Tulane University

"Revolutionary Cuba: Memory, Culture and Politics" - A Title VI-A UISFL Meeting

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The Title VI-A Undergraduate International Studies and Foreign Language (UISFL) Project Directors' Meeting – “Revolutionary Cuba: Memory, Culture and Politics”

This symposium is co-sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education and the Stone Center for Latin American Studies, Tulane University.

Note: This event is only open to Undergraduate International Studies and Foreign Language program grantees.

KEYNOTE ADDRESS
Ned Sublette: Musician, Author, Independent Scholar

Ned Sublette, who served as a Rockefeller Humanities Fellow at Tulane University and the Stone Center for Latin American Studies from 2004-2005, is the author of the recently published book The Year Before the Flood which chronicles Sublette’s experience of living in New Orleans during the year prior to Hurricane Katrina. He is also the author of The World that Made New Orleans: From Spanish Silver to Congo Square (2008). Sublette’s range of musical experience is unusually broad, ranging from original musicological field work in New Mexico, to conservatory study in classical guitar and composition, to aggressive loud-guitar bands, to cutting-edge Latin music. In 1990, he traveled to Cuba for the first time and was inspired to co-found Qbadisc, the first American record label dedicated to marketing contemporary Cuban music in the U.S. He was soon recognized as a major U.S. advocate for Cuban music, introducing American audiences to Cuban artists. His book on Cuban music, Cuba and Its Music: From the First Drums to the Mambo, was published in 2004.

PANEL DISCUSSION

“Architecture & the Revolution”
John Loomis: Architect

Loomis’ multidisciplinary career spans architecture, teaching, scholarship, and writing. He holds a B.A. with Distinction in Art History from Stanford University and a Master of Architecture degree from Columbia University. He is a licensed architect registered in New York where he lived and worked for fifteen years and was an associate professor of architecture at the City University of New York. His book, Revolution of Forms, Cuba ‘s Forgotten Art Schools, examines the convergence and collision of architecture, ideology, and culture in 1960s Cuba through the architectural design for the Escuelas Nacionales de Arte. This book prodded the Cuban government to commit to the preservation and restoration of these works of architecture, and has received an award from the World Monuments Fund. It is also the basis for the operatic work in progress by Charles Koppelman Revolution of Forms. John’s other activities involving Cuba have been chairing the 2002 ACSA International Conference "Architecture, Culture, and the Challenges of Globalization – Havana /La Habana" and as a member of the 2002 California State Business Delegation to Cuba. His honors and awards include a World Monuments Fund Certificate of Significant Accomplishment, Honors from the XII Bienal de Arquitectura de Ecuador, an NEA Award for Superior Design, and an AIA Education Award. He has been a Loeb Fellow at the Harvard Graduate School of Design and a Visiting Scholar at the Getty Research Institute.

Communication, Film & Politics
Ana López: Director of the Cuban & Caribbean Studies Institute, Senior Associate Provost, and Associate Professor of Communication, Tulane University

A long-standing faculty member of the Stone Center, Ana M. López became the director of the Cuban and Caribbean Studies Institute in Fall 2000. She is also an Associate Professor in the Communication Department and Associate Provost of the university. She holds both an M.A. in Communication and Theater Arts and a Ph.D. in Communication Studies from the University of Iowa. Her scholarship and publications are focused on Latin American film, media, television, and popular culture. She has also worked extensively with Latino cultural production in the U.S. Her work has been widely published in film and Latin American studies journals and she is the co-editor of the volumes Mediating Two Worlds (BFI, 1993), The Ethnic Eye: Latino Media Arts (University of Minnesota, 1996), and the three-volume Encyclopedia of Latin American Culture (Routledge, 2000). As director of the Cuban and Caribbean Studies Institute, she oversees the Summer in Cuba program, the Summer in the Dominican Republic program, and academic and cultural programming aimed at promoting a true Cuban and Caribbean presence on Tulane's campus. López will be discussing the movie Coffea Arabiga (1968, Nicolás Guillén Landrián) and the history of both the “high point” of the Cuban documentary as well as its complex political valences.

