Common Ground Travel Service

Dear Friends,

This past May 2011, Common Ground in collaboration with Casa de las Américas and Cuban author, poet and journalist Pedro Pérez Sarduy held its first research project on Afro-Cuban Women in Literature, Media and the Arts. It was an exciting dialogue. It was a huge success.

Fifteen women and men from universities across the United States met with Cuban writers, artists, bloggers, and filmmakers over the course of a week to discuss what matters to Cuban women in 21st Century Revolutionary Cuba and how they face, convey and communicate through their art.

The group met during the week with Irene Esther Ruiz, Gisela Arandia, Inés María Martiatu, Mavis Alvarez, Daysi Rubiera, Nancy Morejón, Magia Lopez, Gloria Rolando, and Sandra Alvarez. The Cuban women invited others to come, such as Yusimi, a young blogger new to the scene. As well, the group went to Santa Clara and met with Pedro's Aunt Antonia. Everywhere people had the opportunity to talk with Cubans in the streets, the restaurants and city squares.

Next Program Scheduled - May 19-27, 2012

Start in Santa Clara on May 19, 2012

Spend May 18 in Miami and then fly to Havana where Pedro Pérez Sarduy, the author of the Maids of Havana, will meet you and take you directly to Santa Clara, his home town, for a reception with members of his family.

Continue to Trinidad, historic city in the hills

From Santa Clara drive to Trinidad, a precious jewel of an old city, nestled in the foothills of the Escambray Mountains. In exploring the city, you will find that many of the houses are occupied by families who have lived there for generations -- but are often the servants and even former slaves of the original owners.

Castle of San Severino XVIII - Matanzas

Returning from Trinidad to Havana, a stop at the Castle, which houses a museum a small but important museum dedicated to the history of slavery in Cuba. Continuing on to Havana, check in arrival at the Hotel Presidente.

Sessions at Casa de las Américas

Presentation & Discussion - Black Women in Colonial, Republican & Socialist Cuba. Reception to Casa with Luisa Campuzano, Director of womens' Studies at Casa. Invited participants historian Graciela Chailloux and researcher/writer Tomás Fernández Robaina.

Film - 1912, Breaking the Silence (Voces del Silencio, with English subtitles), Chapt II, with filmmaker Gloria Rolando.

Presentation & Discussion - Afro Cuban Women in the Media.

Presenters Irene Esther Ruiz, television consultant and specialist in gender issues, and Sandra Alvarez, psychologist, journalist and author of the blog, Negra cubana tenía que ser.

Presentation & Discussion - Afro Cuban Women & Their Families, with the film My Hair is White, My Skin is Black. Invited guest, historian and writer Daysi Rubiera.

Presentation & Discussion - Afro-Cuban Women in Music & Art. Sexuality & Race. Meet artist Dania Fleites in her studio.

Presentation & Discussion - Cuban Rap, Cuban Poetry. With Carmen González, poet and promoter of the Cuban Rap Agency and the women's rap group Alzar la Voz.

Additionally

Visits to museums and Afro-Cuban centers and galleries, evenings at local nightclubs, restaurants, and several special dinners or other meals.

Who is eligible to go on this trip?  We invite all serious scholars of Afro Cuban history, culture and the arts to join this trip. It is a research trip, with a lot of direct contact with the Cuban people as well as meetings and exchanges with important figures in the scene of Cuban arts, history and culture. The trip is primarily intended for full time academics and other professionals, but we will be able to consider other applicants on a case by case basis. It is not a tourism trip, but it is an important and exciting way to add in depth knowledge to your own expertise in the field of the African Diaspora. We welcome your interest and application.

Sincerely,

Merri Ansara, Director
For more info see Common Ground Education & Travel Services
Tel: 413-203-1125 Email: m.ansara@commongroundtravel.com

The Black Women of Cuba from the 20th Century into the 21st, May 21 to 28, 2011

Dear Friends,

As Christmas and the New Year come upon us, we are sending to you news and an invitation to join a program in Cuba put together by Pedro Pérez Sarduy, Casa de las Américas, and Common Ground:

The Black Women of Cuba from the 20th Century into the 21st, May 21 to 28, 2011.

