Travel to Cuba

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Jesse Alter
Date: Tue, Nov 25, 2008 at 12:42 PM
Subject: TRAVEL TO CUBA NOW
To: jessealt@gmail.com


HELLO ALL!!

The Obama presidency is nearly upon us and there is no better time to show the new administration how much we care about traveling to Cuba and lifting the embargo after 50 years of cruel and unusual foreign policy. We here at the Center for Cuban Studies/Cuban Art Space believe in the power of cultural and informational exchanges in order to normalize the relations between the United States and Cuba.


We are seeking to bring educators, activists, and artists together in an effort to help Americans redefine our relationship with Cuba.

The Center for Cuban Studies in New York is organizing a number of trips that will allow educators and artists to legally travel to Cuba. The first trip is scheduled for April 10-18th 2009 (during the NYC spring recess) and is intended for educators who want to learn more comprehensively about Cuba's urban and rural educational system. This experience will give you the opportunity to meet with teachers, some of whom participated in the literacy campaign during the 1960s, and show you how these same literacy methods are being used in Cuba's educational system today. In addition, you will learn about the important role that arts play in the educational system and how education is prioritized throughout Cuban society. The itinerary will allow you to meet with students, families, professors, city-planners, artists, elected officials, neighborhood organizing committees, and much much more. Of course you will be visiting many of the amazing schools and museums as well!


To qualify for the educator's trip you must be doing one of the following:
-working as a full-time educator teaching in the classroom or

-be involved full-time in the development of educational programming or
-working full-time on educating students through creative forms of expression.


Only you can determine if the educational work you do constitutes full-time work (paid or unpaid). Please make sure that your resume reflects the work you do.



The final stipulation for traveling legally to Cuba is that you intend to disseminate the products of your research in some public way when you return to the US. This can be achieved by participating in public forums (Center for Cuban Studies perhaps?), by writing and publishing articles in professional publications or a number of other ways.

As many of you know, traveling to Cuba can be expensive, but the cost of the trip will be minimized significantly if we are able to put together lots people willing to participate in these trip(s). In order to estimate the cost I need to know how many full-time educators and artists are interested in traveling to Cuba.


What do I need from you???

-An email with your most recent resume (attached as a word doc) showing you are a full-time educator or artist.
-Clarification on whether you are interested in traveling on our first educators trip (April 10-18) or on a future trip.
-Your availability if you are not able to travel April 10-18.
-Your suggestions on groups of artists and/or educators who might be interested in traveling together so that CCS can arrange the trip details.

Why travel to Cuba in April 2009?
The 10th Havana Biennial Art Exhibition will take place from March 27 to April 30, 2009 with a central theme called "Integration and Resistance in the Globalization Era." According to Joel Jover (an amazing Cuban painter and longtime friend of the Center for Cuban Studies) "the event offers Cuban artists the opportunity to look into other ways of doing things, not just those imposed by the world's hegemonies, but alternative ways as well." It will include a central exhibition and the traditional 'take-over' of open urban spaces by groups of artists within different communities. There will be an abundance of special activities within the network of art galleries and cultural institutions in Havana.

The Center for Cuban Studies/Cuban Art Space has been organizing trips to Cuba for decades and we will make sure to put you in a position to optimize your time and learning experience!!


PLEASE FORWARD THIS EMAIL TO EVERY EDUCATOR AND ARTIST YOU KNOW! I want my inbox (jessealt@gmail.com) to be overflowing with emails from all you good people wanting to travel to CUBA! So far I have reached out to my NYC and BAY AREA networks but feel free to send this email out anywhere across OBAMA land.

Peace,
Jesse
Alter

--
Organizational Development Coordinator
Center for Cuban Studies/Cuban Art Space
231 W. 29th Street #401
New York, NY 10001
(212) 242-0559 W
(212) 242-1937 F
www.cubanartspace.net