Visual Imagery of the Revolution
Guadalupe García: Assistant Professor of History, Tulane University

Lupe García is a recent addition to the Department of History at Tulane, joining the faculty after spending two years as an assistant professor at the University of Central Florida. She received her M.A. in Latin American Studies from California State University and her Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. García specializes in late-colonial and early-modern Latin American history, with a particular focus on urban history, the Caribbean and Cuba. Her research interests include race and ethnicity in urban spaces, border identities in Latin America, and social revolution. García is currently working on her first book project tentatively entitled "Beyond the Walled City: Race and Exclusion in Colonial Havana." The manuscript offers a comprehensive analysis of urbanization in colonial Havana and explores the ways in which racial ideologies and black colonial subjects shaped and reshaped the urban environment. She is also working on a collaborative book project on the visual iconography of revolutions.

EXHIBIT

Newcomb Gallery of Art
Polaridad Complementaria

Developed by the Centro de Arte Contemporáneo Wifredo Lam, Havana, Polaridad Complementaria offers audiences the opportunity to become acquainted with the island's current and upcoming artistic talent. The more than 50 works of painting, drawing, sculpture, photography, video and installation art provide a sense of the serious aesthetic and conceptual concerns that characterizes Cuban art today. The 27 artists presented here are mainly young artists who have attained international recognition. The majority of these artists have taken part in fairs and biennials abroad and all have exhibited in Europe, Latin America and were featured in the 2009 Havana Biennial. Several have exhibited in the United States, including René Peña, Abel Barroso, Aimeé García, Yoan Capote and Roberto Fabelo.

Diverse in medium and ideology, the artists featured in Polaridad Complementaria understand the power of their art to address a wide range of social issues. Curator Margarita Sánchez pays particular attention to the works that illustrate the artists' capacity to connect the local reality to global concerns and universal human issues. Often compared to American photographer Robert Mapplethorpe, René Peña explores the relationship between individuals within society and the struggle for their own identity. Abel Barroso carves three-dimensional pieces using wood and various printing methods to create a conversation about technology and the third-world. From Zulueta, Cuba, Duvier del Dago takes it one step further combining drawing with handmade 3D design examining the unattainable, whether it be the material or the ideal. Other artists include Juan Carlos Alom, Lidzie Alvisa, Luis Enrique Camejo, Ricard Elías, Adonis Flores, Aimée García, Glenda León, Douglas Pérez, Sandra Ramos, Fernando Rodríguez, Ángel Ramírez, René Francisco Rodríguez Olazábal, Lázaro Saavedra, Ludmila Velasco, Nelson Arellano, and Reinerio Tamayo. From simplistic to intricately fabricated, these artists create a narrative of Cuba today.

UISFL

For more information visit the website of the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Postsecondary Education's International Education Programs Service.

Registration Information
Note: Pre-Registration runs through January 22, 2010. After the 22nd, full registration fees are required for attendance.

There are several ways in which to register for the Project Directors’ Meeting.

To pay by credit card:

• Online Registration – Click the “Register Online” button at the top or bottom of this page and fill in the required information to submit your application directly to the Stone Center.
• Email Registration – Download the “Downloadable Registration Form” from the top or bottom of this page and fill in and save the required information and email the completed form to rtsclas@tulane.edu.
• Registration by Mail – Download the “Downloadable Registration Form” from the top or bottom of this page and fill in the required information and mail your registration form with credit card information to the address below.

To pay by check:

• Online Registration – Click the “Register Online” button at the top or bottom of this page and fill in the required information (with the exception of credit card information) to submit your application directly to the Stone Center. Mail your check separately.
• Email Registration – Download the “Downloadable Registration Form” from the top or bottom of this page and fill in and save the required information (with the exception of credit card information) and email the completed form to rtsclas@tulane.edu. Mail your check separately.
• Registration by Mail – Download the “Downloadable Registration Form” from the top or bottom of this page and fill in the required information (with the exception of credit card information) and mail the completed form and the check.

All mail (checks and/or registration forms, depending on your chosen form of registration) should be sent to:

Stone Center for Latin American Studies
Attn: Title VIA Project Directors' Meeting
Tulane University
100 Jones Hall
New Orleans, LA 70118

Downloadable Registration Form

Tempo e Imagem: a memória do porvir nos ritos dos Congados e do Povo Maxakali

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A talk by Leda Maria Martins of the Federal University of Minas Gerais / NYU

The talk will address the experience of time and the act of graphically performing images in the Afro-Brazilian dramatic dance Congado as well as in rituals of the Maxacali people. It will be conducted in Portuguese, with bilingual discussion to follow.

