On January 12, 2010, a 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck Haiti and devastated the capital city, Port-au-Prince.

Among the earthquake’s widespread destruction were also museums, galleries and other places that contained Haiti’s artistic treasures. The Centre d’Art, which launched the Haitian arts movement in the 1940s, was severely damaged.

Taino art center is an effort to cherish Haitian Naive Art in a building which is sturdy, self efficient, and  built with sustainable strategies and materials.

The concept for the Art Center is Taino coqui frog. Tainos were indigenous people of Haiti and many Taino myths surrounded the coqui.