La política choca con el arte por festival cultural cubano en el Kennedy Center de Washington
La cantante Aymée Nuviola, quien nació en Cuba y ahora vive en Miami, se presentará la noche inaugural del festival artístico cubano en el Kennedy Center, en Washington, el 8 de mayo. Emilio Guede Cortesía de la artista
A pesar de la frialdad en las relaciones entre Estados Unidos y Cuba, la mayor actividad cultural cubana que se haya presentado en Estados Unidos comenzará esta semana en el Kennedy Center de Washington DC.
Casi todo el espacio en el centro de artes escénicas junto al río Potomac estará dedicado a algún aspecto de la cultura cubana y cubanoamericana, con más de 50 actividades programadas durante el festival Artes de Cuba, que se celebra del 8 al 20 de mayo. Durante el curso de dos semanas, 420 artistas —242 de la isla y 178 de la diáspora cubana— presentarán un rico abanico de música, danza, teatro, arte, películas, artes gráficas y moda cubanas.
Entre los que se presentarán están: el Ballet Nacional de Cuba, que debutó en Estados Unidos en el Kennedy Center hace 40 años; Omara Portuondo, de 87 años y diva del Buena Vista Social Club; la Orquesta del Liceo de La Habana; Teatro El Público; los pianistas de jazz Aldo López Gavilán y Jorge Luis Pacheco; la percusionista Yissy; Los Van Van; Yosvany Terry, intérprete de jazz afrocubano que ahora vive en Nueva York, y Aymée Nuviola, cantante de varios géneros —desde timba hasta balada—que ahora reside en Miami.
La Galería Terrace del Kennedy Center se transformará en un club cubano, donde se servirán mojitos y otros tragos típicos, y el artista Esterio Segura presentará Hybrid of a Chrysler, una instalación hecha de componentes de autos viejos de la isla, en la terraza junto al río. Además, coleccionistas de autos clásicos estacionarán sus vehículos en la plaza. Todos los días a las 6 p.m. también habrá presentaciones gratis en el Millennium Stage.
«Es ciertamente el mayor festival cubano que se haya celebrado en Estados Unidos y los cubanos nos han dicho que es el mayor celebrado fuera de la isla», dijo Alicia Adams, curadora del festival y vicepresidenta de programas internacionales y danza. «Estamos invitando a la gente a conocer la cultura cubana a través de tanas ventanas como nos sea posible».
Los esfuerzos por organizar Artes de Cuba: From the Island to the World comenzaron hace unos tres años, cuando la apertura del gobierno del presidente Barack Obama a la isla estaba en su apogeo, pero la idea ha estado ahí unos 20 años, dijo Adams.
El interés de Adams comenzó durante un viaje del Smithsonian a la isla en 1999. Allí conoció a Alonso y a Mendive y mantuvo la idea de un festival cubano en el Kennedy Center. «Cuba ha producido muchos buenos artistas para el mundo», afirm’o.
A lo largo de los años, el Kennedy Center ha presentado más de 20 de esos festivales centrados en países o regiones de Europa, Africa, Asia y el mundo árabe, así como Centro y Sudamérica, Japón y Australia.
Adams sabe que las relaciones entre Washington y La Habana han empeorado desde que el Kennedy Center comenzó a organizar el festival y el gobierno de Trump implementó políticas más restrictivas en materia de comercio y viajes a la isla.
Arabesque: Arts of the Arab World, el festival de 2009, también se celebró en un momento de tensiones, pero incluso así fue «significativo y los visitantes lo pudieron disfrutar», dijo Adams. El Kennedy Center también acogió al Ballet Bolshoi soviético durante el apogeo de la Guerra Fría, explicó.
«Parte de esto es diplomacia cultural», dijo. «Las artes son la mejor herramienta que tenemos para unir a los pueblos».
El festival cubano ha generado controversia. Los representantes federales republicanos Mario Díaz-Balart e Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, de Miami, el demócrata Albio Sires, de Nueva Jersey, escribieron una carta a David M. Rubenstein y Deborah Rutter, presidente del directorio y presidente, respectivamente, del Kennedy Center, en que expresaron su «profunda preocupación» sobre el festival en el principal centro de artes escénicas del país.
«Parece que el festival presentará artistas partidarios y propagandistas del régimen, al tiempo que los artistas independientes de la isla no parecen estar representados», escribieron. Muchos artistas incluidos en el programa del Kennedy Center, afirmaron, «son defensores del régimen de Castro desde hace mucho tiempo».
