changed what we could deliver—and showed how much the movement lived in its people.
Since 2022, monthly Open Mic gatherings at Blue Waters Anglers Club have provided a regular place to reconnect. Community Art has continued across Bermuda, including the Gombey mural series with the Department of Culture, while island retreats have brought people together through workshops, music and time in nature.
Open Mic, Community Art and Retreats are our three active Community Programmes today. Sustained support will help make their delivery more dependable, reduce barriers to taking part and create the capacity to do more.
Explore today’s programmesMORE CHAPTERS IN THE MOVEMENT
Creative writing, poetry, music and performance at Co-ed and Westgate offered opportunities for reflection and self-expression. Relaunching dedicated Corrections and T.W.I.G.S. youth programmes is a future priority, dependent on funding and capacity.
The Ital Clarke Recording Studio honoured a beloved musician and community figure. BlockDocs film screenings opened conversations about social issues. Each extended the same invitation: bring your experience, listen and contribute.
Chewstick has welcomed artists including Joy T. Barnum, Yesha Townsend, Tiffany Paynter and Shine Hayward, alongside visiting voices such as Aja Monet and Denice Frohman. Their contributions sit alongside the first performances, quiet encouragement and volunteer hours that have sustained the movement.
Our immediate priority is to sustain the programmes running today and support the people delivering them. Over time, we aim to restore dedicated youth and Corrections work and secure a dependable home for Chewstick. That future depends on continuing community participation and sustained investment.
Meet the Foundation and its leadershipSupport the people, programmes and practical work that keep Bermuda’s stories being shared.