At Shorefast, every year brings new opportunities to advance community economic development on Fogo Island and beyond. In 2024, we built strong momentum towards driving our vision of enabling economic dignity for more people and more places. 

As a registered charity, Shorefast is powered by independent philanthropy, donations from past guests of Fogo Island Inn and supporters, as well as by the surplus generated from our social businesses. Our activities span hospitality, art, design, the environment, heritage, foodways, and building and sharing good and best practices in community economic development.  

We’re grateful to all of our friends and supporters who believe in our work and amplify our impact on Fogo Island and beyond.  
 
Here are some highlights from 2024, made possible thanks to you: 

We laid the foundations for ShoreNet, a Network for place-based economies 

After 20 years of building an engine of economic development on Fogo Island, Shorefast has embarked on an ambitious mission to broaden the reach of our community economies work.  

Still in development, ShoreNet is the evolution of the Community Economies Pilot. It’s a network to help communities in Canada achieve the economic agency they need to shape their future. The network brings together entrepreneurs, policy makers, municipal leaders, non-profit organizers, philanthropists, academics, business leaders and institutions — from the very small to the very large. ShoreNet offers tools, resources, convenings, case studies, and mechanisms to affect change in the key pillars of society: community, government, business, and philanthropy. 

Learn more  

We hosted changemakers to better build and learn together 

Nawalakw 

We welcomed leaders from Alert Bay, BC to the island. Members of Nawalakw joined the Shorefast team to share place-based economic development experiences and perspectives. 

Nawalakw is a social venture located in the Kwakwaka̱’wa̱kw Territory of the  Great Bear Rainforest of British Columbia. Their vision is to build a future that respects their connection to the land, air, and sea, firmly rooted in their responsibility of stewardship, while building a robust and prosperous economy.  

Learn more 

PLACE Dialogues 

Last fall, the seventh PLACE Dialogues returned to Fogo Island, its place of origin. Co-hosted by Shorefast and Memorial University’s Centre for Social Enterprise, this edition was centred around the theme of Building Economic Momentum for Resilient Communities. It brought together social entrepreneurs with community economic development peers working in the government and non-profit sectors.   

The ground-breaking methodology explored during the convening accumulates into the action and influence needed to generate economic momentum that builds resilient communities.   

Read our blog 

Our First Entrepreneur-in-Residence 

In the winter of 2024, Toni Kearney spent time on Fogo Island to immerse herself in our community business model and replicate our regenerative practices in her community of Conche, NL. 

Kearney is the Founder of Moratorium Tours & Retreats, which was inspired by Shorefast and Fogo Island Inn. She shares our vision of inspiring business development in outport Newfoundland and Labrador.  

Hear about her experience 

We welcomed artists and other thought-leaders to help us see the world ‘as whole’

Shore Time

Fogo Island Arts hosted the inaugural Shore Time, a biannual gathering celebrating the intersections of art, design, economy, ecology, and foodways. During the last weekend of September, Fogo Island teemed with creative and collaborative energy as artists, community members, and guests came together for insightful talks, walks, and studio tours.   

Speakers included Indy Johar, Laura Owens, Sharon Lockhart, and Danh Vo, while Fogo Island artists opened their studios and shared their ideas and work with visitors and residents.  

Artists-in-residence 

Fogo Island Arts welcomed an array of artists-in-residence, who connected with the community through conversations or workshops. These included Zak Leazer and Zoë Hitzig’s well-attended flower-arranging workshop, a curator talk with Leo Cocar, and Syrus Marcus Ware and Susan Irons-Ware’s participation in World Oceans’ Day. We also hosted Ghazaleh Avarzamani, Jordan Bennett, Wong Winsome Dumalagan, L. Sasha Gora, Amy Malbeuf, Ethan Murphy, and Mooni Perry as artists-in-residence throughout the year.  

Nelson White’s vibrant exhibition, Wutanminu – Our Community was showcased at the Gallery at Fogo Island Inn.  Visitors and residents were also invited to an insightful panel discussion featuring Nelson, as well as fellow artists-in-residence Jordan Bennett and Amy Malbeuf, who are also featured in Nelson’s paintings. 

