AHS in Matanzas, 40 Years and a Single Generation

With a meeting between generations, the Hermanos Saíz Association (AHS) in Matanzas celebrated the organization’s 40 years at the Pharmaceutical Museum. Yadiel Durán Bencosme, president of the AHS, referred to this exchange as a way of making the organization’s family spirit a reality.

«This type of meeting, more than obligatory, is necessary, precisely because although the name says encounter of generations, the AHS has only one generation. Nobody leaves here. All these creators, who at other times were perhaps leading projects within the organization and today are mainly UNEAC members, have never separated themselves from the association.

«Therefore, meetings like this do is reaffirm to us that they continue to be our reference, that they continue to be our guide, that we are responsible not only for caring for but for expanding, for making grow those first ideas that all of them had when they were part of the organization.

«This is a type of space that we always appreciate because hearing in a relaxed way the stories of these great masters is always appreciated, and I believe it has served so that the young people who are starting now, who accompanied us here this morning, understand firsthand exactly what the Hermanos Saíz Association is — what it is beyond what they could really have imagined when they were applying for the growth process.»

The also dancer, choreographer, and artistic director commented that there is a purpose at the national level to rescue the history of the AHS. «Speaking of 40 years of an organization, I believe, is big words, because if 20 years is nothing, then 40, I believe, is becoming something.

«So happy with this meeting, with this morning, with being able to give these young people who are entering, who are starting now, the possibility of being able to converse, to dialogue, to ask, to enjoy the experiences of these masters we have here in the city of Matanzas, who will always be references for what we are going to do in terms of creation.»

He stressed that «we must care for the effort of those who preceded us. To fulfill our cultural and social responsibility, growth processes are distinguished by their rigor and demand, which ensures that those who belong to the AHS are talented young people.»

Ulises Rodríguez Febles, playwright, writer, and critic, noted that there is a chronological gap in the province and the transcendence of providing spaces of this type to foster exchange between the youngest and the members of the artistic vanguard.

In that sense, radio producer Leo Ernesto García Ramos recalled the beginnings of the organization in Matanzas and shared anecdotes from that first stage. He also recognized the work the Hermanos Saíz Association carries out at the national level thanks to the drive of its president, journalist and writer Yasel Toledo, to develop and promote the work of the youngest, while knowing how to recognize those who at another time belonged to the Association.

José Manuel Espino, writer, playwright, and president of UNEAC in Matanzas, recalled the founding nucleus of the AHS in Colón. He also valued that the Association has an insurmountable strength «and that is that it has youth in its favor. The freedom of young people is unrepeatable, and the Association is very special because of that,» he said.

Maestro of Youth René Fernández Santana commented that the AHS has much to thank UNEAC for in its founding years, and «we continue that precept.

«We are no longer those, now we are others, but we contribute to the formation of these young people as our masters did with us.» He noted that, as director of Teatro Papalote, he has always counted on the Association’s support for holding various events over decades.

To the voices of those who from UNEAC watch the work of the young vanguard grow were added those of those who are beginning to be part of a history that already reaches its first four decades, among them Humberto Fuentes, journalist and president of the literature section in the AHS Matanzas.

«We arrive at the AHS anniversary with more desire to do than ever. Creativity always starts from a reference. A generational meeting like this gives young people much more desire to do, to continue creating, and the Masters of Youth, the guests, the people who have set the standard in the history of the Hermanos Saíz Association — which is already 40 years and may seem little but is a great deal — leave with an indicator of what is being done in contemporaneity, in youth.

«There is a very strong movement right now of young artists in Matanzas — whether writers, visual artists, musicians — and the fact that most of them belong to the Association or are in the process of belonging to it constitutes proof that the AHS is more alive than ever.»

«For me it has always been an honor to belong to the AHS, and since I entered its ranks I have felt feedback and seen many benefits; I have found new spaces to present my work, contests where it is recognized, and — I was saying this here at this meeting we had — it is a place where you have dialogue with people from other manifestations and generations, but who nourish your work with a different flavor. That is super interesting.

«I have always liked that what I mainly do, which is animated audiovisual, fits everything: visual and performing arts, music — and right now is when I know where I have to go and whom I have to call, and I love that,» commented Carlos Daniel Hernández, audiovisual producer.

«Holding this type of meeting is always good and welcome for the AHS. From my point of view, as executive secretary for more than a year in the Association, I have seen how so many young people want to join, both to develop their art and to show themselves to Matanzas, to the public.

«That also gives the measure of how, despite the years, the context of Cuba and specifically of Matanzas, young people continue seeking a way to make their art known to society, and the AHS always opens its doors to them,» noted Beatriz Mendoza, journalist, executive secretary of the Association in the province.

«The AHS is the organization that groups the new generations of artists and, therefore, there is an age that marks belonging to it from the formal point of view.

«Before being a member of the AHS and UNEAC, I always collaborated with both organizations. So I do not see this moment as a farewell to the Association. I see it as spaces that endure, where my work will be, where my work will be, where I will personally be, collaborating, supporting the new generations, because there is a spiritual bond with it. That marks a difference.

«The AHS is the perfect organization for new generations interested in literature, visual arts, dance, theater — that is, it is the ideal path toward growth and improvement,» held Adrián Gómez Sancho, visual artist.

The moment was propitious to recognize the Pharmaceutical Museum for always maintaining a very strong bond with the organization. Marcia Brito, director of the institution, thanked and noted that «here young people will always have an open space to carry forward their creation.»

Likewise, Durán Bencosme received on behalf of the AHS members the recognition of the UJC at the provincial level. The Novadanza company and troubadour Adrián Zurbano enlivened the meeting.