Dr. Martins is the author of A cena em sombras (1995) and Afrografias da memória: O Reinado do Rosário no Jatobá (1997), among other books on theater, performance, and Afro-Brazilian culture. She was the guest editor of a special issue of Callaloo on Afro-Brazilian literature and a visiting scholar at NYU in the Fall of 2009.

This event is free and open to the public.

Sponsored by the Stone Center for Latin American Studies, the Center for Scholars, and the Department of Spanish and Portuguese. For more information, contact Idelber Avelar.

Seventh Annual Tulane Maya Symposium & Workshop

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GREAT RIVER CITIES OF THE ANCIENT MAYA
February 26 – 28, 2010

The ancient lowland Maya civilization of Mexico and Central America is often celebrated for its achievements in an environment unique for its lack of rivers, unlike that of the ancient Egyptian, Sumerian, Indus, and Chinese civilizations. Nevertheless many major lowland Maya cities were indeed located along important rivers such as the Usumacinta, Pasión, Belize, Motagua, among others. These "River Cities" provided the rest of the Maya lowlands access to the resource-rich highlands to the south, as well as contact with to both the Caribbean and Gulf coasts. Moreover, they facilitated the movement of peoples throughout the region, allowed for critical movement and trading of exotic goods, and gave rise to innovative artistic and architectural styles. For these reasons, this conference will focus on how and why the great river cities of the ancient lowland Maya represent some of the most intriguing, opulent, and important segments of this civilization. Speakers at this year’s conference include: David Freidel, M. Kathryn Brown, Takeshi Inomata, Robert J. Sharer, Arthur A. Demarest, Charles Golden, Rodrigo Liendo Stuardo, Jason Yaeger, Nicholas Dunning, Marc Zender, Gabrielle Vail, Christine Hernandez, and Marcus Eberl.

The Middle American Research Institute [MARI] is organizing this year’s Seventh Annual Maya Symposium & Workshop with the collaboration of the Stone Center for Latin American Studies. Please visit their site for more information.

En El Aula: Second Latin American Architecture Symposium

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EN EL AULA brings together scholars and practitioners who have successfully introduced Latin American architecture and urbanism “in the classroom.” Speakers will present the diverse methods they have used to integrate this subject into the traditional study of the built environment and the diverse ways that the parameters of this still emerging field are being framed. Presentations are divided into three categories: The History Survey, Specialized Courses & Emerging Research, and Travel Abroad Programs.

For questions and further information, please contact conference organizer, Assistant Professor Robert Gonzalez, Tulane University, School of Architecture, gonzalez@tulane.edu or visit www.aulajournal.com.

The symposium is free and open to the public.

Call for papers:

EN EL AULA is a symposium and workshop intended to develop and sustain a network of scholars who successfully introduce and address Latin American architecture and urbanism “in the classroom.” Following the success of the first AULA symposium, held at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design, we anticipate the participation of a broad range of scholars with diverse interests in the field. We invite paper presentation proposals that share methods for integrating Latin American architecture and urbanism into the standard curriculum and that expose fellow scholars to the diverse ways that the parameters of this still emerging field are being framed.

This call for papers invites proposals in any of these three categories: History Survey, Specialized Courses and Emerging Research, and Travel Abroad Programs. Sessions will feature invited scholars who have integrated these subjects into the Western survey, who have taught specialized courses that emerged from new research, and who explore contemporary theoretical developments through travel programs in Latin America. Topics may range from critiques of the narrative of the Corbusian diaspora to the impact of Latino communities in North America and abroad; they may also range from Pre-Columbian to Colonial to Modern architecture and urbanism.

If applicable, participants will be asked to share their corresponding syllabi, which will be distributed to all participants prior to the conference. We hope the meeting will encourage a discussion on contemporary teaching strategies and resources. Selected paper presentations will also be part of a forthcoming issue of the journal AULA: Architecture & Urbanism in Las Américas, which will focus on pedagogy in the field of Latin American architecture.

Call for Papers: Please submit a one-page abstract and corresponding syllabus (if applicable), a short biography, and a CV. All submissions should be sent in pdf format to Robert Gonzalez. Selected panelists will receive hotel accommodations and a partial travel stipend.

Deadline: January 15, 2010. Participants will be notified by February 1 and will be asked to submit their final paper presentation by February 25.

