A G E N D A

I.    Happy New Year.  Welcome and introductions.

II.     Update on Wisconsin Medical Project.

III.    Upcoming Wine Tasting and Silent Auction Benefit on Wednesday, January 20 at Cardinal Bar.

IV.    Crane Education Project in Cuba by Korie Klink.  Proposal for discussion and sponsorship by MCSCA.

V.    Other business.

VI.    Adjournment.

Please remember to send in your dues for 2010:  $30/family/$20 individuals.  Send to MCSCA, P. O. Box 608, Madison, WI 53701.  Thanks!

By Nick Miroff

Cuba has some the most extensive coral reefs in the hemisphere, but political strains between Washington and Havana largely have kept American scientists away.

A new partnership for marine research is trying to change that at one of Cuba’s most remote places, far from people and pollution.

Off central Cuba’s southern coast, hundreds of tiny islands stretch into the Caribbean. They are ringed with narrow beaches and thick stands of red mangrove.

When Christopher Columbus arrived here, he named the area Los Jardines de la Reina — The Queen’s Gardens. Five centuries later, there isn’t a single town or road or permanent human presence.

The underwater gardens of pristine coral are still here. The Cuban government banned fishing over a 386-square-mile section of the islands in 1997, creating what scientists say is the Caribbean’s largest marine reserve.

Only a few hundred divers visit each year. Dropping below the surface into underwater canyons of black coral and giant sea fans, U.S. scientist David Guggenheim of The Ocean Foundation encountered species he had only seen in photographs, like the nearly extinct Nassau grouper.

He looked stunned after he came up from his first dive in the islands and took off his mask.

“It’s amazing. It’s sort of like ‘Jurassic Park.’ Scientists are seeing these species they never expected to see in their life, because they’re extinct. Well, these fish aren’t extinct, but they might as well be for most of us. So I feel very lucky to see them,” he says.

Guggenheim came to the area on a converted lobster boat with a Cuban marine biologist and two U.S. colleagues.

For him and other scientists, the area is like a large-scale experiment — a look back in time at a marine environment largely unaffected by fishermen, pollution and coral-killing fertilizer runoff. The waters are plentiful with huge fish, sharks, sea turtles and saltwater crocodiles.

As these species flourish, some will leave the reserve, helping repopulate other areas where their numbers are depleted.

“Fish are not just crops that grow in the sea for us to harvest — it doesn’t work that way. Fish have important jobs to do, and when we remove them in numbers, they can’t do those jobs. And we’ve seen time and time again that ecosystems collapse, especially coral reef ecosystems, when we upset that balance,” he says.

One obvious sign of a healthy balance in Los Jardines is the sharks. Elsewhere in the region, their numbers have declined 90 percent or more. But in these royal blue waters, they’re everywhere.

“To even see a shark in some places is a big deal these days, and to come to this area and dive with dozens of sharks is truly something special,” says nature photographer Kip Evans.

A U.S. judge Tuesday reduced the prison terms of two convicted Cuban spies in the latest twist of a high-profile espionage case that has strained already hostile ties between Havana and Washington.

U.S. District Judge Joan Lenard cut the sentence of Ramon Labanino, also known as Luis Medina, from a life term to 30 years, an assistant to the judge told Reuters.

In a separate later ruling, Lenard reduced the sentence of a second convicted spy, Fernando Gonzalez, also known as Ruben Campa, from 19 years to 17 years and nine months.

Cuba said the sentence reductions did not go far enough.

U.S. prosecutors said they were part of a Cuban espionage ring that had spied on the Cuban exile community in Florida and sought to penetrate U.S. military facilities there.

The original sentences imposed by Lenard against Labanino and Gonzalez were thrown out as excessively harsh last year by a U.S. appeals court, which argued the Cuban agents had not succeeded in actually sending back top secret information, despite their conspiracy to do so.

Labanino and Gonzalez were arrested in 1998 along with three other Cuban agents. Prosecutors said they formed the so-called “Wasp Network” sent to the United States to infiltrate exile groups opposed to Cuba’s communist government, then led by Fidel Castro.

Fidel Castro, now 83, handed over the Cuban presidency last year to his younger brother, Raul Castro, 78. U.S. President Barack Obama has said he wants to try to improve U.S.-Cuban ties after a half century of hostility.

The case of the five spies has long been a point of contention between the United States and Cuba, which demands their release, hails them as heroes and says they were trying to prevent “terrorist” attacks by exile extremists.

