• Submitted by: manso
• Arts and Culture
• 02 / 10 / 2011

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February 9, 2011. From March 31 to June 16, more than two dozen artists will participate in “¡Sí Cuba!,” a comprehensive Cuban arts festival that will take place in venues throughout  New York, with the collaboration of 14 of the city's arts institutions.

The artists include some familiar names, such as the National Ballet of Cuba led by Alicia Alonso, and Cristina García, author of Dreaming in Cuban and other novels. But the festival also offers the opportunity to showcase lesser-known artists, such as Danza Contemporánea de Cuba, which fuses Afro-Caribbean dance and classical ballet, and rapper Telmary Díaz.

As Larry Rohter (whose book Deu no New York Times was reviewed in Americas Quarterly’s spring 2009 issue) writes in today’s New York Times, although the festival organizers’ say their primary objectives are to present  the diversity and richness of Cuban culture and build bridges between artists in the U.S. and Cuba, “the event obviously has political connotations too,” given the interest shown recently by both sides to reduce longstanding tensions.

Just last month, the White House loosened restrictions on traveling and sending remittances to Cuba, while last fall the Cuban government announced plans to move half a million workers off the government payroll into self-employment, presumably in the private sector.

Source: http://www.americasquarterly.org/node/2233