Our family is international and encompasses the globe in its diversity which made us in turn fall in love with the gorgeous diversity of Belize, where we feel most at home living in Cayo. Our passions span both the arts and technology with decades of experience lovingly creating programs, experiences and platforms in both fields for our family of artists and the public. Out of that deep love Belize Sol was born.
Deanna Lane has been on a passionate global art journey since her childhood growing up in New York City. Coming from Black and Indigenous Creole roots from her ancestral lands of North Carolina, she has always connected most lovingly in the Inter-Tribal, Latino and Caribbean communities she grew up around in NYC– her umbilical home. Pursuing art projects, from museums to arts non-profits, compelled her to travel the world. From living in the Southwest, to the West Coast and Pacific Northwest of the U.S. and now Central America, she has always had the love of the arts along with connections to people and their cultures to guide her journey. Learn more…
Andrew Shaffer has had decades of building software and digital experiences across industries, but has enjoyed supporting artists the most through sites like Native Arts 360 and Belize Sol in creative partnership with Deanna. From childhood he developed a passion for technology encouraged by his family. After working with corporations like CBS, he has found joy in creating his own tech business geared more towards supporting small local businesses. As he does deep dives into building large language models, he also considers how to make computing less exploitive and more inclusive. His time living in a Coast Salish Tribal community in the Pacific Northwest set the stage for developing an approach to de-colonizing computing.
In 2014 the marriage of art and technology came together in a way that made it possible to support our artist family that continues to grow over time. As an art and technology team we are able to promote the art of artists we love while connecting them to opportunities including exhibitions, markets, commissions and e-commerce support.
In early 2025, after connecting with Belizean friends through family in the US some time ago, we made the trip and fell in love feeling a deep connection and appreciation for the people, the cultures and the country. Our minds are often blown by the phenomenal talent of the artists in Belize. Seeing so much representation of the cultures is deeply inspiring and experiencing it is spiritual. Now we call Belize home and continue to grow our family of artists lovingly throughout the country.