In Havana, the president of Cuba’s National Assembly, Ricardo Alarcon, said the decision to reduce the sentences did not go far enough and criticized the U.S. justice system.

“Any sentence imposed on these comrades is unjust, but that doesn’t mean that the reduction of the sentences is insignificant,” Alarcon told a Cuban television talk show.

“This is an important day, a victorious day, but it isn’t cause for satisfaction, nowhere near. This must serve as an additional argument, not only to continue the fight but to intensify it,” said Alarcon, Cuba’s long-time pointman on relations with Washington.

In October, one of the five, Antonio Guerrero, had his sentence reduced from life to about 22 years.

The five Cuban espionage agents were convicted in a Miami court in 2001 of 26 counts of spying and received sentences ranging from 15 years to life in prison.

U.S. prosecutors had linked the activities of the Cuban spy ring to the 1996 shooting down by Cuban fighter jets of two planes belonging to an exile group, Brothers to the Rescue, which flew near Cuba. Four men in the planes were killed.

Cuba has staged national and international campaigns calling for the release of the five, arguing they did not receive a fair trial in Miami, center of the exile community that fled after Fidel Castro took power in a 1959 revolution.

From the 2nd to the 27th of November, 2009, the Madison-Camaguey Sister City Association hosted a visit from two noted Camagueyano artists, Orestes Larios Zaak (a painter) and Gregorio Perez Escobar (a sculptor). The visit had political significance because the Cubans received among the first artists’ visas issued by the U.S. government under the new Obama administration. Among the many events and appointments the Cubans had was an introduction to American politics — the Madison variety — when they attended a meeting of the city’s Common Council at which they received a warm welcome that included a proclamation congratulating them for their part in the Madison-Camaguey relationship which had achieved its 15th anniversary. Mayor's Proclamation November 2009 (42) Partial support for the visit was provided by the Dane County Cultural Arts Commission.

Larios and Perez were invited to display their work at the DeRicci Gallery of Madison’s Edgewood College. Their exhibition was called “Celebrating Friendship/Celebrando Amistad.” Accompanied by the exhibit’s curator Maria Ofelia Granela, the work on view showed the distinct interests and differing perspectives of two artists whose work is beginning to achieve international recognition. Larios’s paintings are gentle and ruminative expressions of the natural environment and the (implied) threat to the natural world’s beauty. Perez’s sculptures in dark, polished wood are both aggressive and intricate in their expression of the lost human figure (often absent), but many pieces also possess a wry, surprising humor. More than a hundred enthusiastic patrons attended the opening reception on November 6.

There was an important educational component to the visit. Larios and Perez attended several art classes at Edgewood, working with students and their teachers. On Nov. 11th, members of the Madison/Dane County community heard an illustrated lecture on “Cuban Art from Colonial Days to Today.” The artists also travelled to Milwaukee at the invitation of the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design, where they interacted with MIAD’s art students, and commented on the students’ work; they also presented a talk on the theme of “The Life of Cuban Artist in the 21st Century.” In addition, while in Milwaukee, they visited the city’s famous Art Museum and had the opportunity to visit Chicago’s Art Institute on a quick trip to the Windy City as well.

To be sure, the visit occasioned much socializing, including attending several important concerts featuring Cuban music and musicians. They visited Taliesen, Frank Lloyd Wright’s studio/school in Spring Green, WI, and a number of art galleries in the area. They attended a sabbath service at Madison’s Beth Israel Center (Larios is Jewish), and enjoyed many lunches and dinners provided by members of MCSCA and others with whom they became quick friends. Because the end of the visit coincided with Thanksgiving, they attended two gatherings and spoke eloquently about the friendship and love that they encountered, and about the importance of their visit as an opening wedge in what they hoped would be a fully engaged cultural interchange between Cuba and the U.S.

The Madison-Camaguey Sister City Association hopes to make that dream a reality, and will plan for more visits TO Cuba by U.S. artists. In the meantime, we have the memory of an extraordinary month of activities and encounters to inspire the continuation of this work. Please contact MCSCA if you would like to participate in planning future exchanges.

An exhibiton of the Cuban art is underway in Wisconsin. It is about an exhibition of 25 pieces made by the Cuban artists Orestes Larios Zaak and Gregorio Perez, is exhibited until next 24 of November in Madison, capital city of the US state of Wisconsin.

