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Zita Cobb. Photograph by Virginia Macdonald
26 Together we thrive
But while the fishery is essential to the
island’s economy, Cobb says “it’s not sufficient to
life, and cultural continuity on Fogo Island, which
we need so we don’t fall out of our own story.”
So Shorefast centred Fogo Island’s story
around art, “because art is about cultural
knowledge,” and hospitality, because while Fogo
Islanders are as hospitable as they come, “we
just didn’t have a fine inn to practice it.” The
artist-in-residence program brings in artists
from around the world to live and work in the
community. And in addition to building the
now locally owned Fogo Island Inn, Shorefast
restored and saved several important heritage
structures as well.
With a furniture business, ice cream shop and
a hand-line cod business (in conjunction with
the fishery cooperative), Cobb says the sum of
Shorefast’s work adds about $50 million annually
to the local economy, and employs about a third
of the households on the island.
The dream is to get Fogo Island’s population
back up over 6,000 after a COVID-caused exodus
brought it down to about 2,500 people. But in
the meantime, visitors from across Canada and
around the world are visiting the island (which is
three-and-a-half times bigger than Manhattan),
seeing its success and looking at their local worlds
differently when they return. By looking inward
and focusing on what Fogo Island offers, Cobb
says Shorefast “put another leg on the economy”
through its asset-based community development,
a process that helps people anywhere recognize
the real value of their communities.
“We’re often blind to what our true assets
are,” Cobb says. “Money is not an asset — it’s a
resource. People, nature and culture are assets,
and we need to deploy the resources, like money,
to support and properly develop them. I believe
that an economy needs to underpin the places
that people live in, and underpin people’s lives.
Otherwise, what’s an economy for?”