Recognizing the work of art instructors, either those who work in our schools or those who do it from each House of Culture, is the purpose of the day of tribute to this "army of art soldiers", who next Thursday 18, will celebrate their day, in honor of Olga Alonso, and our Commander in Chief Fidel Castro, who 60 years ago had the idea of creating the National School of Art Instructors (ENIA), which was nurtured by young people from all over the country.

Fidel is also responsible for the creation 17 years ago of the José Martí Art Instructors Brigade (BJM), a cultural movement committed to the Cuban Revolution and to the profession of teaching the people, made up of graduates of these institutions that emerged in the heat of the Battle of Ideas.

"Trainers of patriots, of revolutionaries and of excellence in art", as Fidel himself said of them, from the very beginning of this memorable cultural page of our history, which the Cuban Revolution has fought - and still is fighting, the art instructors daily fulfill the noble task of contributing to the cultural formation of Cuban men and women, a task they multiply in every neighborhood, community, student center and House of Culture, even in scenarios such as the mountains and hundreds of workplaces where they sow the seed of the Movement of Amateur Artists.

When we talk about the figure of the cultural promoter or community agent, there is the figure of the art instructor, in any of its manifestations and above all, in the work of preserving and maintaining our cultural heritage, our roots.

The recognition that the Ministry of Culture and the National Council of Houses of Culture have been giving since last Sunday to Cuban art instructors is one more example that the cultural policy outlined by the Revolution since its inception in 1959 until today is a single one.

They, the hundreds of art instructors who today continue writing new heroic pages in our culture, do it, as did the first ones formed by the Revolution, with culture as their shield and permanent sword.
(Taken from Granma)

English version Hector Hdez.

   

The Innovation Laboratory for Digital Transformation, promoted by the Cienfuegos branch of the Union of Computer Scientists of Cuba, receives the final adjustments of the civil work, for its start-up, scheduled for early March.

Gisela Díaz García, president of that organization in the province, said that the center is a collaborative space for the active experimentation of the citizens, who will be able to access that headquarters in order to create projects from one or multiple ideas.

The engineer specified that the Innovation Laboratory for Digital Transformation will be a reference for the realization of an initiative that involves several institutions of the cultural sector , where changes will be produced with the use of new technologies.

The project, with scope in five provinces of the country, contemplated in its initial idea the Palacio Ferrer and Provincial Museums of the Arts, to which is now added that of the Fortress of Nuestra Señora de Los Ángeles de Jagua, as well as the Trazos Libres Creative Zone and the Tomás Terry Theater.

This will improve the experience of visitors to these institutions, through the use of interactive digital screens and QR code to access information about the pieces or artistic works.

(Taken from RCM)
English version Hector Hdez.
  

A total of 18 young writers were recognized with mentions or awards in the Calendar Award, the most important award given each year by the Hermanos Saíz Association. A prestigious jury in the different categories evaluated the 196 works in competition.

As announced today on the organization's social network profiles, in the Narrative category, the loudest applause went to Geonel Alejandro Rama Alemán, for his work "Sinfonía de las cavernas"; while Carlos Ávila Villamar received a mention for "Fósiles".

In the Poetry category the jury awarded Laura Domingo Aguero  for her work "Memoria". It also decided to award mentions to Raúl Leyva Pupo for "Los secretos del fuego", and Elizabeth Casanova Castillo for "El eje del mundo".

                               In Theater, the absolute prize went to Marcel Méndez Fariñas for the play "Los estultos".

                                                                        

In Essay, the winner was Milagro Álvarez Leliebre for the research "Entre la integración y el negrismo. La problemática racial en la prensa cubana (1959)"; the mentions went to Lisandra Lefont Marín and Juan Carlos Ramírez Guerra for "Gobierno abierto y revolución 4.0. Debates to update the management of public affairs in Cuba". In this category, Rubén Ricardo Infante also received mentions for "La isla imaginada. Aproximaciones a una década de poesía (2000-2010)"; Leidys Domínguez Camejo for "La representación del negro en la obra investigativa de Lydia Cabrera y su relación en el afrocubanismo (1952-1959)".                

