Contemporary Art in Cuba: The Havana Art Biennial

This exciting new program offers a dynamic insider’s exploration of the “real” Cuba beyond the well-known tourist sites with a special focus on Cuba’s vibrant contemporary art scene, and participation in the world-famous Havana Art Biennial. Join a small group of open-minded travelers exploring a rapidly changing country in ways not available to most visitors. Our itinerary includes Havana and several other locations in the island’s interior. Because the group is limited in size, we’ll have the flexibility to take advantage of the spontaneous cultural interactions that make Cuba such an inspiring and exciting place to travel.

Our program begins in the magical time-capsule city of Havana, exploring that city’s varied neighborhoods as we interact with Cuban artists, musicians, students, dancers, craftsmen, and everyday entrepreneurs. Participate in an exciting daily schedule of interactive field visits mixed with informal talks on such topics as Colonial Havana, the Cuban Revolution, and Hemingway in Cuba. We’ll drop in on artists’ studios and galleries, attend dynamic music & dance performances, and visit synagogues, neighborhood markets, and small museums, in addition to the city’s better-known cultural sites- including Haban Vieja (a UNESCO World Heritage Site), the Fine Arts Museum, the Necrópolis de Colón (one of the world’s greatest cemeteries), a cigar factory, and lengendary Finca Vigía, where Ernest Hemingway lived and wrote for more than two decades.  We’ll also have a special opportunity to attend shows, lectures, and gala events associated with the 13th Bienal de la Habana, a world-renowned arts event featuring some of the most exciting Latin American and international artists working today.

In addition to a full daily schedule of arts and cultural exchange activities, participants will have the opportunity to dine at some of Havana’s best paladares (officially sanctioned restaurants located in private homes), and experience the city’s renowned music scene. For those interested in collecting art, there will be opportunities to purchase art in a variety of price ranges directly from Cuban artists in their galleries and studios.

The program includes several days in Playa Larga, an idyllic and culturally significant Caribbean beachside fishing village on the ecologically rich Bay of Pigs.

Registration is now closed.

PROGRAM DETAILS

Dates: April 15-23, 2019

Price per person: $3,750 for double occupancy (single supplement: $700), includes ground arrangements: lodging, ground transportation, local guides and experts, people-to-people activities, lectures, Havana Biennial events, museum entrance fees, breakfasts, most lunches and dinners, and a $250 tax-deductible contribution to the Brattleboro Museum & Art Center. Some independent meals give participants the chance to get a break from the group and sample Cuba’s famous paladares (restaurants in private homes) on their own.

To register: Complete registration form and pay non-refundable deposit of $800 by January 7, 2019. Balance due by February 15, 2019. Register by December 3, 2018 for an early-bird discount of $100 off.

Registration is now closed.

Space is limited to preserve the intimacy and flexibility of the experience, so we encourage you to reserve your place early. Please note that traveling in Cuba entails extensive walking and stair climbing. Participants should be in reasonable physical condition.

Getting there: Participants should make arrangements to arrive in Havana no later than 6 p.m. on April 15, and should arrange to fly out of Havana no earlier than mid-morning on April 23. Registered participants with travel questions should contact Tim Weed directly at timweed.net@gmail.com.

An ARTravel staff member will meet you at the airport in Havana and take you to your accommodations.

Note on lodging: You will stay in a well-located, historic hotel in Havana, and in privately run casas particulares (bed-and-breakfasts) outside Havana that get us off the main tourist track and into real Cuban neighborhoods, as well as providing a comfortable, hospitable base for daily cultural immersion and travel activities. Bear in mind that U.S. group tourism in Cuba is a recent development, Cuba is a poor country, and the Cuban tourism infrastructure is over-taxed and struggling to keep up with demand. Lodgings are simple but very clean, with excellent breakfasts served by our warm and welcoming Cuban hosts.

Group leader: Tim Weed, a Vermont-based author and educator with extensive experience in Cuba, has spent his entire career developing and leading high quality educational travel programs abroad. He graduated from Middlebury College and holds master’s degrees from the University of California, San Diego, and the Warren Wilson College MFA for Writers program. As a founding director of National Geographic Student Expeditions, Tim played a key role in developing new photography, archaeology, and wildlife conservation programs in Iceland, Peru, Ecuador & the Galápagos, Spain, the Yucatán Peninsula, Alaska, and Yellowstone and Grand Canyon National Parks. From 1999 to 2004, he headed up a series of pioneering educational programs for American students in Cuba, including a four-week mobile writing workshop that traversed the island from Santiago to Havana. Since then, Tim has led numerous cultural, arts, and choral music programs in Cuba for National Geographic Expeditions, the Grand Circle Foundation, and Educational Travel Associates. Tim’s articles on travel and the outdoors have appeared in many national magazines, and his essay, “Embargoed Brothers: An American in Off-Limits Cuba,” won a 2012 Best Travel Writing Award. Tim is fluent in Spanish.

“When I first traveled in Cuba in 1999, it struck me, as it continues to strike me today, as an utterly unique place: a time capsule, an anomaly, a treasure trove of historical architecture, a country of great natural beauty with an inspiringly creative and resourceful population. What’s different today is that Cuba is changing, rapidly and dramatically. This is one of the reasons I’m excited about this new trip: in addition to being part of a small group exploring a country that has been inaccessible to most U.S. citizens for over half a century in ways not available to mainstream tourists, we’re going to be front-seat witnesses to history.”

— Tim Weed

“Tim was easy going, very well connected in Cuba, clearly well liked by the many people we crossed paths with. He managed complications with grace and always was cool, calm and collected. He was wonderful – he has the ability to quietly manage everything so the trip just flowed so nicely. Tim also was able to be spontaneous, and found creative things for us to do in all areas.”

— ARTravel participant

Since 2013, the Brattleboro Museum & Art Center has been offering cultural and people-to-people travel programs to Cuba in partnership with author and educator Tim Weed. The mission of our Cuba programs is to facilitate meaningful, genuine exchange between private, nongovernmental citizens of the USA and Cuba. The programs are in full compliance with the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control regulations on travel to Cuba.

Registration is now closed.

For more information: Contact Eliza Rudegeair at 802-257-0124, ext. 101 or office@brattleboromuseum.org.