Por ejemplo, reclamaron al Kennedy Center por no incluir «artistas valientes» como Tania Bruguera, el trompetista Arturo Sandoval y el saxofonista Paquito D’Rivera en el program. Adams dijo que D’Rivera, ganador 14 veces del Premio Grammy, se presentó en el Kennedy Center en diciembre y el centro tienen una larga relación con Sandoval como compositor e intérprete.
Aunque hay artistas que se identifican con la revolución cubana, como Pablo Milánés, quien se presentará con su su hija Haydée Milanés y su trío, dijo Adams: «Yo no pregunto a los artistas sobre sus posturas políticas. Sólo me fijo en su arte. Muchos de ellos ya se han presentado en Miami y otros lugares de Estados Unidos. El gobierno cubano no tuvo nada que ver con nuestra selección. Algunos son grandes artistas y otros comienzan a destacarse».
Adams también señaló que la Compañía de Danza Malpaso, de La Habana, que se presentará el 11 y 12 de mayo, es independiente y no recibe fondos del gobierno cubano.
«No estoy buscando artistas que protesten o que estén altamente politizados. Hay un lugar para eso, pero el festival no se trata de eso Es una presentación amplia de lo mejor que hay en Cuba», dijo Adams.
Los mismos legisladores, además del representante Carlos Curbelo, de Miami, también enviaron una carta al secretario de Estado Mike Pompeo, solicitando información sobre el proceso de otorgamiento de visas a los artistas cubanos, diciendo que «la entrada de tantos propagandistas en un momento en que la misión estadounidense en La Habana tienen tan poco personal es preocupante».
Adams dijo que las visas a los artistas cubanos no se emitieron en La Habana. Las 242 personas que necesitaban visa volaron a la Ciudad de México y presentaron sus documentos y fueron entrevistados en la embajada estadounidense allí. «Fue una pesadilla logística«, dijo Adams. «Yo podía haber dicho que esto era demasiado y olvidarme del asunto, pero pensé que era importante».
Politics collides with art as Kennedy Center prepares for Cuban culture festival
Despite the frost on U.S.-Cuba relations, the biggest Cuban cultural extravaganza ever held in the United States will get under way next week at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.
Almost every space of the performing arts center on the banks of the Potomac will be devoted to some aspect of Cuban and Cuban-American culture, with more than 50 events scheduled during Artes de Cuba‘s May 8-20 run. Over the course of two weeks, 420 performers — 242 from the island and 178 from the Cuban diaspora — will serve up a rich Cuban stew of music, dance, theater, art, film, graphic arts and fashion.
Among the performers: the Ballet Nacional de Cuba, which made its U.S. debut at the Kennedy Center 40 years ago; 87-year-old Omara Portuondo, the diva of the Buena Vista Social Club; the Havana Lyceum Orchestra; Teatro El Público; jazz pianists Aldo López-Gavilán and Jorge Luis Pacheco; drummer Yissy; Los Van Van; Afro-Cuban jazz musician Yosvany Terry, who now lives in New York, and Miami-based Aymée Nuviola, a multi-genre singer who glides from timba to ballads.
The Kennedy Center’s Terrace Gallery will be transformed into the Cubano Club, where mojitos and other Cuban cocktails will be served, and artist Esterio Segura will display Hybrid of a Chrysler, an installation made of vintage Cuban car parts, on the river terrace. To add to the ambiance, classic car collectors will park their vehicles on the plaza. Every night at 6 p.m. there also will be free performances at the Millennium Stage.
«It’s certainly the largest Cuban festival that’s ever been held in the United States and the Cubans have told us it’s the largest Cuban festival ever held outside Cuba,» said Alicia Adams, the festival’s curator and vice president of international programming and dance. «We are trying to invite people into Cuban culture through as many windows as we can.»
Efforts to organize Artes de Cuba: From the Island to the World began about three years ago when the Obama administration opening to Cuba was in full swing, but the idea had been percolating for about 20 years, said Adams.
Her interest began during a Smithsonian-led trip to the island in 1999. She met both Alonso and Mendive on the trip and kept the idea of a Cuba festival at the Kennedy Center in the back of her mind. «Cuba punches way above its weight in the artists it has created and given to the world,» she said.
Through the years, the Kennedy Center has presented more than 20 such festivals focusing on countries and regions from Europe, Africa and Asia to the Arab world, Central and South America, Japan and Australia.