The exhibition, made by these creators from the Cuban province of Camaguey, is held at the D´Ricci gallery, and includes oil paintings and wood sculptures about ecological topics.

The performances will cover the musical spectrum of Latin jazz, mambo, chachacha, charanga, salsa and merengue, and it is being welcomed by listener-sponsored community radio WORT-FM.

Organized last year to raise funds for hurricane victims in the Caribbean, the Latin Music Fest attracted over 400 people to the Majestic, inspiring promoters to make it an annual event on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving.

The Majestic will open its doors at 8 pm. The event is 21+ and a donation of $10 will be asked for at the door.

Finally, here’s some change we can believe in. The U.S. blockade on Cuba is alive and well, but Obama’s given us wiggle room. For the first time since the start of W’s second term, Cuban artists can get visas to visit the States. Thanks to impressive efforts by the Madison-Camagüey Sister City Association, with support from Edgewood College, the Dane County Cultural Affairs Commission, and the Overture and Pleasant T. Rowland Foundations, painter Orestes Larios Zaak and sculptor Gregorio Pérez Escobar will be our guests. It’s part of the Madison-Camagüey association’s 15th anniversary celebration.

An exhibit of their works, “Cuban Artists in Madison: Celebrating Friendship,” curated by Larios’ wife, María Ofelia Granela, graces Edgewood’s DiRicci Gallery Nov. 4-24. The opening’s on Friday, Nov. 6, at 5 p.m. Larios and Pérez also give a public lecture on contemporary Cuban art at 4 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 11, in Edgewood’s Predolin Humanities Center.

f you haven’t kept up with Cuba, you may be surprised by these events. Long gone are the revolutionary posters of Fidel’s heyday. The island faces technological challenges largely linked to the blockade, but Internet access is growing, and person-to-person cultural exchanges like this create vital new connections. Larios and Pérez, widely known in Cuba, are represented in private collections in Europe, South America and Canada. “When our messages reach everyone, we can say we’ve left being local artists behind; today we’re universal artists,” Larios says.

Mr. Ricardo Gonzalez,

President of the Madison-Camagüey Association.

The committee members have already declared II Annual International Video Art Festival of Camagüey event an undeniable reality — even before opening night.   We realized at the outset that our project would require the full backing of people and institutions.  We knew that  it was essential to have their good will and that they be fully prepared to engage in this project, which supports the dissemination of theory and practice of video arts in the province, the country and a good part of the world.  We also knew that the financial constraints of our situation would hamper our ability to develop the festival to its full potential.  We had to consider not only the primary role technology plays in the genre, but also the scope of our goal: to make this a true achievement in the field of camagüeyano cultural events.

But we didn’t give up.  Today, after almost a year of intense work, we can announce that the II Annual International Video Arts Festival this year received 237 works by 127 artists representing 27 countries and will include the participation of delegates from 10 countries.

With this achievement, the steering committee has the pleasure of thanking you and your institution for the backing you offered this cultural project, for the fulfillment of a promise made, and for the the confidence that you provided us by being able to count on you.   This being so, please accept this simple gesture of thanks from our committee, and please understand the privilege and satisfaction that we feel in having involved you in the realization of the Festival.

With sincere appreciation and hope of new collaborations in the future,

The Steering Committee

II Annual International Festival of Camagüey

_________________________________________

Estimado Sr. Ricardo González
Presidente de la asociación MADISON-CAMAGUEY

Aun cuando el II Festival Internacional de Videoarte de Camagüey no ha llegado a su noche de inauguración, los miembros de su Comité Organizador están en condiciones de declarar que este es ya una realidad inobjetable. Desde los primeros días de trabajo supimos que nuestras aspiraciones demandarían -sin evitación posible- del respaldo de personas, instituciones, buenas voluntades en sentido general, que estuvieran dispuestas a involucrarse en un proyecto para la difusión del pensamiento y la práctica videartísticas de la provincia, el país y también buena parte del mundo. Por otra parte sabíamos que las austeridades cotidianas de nuestra realidad lastrarían el despliegue cabal del festival, signado no sólo por el protagonismo tecnológico, sino además por las intenciones de convertirse en un verdadero acontecimiento cultural dentro de los predios camagüeyanos. Pero no desistimos. Hoy, después de casi un año de trabajo intenso, podemos anunciar que el II Festival Internacional de Videoarte de Camagüey  recibió este año 237 obras de  127 artistas en representación de 27 países y  contará con la participación de  delegados de más de 10 paises.
Ante esta realidad, el Comité Organizador del Festival siente el placer de agradecerle a usted y la institución que representa por el respaldo brindado para la realización de este proyecto cultural, por el cumplimiento del compromiso asumido, por la seguridad que nos proporcionó haber contado con usted. Siendo así, lleguen en este sencillísimo gesto las gracias de este comité y sienta el privilegio y satisfacción que experimentamos al saberlo involucrado en la realización del Festival.