For questions, please contact conference organizer, Assistant Professor Robert Gonzalez, Tulane University, School of Architecture, at gonzalez@tulane.edu. Please visit www.aulajournal.com for additional conference information, maps, and hotel information. This event occurs during our annual French Quarter Festival, so non-panelists should book hotel reservations well in advance.

EN EL AULA is presented by the Tulane University School of Architecture and is generously supported by the Tulane University Research Enhancement Fund and the School of Architecture.

This symposium is free and open to the public.

Mulheres da Retomada: Women Filmmakers in Contemporary Brazilian Cinema

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"The history of Brazilian women's participation in the cinema is no exception to the rule: they have often performed in front of the camera, but they have rarely worked behind it."
—Elice Munerato and Maria Helena Darcy de Oliveira

Next Showing:
04-Feb: Mar de rosas

"Mulheres da Retomada: Women Filmmakers in Contemporary Brazilian Cinema" is a film series/festival/conference devoted to the exhibition and exploration of the work of woman filmmakers in the post-Fernando Collor renewal of Brazilian film known as the retomada. Before the mid 1990s there had been only a handful of women filmmakers in Brazil. In the silent period, and through the 1950s, actresses like Cleo de Verberena, Carmen Santos and Gilda de Abreu capitalized on their fame as actresses to direct and produce their own films, albeit with fleeting success. In the 1960's, Brazil's best known film movement, cinema novo, was resolutely male dominated. It was not until the late 1970s and 80s that several women – Tereza Trautman, Tete Moraes, Tizuka Yamazaki and, most notably, Ana Carolina – were able to make their first films.

In 1990, newly-elected president Fernando Collor dismantled all existing mechanisms in support of national filmmaking and production dropped to practically zero. However, this vacuum ended up being an unexpected fertile ground for the emergence of a new generation of women filmmakers who were able to take advantage of new federal and state initiatives (post 1992-95) in support of cultural production. The Retomada, as this new emergence of the national cinema is called in Brazil, was heralded by the tremendous critical and box-office success of actress-turned-director Carla Camurati's first feature, Carlota Joaquina, Princesa do Brasil in 1995.

"Mulheres da Retomada" begins with a film series (Spring and Fall 2010) that includes the major feature films produced by women filmmakers in Brazil and concludes with a film festival and conference in November 2010. The project is funded through a grant from the Newcomb College Institute, the Stone Center, and the Silverstein Fund of the Film Studies Program. It is co-organized by professors Ana López (Communication) and Rebecca Atencio (Spanish and Portuguese).

For more information email Ana López at lopez@tulane.edu.

Full Schedule:

• 28-Jan: O ebrio, Gilda de Abreu (1946) – View Flyer
• 04-Feb: Mar de rosas, Ana Carolina (1977) – View Flyer
• 18-Feb: Gaijin, Tizuka Yamasaki (1980)
• 25-Feb: Terra para Rose, Tetê Moraes (1987)
• 04-Mar: A hora da estrela, Susana Amaral (1985)
• 11-Mar: Que bom te ter viva, Lucia Murat (1989) – Leslie Marsh lecture
• 18-Mar: Carlota Joaquina, Carla Camurati (1995)
• 25-Mar: Bananas is my Business, Helena Solberg (1995)
• 08-Apr: Um pasaporte húngaro, Sandra Kogut (2001)
• 15-Apr: Bicho de sete cabeças, Laís Bodanzsky (2001)
• 22-Apr: Durval discos, Anna Muylaert (2002)

January 28
O ebrio (The drunkard, 1946) D. Gilda de Abreu. 126 min.

Gilda de Abreu and her husband, Vincente Celestino, were popular theatrical entertainers with their own production company. De Abreu performed as an actress and singers on stage, radio and film and also wrote and adapted novels and plays. O ebrio, her first film, was adapted from one of her husband's musical compositions and was a tremendous box-office and critical success. In the best melodramatic tradition of the period and clearly influenced by the theatrical rhetoric made familiar through the radio, the drunkard of the title is a successful medical doctor – Gilberto Silva – who is betrayed by his wife and takes up a new identity as a wandering drunk with "friends only in taverns."

February 4
Mar de Rosas (Sea of Roses, 1977) D. Ana Carolina. 99 min.