Adams is well aware that U.S.-Cuba relations have taken a turn for the worse since the Kennedy Center began organizing the Cuba festival and the Trump administration began a more restrictive business and travel policy for Cuba.
Arabesque: Arts of the Arab World, the 2009 festival, also came at a time of tensions but it was still «meaningful and enjoyable to the audiences,» said Adams. The Kennedy Center also hosted the Bolshoi Ballet during the height of the Cold War, she noted.
«Part of this is about cultural diplomacy. We’re part of soft power,» she said. «Arts are the best tool we have to bring people together.»
The Cuba festival isn’t without controversy. Republican U.S. Reps. Mario Diaz-Balart and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Miami and New Jersey Democratic Rep. Albio Sires wrote a letter to David M. Rubenstein and Deborah Rutter, the chairman and president, respectively, of the Kennedy Center, expressing their «profound concern» about the festival at the nation’s performing arts center.
«It appears that the festival will feature pro-regime artists and propagandists while Cuba’s varied independent artists are seemingly unrepresented,» they wrote. Many artists in the Kennedy Center program, they said, «have been long-time apologists for the Castro regime.»
And they faulted the Kennedy Center for not including «courageous artists» such as Tania Bruguera, trumpeter Arturo Sandoval and saxophonist Paquito D’Rivera in the program. Adams said D’Rivera, a 14-time Grammy award winner, appeared at the Kennedy Center in December and the center has had a long relationship with Sandoval both as a performer and composer.
While there are artists who are identified with the Cuban Revolution, such as Cuban nueva trova movement founder Pablo Milanés, who will do a cameo with his daughter Haydée Milanés and her trio, Adams said: «I don’t ask artists about their politics. I’m only looking at them for art. Many of them have already performed in Miami and around the United States. The Cuban government had nothing to do with out selections. These are great artists as well as some who are coming up through the ranks now.»
Adams also noted that the Havana-based Malpaso Dance Company, which will perform May 11 and 12, is an independent company that receives no funding from the Cuban government.
«I’m not looking to bring artists who are protesters or who are highly politicized. There is a place for that but that’s not what this festival does. It’s a broad introduction to the best that exists in Cuba,» Adams said.
The same members of Congress, plus U.S. Rep. Carlos Curbelo of Miami, also sent a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo requesting information about the process for granting visas to the Cuban artists, saying «the availability of U.S. entry to so many propagandists at a time of severely reduced staffing at the U.S. post in Havana is troubling.»
Last September, after two dozen U.S. diplomatic personnel at the embassy in Havana began to complain of mysterious health ailments, the United States withdrew about two-thirds of its diplomats. Now only a skeletal staff remains at the embassy and it does no visa processing except for foreign diplomats and government officials or for extreme emergency cases. Immigrant visa services for Cubans have been transferred to the U.S. Embassy in Georgetown, Guyana, and Cubans seeking non-immigrant visas can apply at U.S. embassies around the world.
Adams said the visas for the Cuban artists weren’t issued in Havana. All 242 of the Cubans needing visas flew to Mexico City and were interviewed and presented their paperwork at the U.S. Embassy there. «It was a logistical nightmare,» said Adams. «We could have quit and said this is too much, but we thought it was important.»
Cooler relations under the Trump administration have already taken a toll on other cultural events. The National Symphony Orchestra of Cuba, which has played in the United States many times, canceled a February 2019 tour because of visa challenges. The Havana-based Teatro El Público, which also will perform at Artes de Cuba, flew to Mexico City in late December for visa interviews for a Minneapolis performance. But the performers missed their flight when the visas came through only the afternoon before their Jan. 4 opening performance and they had to hastily rebook on two different flights.
Even Florida Gov. Rick Scott, who is running for the U.S. Senate, has gotten into the act. In a letter to Pompeo, he called the Cuban artists who will appear at the Kennedy Center «agents of the dictatorship.» He suggested that «until the Cuban government eases the ongoing repression on the Ladies in White and the other pro-democracy and human rights actvisits, the U.S. should not grant any visas to any individual affiliated with the regime.»
The artists who will perform at the Kennedy Center represent many permutations of being Cuban. Many live in Cuba; some travel the world performing from a Cuban base; others were born in the United States; eight live in Europe, and still others like Nuviola, who was born in Cuba, now make their homes in Miami and around the United States. Former Miami Mayor Tomás Regalado presented her the key to her adopted city in 2016.
«We see their work as being very inspiring,» said Adams. «We want people to also be inspired by the work that has come out of this island and to appreciate the beauty and humanity of the Cuban people.»