Reaching Out into the World

Kitty Scott, Shorefast fellow and Strategic Director of Fogo Island Arts, was appointed Chief Curator of the 15^th Shanghai Biennale which will open in November 2025. We are grateful for Kitty’s ongoing contribution to Fogo Island Arts which reinforces our leadership in the contemporary art space, and expands our reach globally. 

Celebrating and Preserving Culture 

Music and storytelling play an important role on Fogo Island; they bring community members together, while preserving culture and traditions.  

This year, we hosted: Polaris Prize-winner Jeremy Dutcher for an intimate performance, musician-in-residence Chris Murphy for lively, weekly jam sessions and a community concert, and Carol Shields Prize-winning author V. V. Ganeshananthan for a chat about her book Brotherless Night during her residency at Fogo Island Inn.  

We helped broaden horizons for our youth 

With the shared objective to help Fogo Island youth imagine the future and the potential of the island, Shorefast and Fogo Island Central Academy hosted guest speakers in classrooms to showcase careers, environmental initiatives, and science projects related to their island and Atlantic Canada. Coinciding with the total lunar eclipse, Bethany Downer, a native of Newfoundland who is now the Chief Science Communications Officer for the ESA/Hubble and James Webb Space Telescopes, came to give a talk and interpret the event, along with NASA aerospace research engineer Dr. Tom Edwards. 

Jarrod Oglan from Living Water Hydroponic Farms, Fogo Island beekeeper Don Paul, and Fisheries officers also visited to share their knowledge of the nature that surrounds us. 

Community science events for students were also organized throughout the year, such as a shoreline clean-up and activities aimed at raising awareness on plastic pollution threatening our shores. 

We created new ways to care for our ocean and coast 

Green Crab Monitoring 

The Environmental Stewardship Team set up a volunteer monitoring initiative to identify and trap green crabs, an invasive species that is not native to Fogo Island waters and can harm our environment by feeding on small finfish, being aggressive and territorial, and damaging the eelgrass habitat. All logged information is sent to Fisheries and Oceans Canada. Track their progress here.  

Successful Seaweed Harvest

We continued our work around seaweed farming, one of the most sustainable forms of aquaculture. This year, we enjoyed our first successful harvest, the culmination of a three-year Seaweed Pilot Project in collaboration with the Fogo Island Co-operative Society and the Marine Institute at Memorial University of Newfoundland. The Environmental Stewardship Team planted seaweed seeds to begin a second year of growing – this time, in partnership with KalUp, a new seaweed enterprise based on Change Islands

This project wouldn’t be possible without the funding partnership of the Canadian Centre for Fisheries Innovation, the research partnership of Dr. Christina Smeaton at Memorial University, and the expertise of Fogo Island fishers and community members.  

Awareness Activities

The Environmental Stewardship team led a variety of activities at this year’s World Oceans’ Day at the Iceberg Arena, including a showcase on community science. 

The team also organized workshops at Punt Premises spotlighting sustainable hobbies, from kitchen gardening to seaweed cyanotypes.   

Finally, geologist Jane Wynne returned to Fogo Island to share her knowledge of the island’s unique geology through several guided hikes.

 Discover more initiatives 

We kept growing our own social businesses 

Fogo Island Inn  

Fogo Island Inn received Three MICHELIN Keys in 2024. This top international achievement recognizes our team’s commitment to extraordinary, place-based hospitality.  Conde Nast Traveler’s Gold List also included Fogo Island Inn among the Top Hotels and Resorts in the world.  

Fogo Island Fish 

Air Canada has selected our North Atlantic Cod as a highlight of their menu in their Signature Suite at Pearson International Airport in Toronto. And more and more restaurants in Ontario and Calgary are offering ethically harvested cod and seafood from our small boat, community-based fishery. 

Fogo Island Workshops 

We collaborated with Christopher Farr Cloth of London to distribute wallpaper and textile designs inspired by the beloved wallpaper adorning the walls of Fogo Islanding Inn. Our unique outport aesthetic is now accessible to designers worldwide.   

The Storehouse & Growlers

As always, our restaurant and ice cream parlour delighted the community and visitors alike in their celebration of our foodways, offering traditional dishes and handcrafted ice cream made with local berries and ingredients.