Con gratitud sincera y esperanza de futuras nuevas colaboraciones,

Comité Organizador
II Festival Internacional de Videoarte de Camagüey

A G E N D A

I.    Welcome and introductions.

II.   Cuban Artists in Madison/Celebrating Friendship:  Exhibit by Orestes Larios and Gregorio Escobar being held at DiRicci Gallery at Edgewood College, November 4-24.  Join us tonight in welcoming Orestes, his wife Maria Ofelia, and Gregorio to Madison.  Opening Reception on Friday, Nov. 6 from 5 to 7 PM.  See Press Release below.

III.    Wisconsin Medical Project Update: Group to travel November 14-21.

IV.    Tiempo Libre, a Cuban salsa/timba group to perform at Wisconsin Union Theatre on Thursday, November 5; sponsored by MCSCA, this promises to be a great show–bring your ticket and get in free at Cardinal Bar following performance.  C’mon folks, get out and throw a little grey hair in the air . . .

V.   Wine Tasting/Silent Auction scheduled for November 11 at Cardinal Bar has been postponed to Wednesday, January 20, 2010.  Please mark your calendars.  Volunteers needed!

VI.    Lecture and Showing of Documentary focusing on Jewish community in Cuba:  Wednesday, November 18 at University Club on UW-Madison campus–Reception at 5 PM, Lecture and Showing at 7 PM–featuring Dr. Delvis Fernandez Levy, president of Cuban American Alliance Education Fund.

VII.   Latin Music Fest II at Majestic Theater on Wednesday, November 25.  Benefit for Madison-Camaguey Sister City Association’s ongoing cultural exchanges, featuring local bands Mambo Blue, Tony Castaneda Latin Jazz Band, Grupo Candela and the premiere of Madison’s new charanga group Charanga Agoza.

VIII.    Treasurer’s report.

IX.    MCSCA Annual Meeting: Wednesday, December 2 at Cardinal Bar (418 E. Wilson St.) from 7 to 9 PM.  Mark your calendars.

X.    Other business.

XI.    Adjournment.

NOTED CUBAN ARTISTS TO VISIT MADISON

With the recent thaw in Cuba-United States relations, it appears that Madison and Dane County will be major beneficiaries of the positive change. The  proof will be seen in the visit of two renowned Cuban artists to exhibit their work at the DeRicci Gallery of Edgewood College from November 4-24, 2009. The opening reception for the exhibition will take place on Friday, Nov. 6, from 5:00-7:00 p.m at the gallery to which the public is invited. The DeRicci Gallery is open 9:00 a.m.-6:00 p.m. daily.

The exhibition is called “Cuban Artists in Madison: Celebrating Friendship/Artistas Cubanos en Madison: Celebrando Amistad,” and is sponsored by the Madison-Camaguey Sister City Association with support from Edgewood College and the Dane County Cultural Affairs Commission with additional funds from the Overture Foundation and Pleasant T. Rowland Foundation.

The two artists, Orestes Larios Zaak and Gregorio Perez Escobar, are well-known in their native Cuba. Both hail from Camaguey, the city in central Cuba with which Madison has had a “twin” relationship since 1994. One reason for their visit is to commemorate the fifteenth anniversary of the sister-city agreement.

Larios is a painter who has exhibited his work in Canada and Europe. His paintings explore the natural environment around us and call attention to its beauty and fragility. Perez is a sculptor who works with polished, fine-grained wood. His sculptures reveal a variety of human and inanimate forms that can be both mysterious and shocking.

While in Wisconsin, the two artists will visit classes and workshops in painting and sculpture at Edgewood, as well as the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design. They will present a public lecture, “Canto a la vida: A View of Cuban Art Today” at 4:00 p.m., Wednesday, November 11, in the Predolin Building on the Edgewood Campus, 1000 Edgewood College Drive.