Ana Carolina's first fiction film is an iconoclastic portrait of middle class life and of a dysfunctional family. The protagonist, Betinha (Cristina Pereira) in a teenage anti-heroine: rambunctious, unpredictable and naughty she is on the run with her mother Felicidade (Norma Bengel) who has attempted to kill husband Sergio (Hugo Carvana) in a hotel bathroom. Betinha and Felididade are followed by a suspicious character in a black Volkswagen and, after a series of terrible mishaps are rescued by the banal dentist Dr. Dirceu and his wife Miriam. This explosive black comedy is driven by a spirit of revolt and explores absurd familial situations as a springboard for exposing sexism, repression and alienation.

February 18
Gaijin: Os caminhos da libertade (Outsider: A Brazilian Odyssey, 1980) D. Tizuka Yamasaki.

Tizuka Yamasaki's first fiction film is a tribute to her grandmother, who emigrated from Japan to Brazil in the early 1900s in search of a better life and found poverty, back-breaking labor, discrimination and loneliness. The exile epic begins in 1908 Japan, when brothers Yamada (Jiro Kawarasaki) and Kobayashi (Keniti Kaneko) decide to immigrate to Brazil in search of a better life. Because families received preferential treatment, Yamada decides to marry 16 year old and Titoe ( Kyoko Tsukamoto). In Brazil they are put to work at the large Santa Rosa coffee plantation in São Paulo where they and many other Japanese workers are culturally and linguistically isolated and treated like chattel by the owners. Among the few who are sympathetic to their plight is Tonho (Antonio Fagundes), a handsome foreman with a social conscience who will end up a labor organizer in São Paulo.

February 25
Terra para Rose (Land for Rose, 1987) D. Tetê Moraes. 84 min.

Terra para Rose is an emotionally wrenching socially committed documentary about the land reforms in Brazil that occurred during the transition from dictatorship to democracy. In 1985, the government designed a plan to confiscate 43 million hectares of land from large landowners and to divide them among a million and a half landless farmers' families. This was not a serious sacrifice for the landowners, because the confiscated land was mostly not cultivated, but the reform failed, due to discord within the government and opposition from pressure groups. Tetê Moraes focuses on one of the first occupations organized by the Landless Movement (Movemento Sem Terra, MSM) in Rio Grande do Sul in 1985: 1500 families tried to occupy the Fazenda Anoni, a large unused property. The film shows their struggles to win the right to cultivate the land in four stages: the initial invasion of the farm, a 500km march to Porto Alegre by the "sem terra," their temporary camp in front of the Legislative Assembly, and the return to the promised land, where only 300 of the 1500 families were given land parcels. Throughout, her focal point are the women, especially Rose, who has been there two years and whose son was the first child to be born in the camp.

March 4
A hora da estrela (The Hour of the Star, 1985) D. Suzana Amaral

Suzana Amaral's impressive debut feature (made when she was 52, having enrolled at NYU Film School after raising nine children) is a stark portrait of Macabéa (Marcelia Cartaxo), a young office typist barely eking out a life in São Paulo. At first Macabéa's ignorance and lack of social graces test the audience's sympathies, but Amaral is able to convey her interior landscape of thoughts and desires through camera work and a dense soundtrack of snippets from radio programs and electronic music. Based on a densely descriptive novel by Clarice Lispector, the film paints a stark portrait of the life of an urban Brazilian girl working barely above the poverty line while also providing us with lyrical oases in dreamy sequences in which Macabea dreams about other lives and possibilities.

March 11
Que bom te ver viva (How Good to See You Alive, 1989). D. Lúcia Murat. 100 min.

Mixing documentary and fictional modes, Que bom te ver viva deals with torture during the Brazilian dictatorship, showing how its victims survived and still deal with those violent experiences almost two decades later. The film mixes the fantasies of an anonymous character played by actress Irene Ravache with the testimonies of eight women who were tortured political prisoners. More than provide a catalog of their mistreatments, the film focuses on the price they paid (and continue paying) for surviving the experience of torture with lucidity. To differentiate the fictional from the documentary, Murat recorded the testimonies of the ex political prisoners in video and framed them tightly, as in a 3×5 passport picture. Their daily lives were filmed with natural light while the monologue of the Ravache character was filmed with very theatrical lighting.

March 18
Carlota Joaquina, Princesa do Brasil (Carlota Joaquina, Princess of Brazil, 1995) D. Carla Camurati. 100 min.

