DIRECTORS & STAFF

Daimian S. Hines, AIA, NOMA, is a multiple award-winning architect and an emerging critical voice in the international design community who undertakes projects and pursuits that enhance countries, communities, and cultures. Daimian founded his headquartered practice, Hines Architecture + Design, in 2016 after returning from practice in southeast Asia. From its inception, he endeavored to challenge the form and focus of a minority firm by starting and building a mission-driven global practice that provides design and development consultancy with municipalities, corporations, and developers across the globe. Daimian’s objectives with the founding of Hines Architecture + Design are to provide thoughtful and rigorous design solutions for under-designed communities as well as design excellence for clients seeking a progressive and informed approach to delivering collabo- rative solutions that meet stated proformas. Daimian believes architecture is a confluence of artistic creativity, a splash of color, technological discipline, and a willingness to synthesize and incorporate cultural and community interests into placemaking. Daimian is currently building his practice and reputation with stakeholders, clients, and communities where new developments have the potential for significant and transformational impact. Daimian Hines intends to serve, synthesize, and contribute by designing and delivering architecture that transforms communities.

Barbara Blake-Hannah, O.D., Jamaican journalist, author, film maker, cultural consultant. Born and raised in Jamaica and educated at Hampton Girls School, Wolmers Girls School. Lived in England for eight years (1964-1972), graduating the Institute of Public Relations in 1972 as publicist for the first Jamaican film “The Harder They Come.” Well known as a journalist and broadcaster on topics of Rastafari to sit in the Jamaican Parliament. Mrs. Blake-Hannah is the producer/director of eight films, author of books, organizer of the first Jamaican Film Festival (1974) and six Reggae Film Festivals (2008-2013). In 2020 the British Press Gazette established a Barbara Blake-Hannah award for Black and multi-ethnic journalists, in recognition of her history becoming the first Black current affairs reporter on British TV (1968) at Thames TV, ATV Birmingham and later with the BBC ‘Man Alive’ TV program. Mrs. Blake-Hannah has received the United Nations Peace Medal (1974), the Adowa Centenary Gold Medal presented in 1997 by the Ethiopian Crown Council, the U.N.I.A. Lifetime Achievement Award 2018, the Hampton Girls School 160 th Anniversary Achievement Award and the Jamaican Order of Distinction in 2018. Mrs. Blake-Hannah is employed by the Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment & Sports as Cultural Liaison.

Dr. Dave Gosse is a Senior lecturer and Director in the Institute of Caribbean Studies (ICS), UWI, Mona. He formerly taught numerous courses in the Department of History and Archaeology, as well as in the ICS. Dr. Gosse is a graduate of Howard University and has to date published 2 books: Abolition and Plantation Management in Early Nineteenth Century Jamaica, 1807-1838, and Alexander Bedward, the Prophet of August Town: Race, Religion and Colonialism, along with multiple journal articles and encyclopedia entries. He currently serves as the Chairman of the Board of Management of the Ardenne High School in Kingston, Jamaica.

Acclaimed Jamaican sculptor, Basil Watson Basil Watson was born and educated in Jamaica. He is a graduate of the Edna Manley College of the Visual & Performing Arts located in Kingston, Jamaica and has established himself as the country’s preeminent sculptor, creating numerous public sculptures which are erected in various locations across the island.

In 2002 he immigrated to the USA and established his studio in Atlanta, GA, from which he has gone on to create public works for international locations including China, Guatemala, and the USA.

Basil created monumental works for his island home honoring accomplished Jamaican athletes, like Olympic champions Usain Bolt and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce along with others, and cultural icons like The Hon. Louise Bennett as well as the National Heroes.

Basil created and installed the 12ft sculpture of Dr. Martín Luther King Jr. for the city of Atlanta. It represents Hope Moving Forward and is part of the city’s MLK Innovation Corridor project. He fulfilled his commission of constructing and installing the Windrush monument for the British Government . This structure sits at the Waterloo Station in London as a lasting memorial to the vision of the Windrush pioneers and a testament to future generations of the importance of the sacrifice given in building a nation.

He is presently the artistic director on the Board of Directors of The Jamaican Museum and Cultural Center, Inc.