• Submitted by: manso
• Travel and Tourism
• 02 / 27 / 2011

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By Jeanine Benca.02/26/2011 07:06:42 PM PST. LIVERMORE -- It began as a modest nod to Cuban culture.But now -- aided in part by the President Obama's loosening restrictions on U.S. travel -- a four-year-old Cuban-centered event at Las Positas College is helping forge artistic pathways between the two countries.

Friday marked the final day of "Cuban Week," the college's annual celebration of Cuban history, art, dance, music and religion. The goal of the festival, which features educational talks, exhibits and performances, always has been to transcend political issues via cultural exchange, said Catherine Suarez, the college's foreign language department coordinator.

Though Cuban Week is over for another year, that vision is closer than ever to becoming a reality, she added. Event organizers recently were invited to participate in the 31st annual Casa del Caribe -- a prestigious, international art fair in Santiago, Cuba. Suarez and Cuban-American artist Rafael Arzuaga, a San Francisco resident who serves as the artistic

director for Cuban Week, will represent the college at the festival, which runs July 3-9.

"This is huge," Suarez said. "I keep opening the invitation and re-reading it, thinking I'm dreaming and going to wake up."

The two will be provided with their own art gallery for a week. Suarez says they plan to showcase the work of various Cuban artists, including a group of young adult artists with Down syndrome from the province of Pinar del Rio.

Also,Advertisement photos of Cuban Week shot by Las Positas College student Ramona Peterson and a documentary featuring interviews with Las Positas students and staff will be part of the exhibit.

"Our ultimate goal is to create a cultural and artistic exchange between students at Las Positas and students in Cuba. And, as the travel becomes easier and easier, that's not going to be a problem," Suarez said. "My hope is that this invitation will open doors."

Cuban Week was the brainchild of Suarez and Las Positas dance instructor Luis Valverde, said Suarez, describing how her interest in Cuban culture blossomed after she and her husband sponsored a Cuban citizen in their home for a year.

Arzuaga, a painter from Santiago, Cuba who has been in the U.S. for 10 years, was recruited as artistic director for the event. Though the Cuban population in the Bay Area is thought to be relatively small, the number of Cuban Week attendees has grown each year, the organizers say.

Two years ago, Suarez was able to travel to Cuba for the first time with Chabot College history instructor Rick Moniz, who has been to Cuba about 20 times. In November, she and Moniz embarked on another educational and cultural trip to Cuba, in which they helped distribute shoes, socks, books, art supplies and other items donated by East Bay residents to hundreds of Cubans in need.

For Arzuaga, the invitation to Fiesta del Caribe represents hope for a brighter future -- one in which Cubans and Americans can come together over art, political problems notwithstanding.

"Our focus is very cultural," he said. "We're building a bridge between Santiago and Livermore."

Source: www.insidebayarea.com/trivalleyherald/localnews/ci_17492489