Working with Cary Tamayo Fernández at Casa, and a dozen of Pedro's good friends and colleagues, we've put together a program of presentations, interactions, happenings and visits. Pedro Pérez Sarduy is the author of The Maids of Havana, available in English, French and Spanish.

Involved will be some of Cuba's leading Black women writers, poets, filmmakers, artists, musicians, intellectuals, historians, social scientists and other ordinary but extraordinary women.

The goal is to explore as a group and individually the role of Cuba's Black women through the history, literature and popular culture of the 20th Century.

The trip will take place over a period of 8 days, May 21st to May 28th, 2011. Pedro will accompany and lead the group, and Caridad Tamayo Fernández, researcher at Casa and head of academic studies there, will organize the presentations at Casa. There will also be films, readings, recorridos, visits, clubs and a variety of activities around the themes of study.

Participants are invited on the basis of their qualification as full time professionals, whether in universities, the arts, the social sciences or another area of study, teaching or expertise.

The cost is $2500, including RT airfare from Miami to Havana, accommodations at 4* hotels in Havana and Santa Clara, breakfast daily, 3 special meals and parties, lectures and presentations, transportation by air-conditioned bus, English translator, honoraria, entry visa for Cuba, and service fees. A reading list will be provided in preparation for the trip, including a copy of The Maids of Havana.

We hope you can join us. Please pass this notice on to all those who you hope might be interested.

Sincerely,

Merri Ansara                  Pedro Pérez Sarduy
Common Ground                 London

Website for Casa de las Américas

Eligibility for the trip

Under the rules of the U.S. government Cuba sanctions, this is a full time research trip open to full time professionals in literature, history, social sciences, the arts, women's studies and other fields that might require research of the nature presented in this project. Applicants will be asked to provide us with a statement of their specific research interest in Cuba and will be expected to present the results of their research to their colleagues and peers on their return, through the various media and means at their disposal.

You can read more about the U.S. regulations regarding travel to Cuba www.ustreas.gov/ofac

May 21 to 28, 2011
$2500 from Miami double occupancy; single supplement available

Jazz in Cuba: History, Origins and Current Scene – July 10 to 17, 2010

Havana Jazz Festival, 12/02

December 6^th to 16^th, 2002

For only $1,550.00 your trip includes

Chucho Valdés, Bamboleo, Quartet Aché, Taj Mahal, Danilo Pérez, Alain Pérez Quartet, Roy Hargrove Sextet, Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Maraca and Otra Visión, Yoruba Andabo, Ivan Lins, Joe Lovano Quartet, Leo Brouwer, Issac Delgado, NG La Banda and others.

Common Ground and the Afrocuban Cultural Council are pleased to invite you to join Alan West Durán of Boston and Alberto Faya of Havana for an exciting trip to Cuba for the Havana Jazz Festival, December 6-16. It's an opportunity that we could not resist offering our friends and clients, even with such short planning notice, and an opportunity we know that few can resist. The cafes, streets, theaters and every corner of Havana will be bursting with music, from traditional Cuban tunes to the latest Jazz sounds from around the world.

Alan West is professor of Latin American literature at Northeastern University and a leading Cuban American poet and expert on Cuban music.

Alberto Faya is a well known Cuban musician, veteran of the Cuban New Music movement, musicologist of Casa de las Americas, and now TV music producer, book writer, and leader of the group Siete de Corazon.

The dates of the trip are December 6 to 16, 2002. The cost of the trip is $1550 per person, double occupancy, with departure from Miami.

The trip is sponsored by Common Ground in collaboration with Afrocuban Cultural Council under license from the U.S. Treasury Department.

Round Trip Air to Havana from Miami
10 nights with hotel accommodations with breakfast daily
Transfers to/from airport and transportation for group activities and program
Program of visits, music presentations and lectures in Havana and Matanzas
Credentials for entrance to Jazz Festival activities *
Medical/Evacuation insurance while in Cuba
Entry visa for Cuba **
Local English speaking guide and assistance

*Some jazz festival activities may require additional ticket for entrance. Your hosts will assist you in purchasing these as necessary.
**Cuban born participants add $130 to cost and contact CG immediately to process visa.

Note: Participants will be traveling under U.S. Treasury Department license. Treasury Department regulations prevail in all aspects of the trip.

Call us to sign up or for more information: 877-661-7653 (toll free) or 617-661-7653 (local).