Spain, 1785 – Carlota Joaquina (Marieta Severo) a child who was promised to Dom João VI (Marco Nanini), at 10 years of age receives the portrait of her future husband and is obliged to leave for Portugal carrying with her only her family inheritance. Arriving in her new country, Carlota suffers a great deception upon encountering her “promised”… producing many fights, infidelities and… many children. With the death of Dom José, heir to the throne of Portugal and the declaration of insanity of Maria I, Carlota Joaquina and Dom João VI inherit the Portuguese crown. However, frightened by the French Revolution and the proximity of Napolean’s army, they resolve to flee to their colony: Brazil. Beyond humorously recounting a rather non official and irreverent history of an important epoch in Brazil's history, Carla Camurati's first fiction film (after a stellar career as an actress) is considered the film that marks the beginning of the rebirth of the national cinema after the chaos produced by President Collor's austerity measures in 1989. It was the first film of this period to reach more than a million spectators.

March 25
Bananas is my Business (1995) D. Helena Solberg. 91 min.

This fascinating film skillfully combines reenactments, interviews with confidants and commentators, and footage from her many films to tell the haunting story of 1940's superstar Carmen Miranda. Charting Miranda's transformation from famed Brazilian singer to Hollywood's first Latina star to independent artist, award-winning Brazilian filmmaker Helena Solberg shows how Miranda's saga exemplifies contradictions in the relationship between Latin America and the United States that persist today. At the convergence of sexual politics, cultural colonialism, and one woman's life, this moving film powerfully explores the complex factors behind the image and life of the "Tutti-Frutti Woman,” Carmen Miranda.

April 8
Um passaporte húngaro (A Hungarian Passport, 2001). D. Sandra Kogut.

Speaking over the telephone with the Hungarian consulate, the Brazilian filmmaker Sandra Kogut asks, "Can someone who has a Hungarian grandfather obtain a Hungarian passport?" The bureaucrat on the other end of the line is confused, "Yes…it's possible…but why do you want a Hungarian passport?" The administrative process of obtaining a passport becomes the narrative thread of this disarmingly unaffected film diary. Kogut creates a private journal of her trips to and from Brazil, Hungary, and France, recording the Kafkaesque experience of her frustrating and often hysterical attempts to jump through the necessary bureaucratic hoops. On the way, she explores a painful family history of forced emigration and a hidden legacy of anti-Semitism as she confronts some essential questions: What is nationality? What is a passport for? What should we do with our heritage? How do we construct our history and our own identity?

*April 15
Bicho de sete cabeças (Brainstorm, 2001) D. Laís Bodanzky. 74 min.

Neto (Rodrigo Santoro) is a middle class adolescent keen on freedom and new experiences. His father, Wilson (Othon Baston) does not understand his small acts of rebellion and their relationship grows more difficult daily. After finding a joint in the pocket of Neto's jacket, Wilson commits him to a mental institution. There Neto must deal with an absurd and inhuman world in which individuals are devoured by a mental health system that is cruel and corrupt. On the other hand, his experiences at the clinic also help him to mature and to transform his relationship with his father.

April 22
Durval Discos (Durval Records, 2002) D. Anna Muylaert.

In the late 90’s, Durval (Ary França) is a middle aged man who owns a record store in the first floor of his overbearing mother’s house (Etty Fraser). A typical hippie, Durval refuses to sell cd’s despite the decline in customers. He notices his mother is not giving as much attention to cooking and house chores as she once did and suggests they hire a maid, a task which is tricky since they are only willing to pay 100 reais. A young woman (Letícia Sabatella) finally appears willing to take on the job, but disappears after one day, leaving behind a young girl Kiki and a note that she will return in a three days. With an amazing soundtrack of 70's Brazilian music, the film is a charming homage to vinyl and the Side A and Side B of life.

¡Sí Cuba!: A Citywide Celebration of Cuban Art and Culture

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See ¡Sí Cuba! Online for full information and schedules of events.

