Common Ground Travel Services
www.commongroundtravel.com

Licensed Cuba travel agent in Massachusetts

Tel: 413-203-1125 Email: m.ansara@commongroundtravel.com

Common Ground specializes in numerous cultural and professional themed trips to Cuba, trips created in collaboration with Cubans on the island.

A program led by Pedro Pérez Sarduy, Cuban writer, poet and lecturer on Afro-Cuban culture. 

Up until the Cuban Revolution in 1959, the Cuban elite ensured that European culture predominated, pushing African culture and even its history into the dark corners.  But as Cuban poet Nicolás Guillén once said, "Show me a Cuban who says he is white, and I'll ask him to bring his Grandmother out from the kitchen."  These days, Cubans are proud of their mixed heritage and it is shown in their literature, music, dance, film and the resurgence of interest in Afro-syncretic religion.  This program explores the history of African presence in Cuba, through visits to Matanzas and the Museum to Slavery, exploration of African presence in Cuba's art in the Cuba collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, visits to sites of Afro-Cuban art and pride such as the Callejón de Hamel, and meetings with Afro-Cuban artists, filmmakers and writers.  The group will also visit the Yoruba Association and Casa Africa, meeting with staff and specialists.  As well the group will visit the Church of the Black Virgin in Regla and the Community of Atarés, two of the important centers of Afro Cuban community and spirituality in Havana.  Cost includes membership in the Center for Cuban Studies and a copy of Afro-Cuba: An Anthology of Cuban Writing on Race, Politics and Culture.

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

These are people to people exchanges trips and are open to a broader public. They are offered in collaboration with the Obsidian Arts Center.

May 18 - 25, 2012
Afro Art Experience in Santiago and at the Havana Biennale 

May 18 - May 26, 2012
LGBT / Arts Tour of Havana Cuba 

July 6 - 13, 2012 
Afro Art Experience at Fire Festival in Santiago and Havana Visit

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