Epocheye Signs MoU with Caribbean SteelPan Tours to Pilot Cultural AR in Jamaica

We're announcing a new partnership: Epocheye has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Caribbean SteelPan Tours Limited ("CST"), operators of the immersive steelpan cultural tourism experience at Turtle River Park, Ocho Rios, Jamaica, developed in association with the Trinidad and Tobago Steelpan Tuners Guild.

The agreement sets out a structured, low-risk pilot to explore whether augmented reality can add meaningful value to a living cultural experience — without ever getting in the way of it.

The model: See, understand, participate

The pilot is built around a simple experience model. The visitor sees the real cultural expression as it happens. Epocheye's AR layer then helps them understand its origin, evolution or meaning — within a strict 30–50 second window — before handing them straight back to the people actually carrying the culture: the musicians, tuners, craftspeople and performers CST calls its Cultural Stewards.

This isn't about building an AR attraction. The MoU is explicit that the objective is not to convert the CST experience into an augmented reality show — it's to see whether a short, disciplined layer of technology can increase understanding and participation in the real thing.

Human first, technology second

That priority is written into the agreement as a governing principle: technology shall amplify access, understanding and participation without replacing the people who carry the culture. AR interventions won't be introduced anywhere they don't add clear value, and they're designed to always lead the visitor back into human participation with Cultural Stewards. Where the two companies disagree on whether a moment calls for AR, CST's judgement prevails — not Epocheye's.

A three-phase pilot

The collaboration proceeds in three phases, and neither company is obliged to move from one to the next — progressing requires both parties to agree in writing:

• Phase 0 — Discovery. Epocheye maps the moments within the CST experience best suited to AR, and the interaction types, hardware, content and technical requirements involved.
• Phase 1 — Prototype. Design and development of a single prototype AR intervention, expected to center on the journey of the steelpan itself, for CST's review and approval before any visitor ever sees it.
• Phase 2 — Live evaluation. Supervised testing of the approved prototype within the real, live CST experience, measured against success criteria the two companies agree in advance.

Protecting cultural ownership

The MoU is unambiguous on this point: the steelpan tradition and its associated cultural expressions belong to the communities and Cultural Stewards who carry them — including the craftspeople and tuners of Trinidad and Tobago — and to neither company. Epocheye is not permitted to claim, register or assert ownership over any cultural expression, tradition, rhythm, melody, dance, song or craft technique it encounters through this work. Any digital representation of a cultural expression requires the involvement and informed consent of the relevant Cultural Stewards, with appropriate attribution.

What's next

Right now, the two teams are in Phase 0, mapping where a short AR layer could genuinely help visitors understand and engage with the steelpan tradition — and where it should simply stay out of the way. We'll share more as the prototype takes shape.