"¡Sí Cuba!," a major citywide presentation of arts, music, and culture related to Cuba, will take place in New Orleans starting in January and continuing through the spring of 2010. ¡Sí Cuba! is a collaborative venture between museums, universities, galleries, and other arts organizations in New Orleans. The project is anchored around the upcoming exhibition at the Newcomb Art Gallery and the New Orleans Museum of Art Polaridad Complementaria: Recent Works From Cuba, featuring over fifty works by 27 Cuban artists working in various media, highlighting the latest trends in contemporary Cuban art. Developed by the Centro de Arte Contemporaneo Wifredo Lam, Havana, Polaridad Complementaria is organized by Margarita Sánchez, curator, and Jorge Fernández, director and will open in New Orleans on January 16th at both venues. For more on Polaridad Complementaria read the Stone Center’s news announcement.

The show was developed by the Centro de Arte Contemporáneo Wifredo Lam, Havana, in collaboration with the City of Charleston Office of Cultural Affairs and is toured by International Arts & Artists, Washington, DC. The exhibition was funded in part by Maybank Industries, Charleston, SC. Additional support is provided by the Georges Lurcy Charitable and Educational Trust and Julie McCollam, New Orleans, LA.

View the Flyer

Collaborating organizations presenting exhibitions or educational programs include: Antenna Gallery, Arthur Roger Gallery, CubaNOLA Arts Collective, Heriard-Cimino Gallery, The Historic New Orleans Collection, Jonathan Ferrara Gallery, The Latin American Library of Tulane University, LeMieux Galleries, Louisiana ArtWorks, Ogden Museum of Southern Art, Stone Center for Latin American Studies, Taylor Bercier Fine Art Gallery, Zeitgeist Multi-disciplinary Arts Center.

In celebration of ¡Sí Cuba!, the following organizations and galleries will be presenting Cuban exhibitions and related programming:

• Antenna Gallery, “Cuba, Now!” (January 9-February 7; opens January 9, 6-9 pm; book signing Thursday, January 14, 7-9 pm)

• Arthur Roger Gallery, Luis Cruz Azaceta (January 9-February 27)

• Contemporary Arts Center, Mario Petrirena installation (January 14-April 11)

• A Gallery For Fine Photography, “Cuba Now,” Photographs by Richard Sexton; “Cuba Then,” Photographs by William Henry Jackson and E.O. Goldbeck (January 9-February 28)

• Heriard-Cimino Gallery, “Fragment of Journeys” by José Bedia (January 9-March 3)

• The Historic New Orleans Collection, “Louisiana and Cuba: Multiple Perspectives” (January 19-April 17)

• Jonathan Ferrara Gallery, “Inside/Outside” by Angel Delgado (January 5-February 20)

• The Latin American Library, Tulane University, “See Cuba: A Century of Images from the Latin American Library, 1859 – 1959” (January 16-June 16; opening and copa de champaña, Saturday, January 16, 5-6 pm)

• LeMieux Galleries, “Cuba in the 1930s” by Paul Ninas (January 9-30)

• Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, Mahalia Jackson Theater, Pan-American Life Fiesta Sinfónica (March 6, 8 pm)

• Newcomb Art Gallery, Tulane University, “Polaridad Complementaria: Recent Works from Cuba” (January 16-March 14; opening Saturday, January 16, 6-9 pm)

• New Orleans Film Society, film screening: I am Cuba (February 4, 7:30 pm at the Contemporary Arts Center)

• New Orleans Museum of Art, Luis Cruz Azaceta: “Swimming to Havana” (December 18-March 28) and “Polaridad Complementaria: Recent Works from Cuba” (January 16-March 14; opening Saturday, January 16, 5:30-8 pm)

• Ogden Museum of Southern Art, a site-specific installation by José Bedia, Mario Petrirena: “Soul House, and Jorge Otero: Unrestored Miami” (January 14-April 11)

• Taylor Bercier Fine Art Gallery, “Soliloquy” by Carlos Estévez, (January 7-March 7)

• Zeitgeist Multi-disciplinary Arts Center, “Las Americas: Recent Films from Latin America” (February 19-March 11) and “He Who Hits First, Hits Twice: The Urgent Cinema of Santiago Alvarez” (February 10-11, 7:30 pm)

More venues and events, including music, film screenings, educational events, performances, and culinary experiences to be announced.

Press contact: For more information and images please contact Teresa Parker Farris, Marketing Coordinator, (504) 361-2406; email: tpfarris@tulane.edu, or Valerie McGinley Marshall (504) 865-5164, email: vmcgmar@tulane.edu.

To add an event to the Sí Cuba listings, please email: modcontemporary@yahoo.com