In Science Fiction the award went to Raúl Piad Ríos for "A la sombra del mundo hogar", and the mention went to José Alejandro Cantallops Vázquez for "El símbolo del silencio".

                                                                          
Finally, in Children's Literature, the prize went to Michel González Basnueva for "El canto de la ballena azul". Mentions were given to Yeney de Armas García for "Un mundo allá afuera"; María Laura Germán Aguiar for "Fabio", and the first mention went to Barbarella D'Acevedo for "Un tren para Salinger".

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

Due to the epidemiological situation caused by Covid-19, for the first time the Calendar awards will be announced online only. When the circumstances allow it, the award ceremony will be held, as well as the presentation of the printed books, winners in the 2020 edition.

JURY RECORDS

2021 CALENDAR CONTEST  

SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY 2021

 On the 28th day of the month of December 2020, the jury of the contest Science Fiction and Fantasy Calendar 2021, composed of Raul Flores, Carlos Duarte and Raul Aguiar decide, unanimously, to award:

Award to:A la sombra del mundo hogar, by the author with the pseudonym "Elessar", who when opening escrow responds to the name of Raúl Piad Ríos, for the excellent handling of narrative resources, in a novelette that surprised the jurors since it seems written by a professional author, with impeccable cleanliness and editing, and that offers us a story that shares in a very effective way the thematic elements of space travel with the cyberpunk subgenre, in the best style of a William Gibson.

Likewise, the jury decided to award a mention to the book El símbolo del silencio, by the author with the pseudonym "Axel", who upon opening the envelope responds to the name of José Alejandro Catallops Vázquez, for a very well written book with an original theme, a heroic fantasy novel where the magic linked to tattoos is recreated in a very well structured worldbuilding or constructed universe with interesting characters and conflicts.

The jury also congratulates the organizers of the contest for the large number of authors who decided to send in this category of fantasy narrative, as well as the happy idea of convening online, which we believe facilitated the increase in the number of participants and the quality of many of the works submitted.

And for the record, the following sign the present minutes

Caridad Atencio, Arístides Vega, Roberto Manzano

————————- —————– ——————

THEATER CALENDAR AWARD 2021

The jury of the Theater Calendar Award 2021, composed of theater director and leader of the company Teatro de La Luna, Raúl Martín, theater director and playwright Carlos Sarmiento, and playwright and professor Yerandy Fleites, appointed by the organizing committee of the Asociación Hermanos Saíz to carry out the decision of said call, decides:

    To recognize, taking into account the wide level of call for entries, the vitality of the Award as a space of stimulation for young playwrights in Cuba.
    To highlight the quality of the works in competition which, in clear proportion to the number of participants, suggests a very favorable state of the art for current Cuban playwriting.

Finally, the Jury, after extensive reading and discussion sessions, unanimously decided to award the 2021 Calendar Award to the text: Los estultos, which under the pseudonym Erasmo Büchner, presented in competition Marcel Méndez Fariñas.

 Los estultos is a work that stands out for the imagery with which its author manages to establish discursive (and categorical) bridges with Woyzeck, the enigmatic play by Georg Büchner, and one of the great ghosts of theatrical historiography and contemporary dramaturgy. Los estultos subverts its historical referent through a very personal process of contamination of the reality it approaches, creating a parodic device from the everyday and from the theatrical, subversive. Its author appeals with intelligence, from the enunciation itself, to the standards of the mechanisms of dramatization of the avant-garde and post avant-garde, creating a novel framework both from the language and the characterizations, as well as from the self-sufficient proposal of staging to which it aspires.

On a poetics of vanity or the purpose of banality as poetics. Possible questions from others that become one more. The author has dissimulated the ghost to legitimize it again, and in that healthy abomination of "new man", to constitute an a-historical creature, potentially dangerous.

And for the record, they sign below,

Caridad Atencio Arístides Vega Roberto Manzano