In the UNEAC is the strength.

The Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba (UNEAC) is a social organization with cultural purposes, which brings together, on a voluntary basis and following the principle of selectivity, Cuban writers and artists.

Today, August 22nd, UNEAC celebrates its 63rd anniversary. It arrives at this anniversary immersed in necessary transformations and certain that unity in diversity and the virtuous and committed effort that characterize it, are the only guarantee of the maintenance of a living, authentic and dignifying Cuban culture.

«First, there has been a change in the perception of what UNEAC is. There was a very elitist concept, very much of individualities, great works, but in a very reserved way. UNEAC has now become a transforming organization and that is much appreciated because we live in a society that needs transformations all the time.

«In that same spirit, community work, which is a vocation that we have discovered more recently because it was not seen that way in the beginning, is one of the elements that distinguishes us and I think we are also a UNEAC that is more open to dialogue.

«There is no lack of people who want to see the Union as a counterpart of the cultural institutions and nothing could be more wrong than that; we are more than a counterpart, we are the ones who accompany.

«We are a critical conscience of what happens with culture in every space where we represent it, but we are part of it, we do not feel alienated nor do we look from a distance to judge,» said Jose Manuel Espino Ortega, president of the UNEAC branch in Matanzas.

The community dimension of culture is one of its strengths; hence the link between the organization and the socio-cultural projects that enrich and diversify spiritual life occupies a relevant place in the work of the organization.

«There are great and very good community projects here, but at the same time there are great opportunities that we have not discovered, there are many things that we have not approached.

«The commitment is to see where UNEAC or the artist is most useful to achieve transformation. That is a challenge we have, we have not managed to detect all those places yet, we are not reaching where we should reach all the time, even though there is a magnificent cultural programming here. It is good to feel that we still have challenges because that gives us vitality, makes us work harder.

Young people are also a living part of the organization. Their contributions are undeniable and this is the reason for the respect they have gained among all the members, the constant accompaniment of their elders.

«We have a greater commitment to being part of what the culture of a place means and that has allowed us to have more direct, more profitable and more respectful dialogues, especially with the young people, who contribute so many things, it would be a huge mistake to feel that we are going to sponsor the young people.

«No, young people enrich us all the time. We approach them because they move us, they bring us into a more contemporary dialogue with everyone.

«As that kind of relationship with young people is also the relationship with society; it is important that UNEAC has more of a look of not accommodating ourselves, of feeling that everything is done and said. We have many things left to do and that keeps us alive, with new challenges that are faced from the affection for the institution.»

Far from the cult of the ego, the Union opted for the path that protects the right to individual and collective creation, while advocating commitment and interaction with the society in which it was inserted. In doing so, it also fully assumes its name.

Strengthening ties with organizations is fundamental for the strengthening of UNEAC in Matanzas. «At the same time that you turn all those institutions into allies, it becomes a little easier for the great artists that distinguish us and give us glory to be more protagonists of culture.

«It is the only way, the honest and clear, clean, deep and critical dialogue because, I insist, it is in no way complacent. We will not be a complacent UNEAC, there is no time for that anymore, but a renewing one that also has to renew itself because it is not asking the other to change and you remain static in a pose of a Greek god that nothing touches him and nothing moves him.

«In that sense we have accumulated a lot of experience during all this time, and we have that time in our favor. This has meant that we have many important people in our favor, contributing with a very valuable work and not thinking only of complying, it is not a time to comply but to be essential for society and culture. We would not be forgiven for doing otherwise».

UNEAC Matanzas is currently focusing its attention on several important fronts. Among them, the culture-tourism relationship is one of the recurring themes in any scenario where representatives and members of the organization are present.

«The first thing is that you cannot judge without being part of it; for example, in the culture-tourism relationship I feel that there is a vital challenge and that is that all parties realize that the only way to bring great art closer to tourism is not to bring it but to bring them.

«To trust in the need of an extra-hotel work and that the companies manage to sell the shows of our artists in the same places where they are protagonists, in the same institutions because that would be the experience that nothing can replace.

«Hotels are spaces where culture and also high culture can be offered, but not all the time; nor can we expect all our high culture to be subordinated to a hotel.»

The city and its heritage, cultural values also require the critical and encouraging look of the UNEAC, in a complex scenario. «One of the things we should always be most concerned about is heritage because we may lose many things, but there are others that we cannot afford to lose because Matanzas will continue to be the Athens of Cuba and that is in our hands.

«There is commitment with cultural institutions that need support. I am sure that the intention is to support in this complex moment. Without a triumphalist discourse, with our feet on the ground, we can do more things.

«We have to value the aesthetic taste of certain places because we are also there to warn, to say things that concern us and others that should be respected».

With the certainty that culture is the shield and sword of the nation, the Matanzas branch of UNEAC seeks new spaces to interact with the population through artistic manifestations.

«One of those necessary spaces is the Tertulia de la matanceridad because it expresses the concern for what is ours, for what belongs to us and for what we must safeguard.

«The UNEAC is home to many and different spaces that seduce for my taste as is the Café mezclao, where the great personalities of Matanzas culture are revered, to place them in the place they deserve and dedicate them a day from the respect and love for their work.

«I am a great believer in Proyecto en casa, a recently created project, thanks to which community projects come to our headquarters. Sometimes we go to their place but it is good that they come here and propose and we see what they are able to do in this house that is theirs; in addition, the Te conté dedicated to the elderly who come here to gather around a fan or a necklace».

One of UNEAC’s priorities is to promote opportunities for improvement and exchange among its members and with the community, an intention that characterizes the activities that take place in the house on Milanés Street.

We also have the «Peña del Maíz Regado», which in the case of children, the promotion of reading is so important. Every day it becomes more difficult to promote literature because we live in a very audiovisual world and people forget the value of books».

UNEAC is an organization that today more than ever defends culture, authentic education, the promotion of reading and the practice of art, as elements that exalt cultural and spiritual enrichment, in full combat against the crude, the coarse and the tacky, disguised as popular artistic products.

«That also has to do with spiritual assets that we have had for a long time and it is good that we consolidate them, that we approach them, that we validate them from an organization like ours. I still think that UNEAC is obliged to maintain those spaces of cultural resistance».

The concert, Poetry Wednesdays, La guillotina, the Esteban Chartrand exhibition hall, are just some of the spaces that, together with the active participation of UNEAC in the province’s cultural programming, contribute to reaffirm the organization’s support on all fronts for the development of culture.

At the same time, it is a permanent purpose to consolidate the unity among creators and with the people, both recipients and protagonists of cultural manifestations.

Among the challenges that will be imposed in the near future to one of the guiding institutions of the country’s cultural policy, is the X Congress, where the people of Matanzas will be represented.

«It will be a great challenge because from there the lines of work for the coming years will be arranged and it will draw the fronts of combat because UNEAC is also a perennial combat in favor of identity, tradition and culture.

«There is a great commitment of the artists, but there are also great concerns. That will be in legitimate meeting to rethink what we expect from the new UNEAC because that sense of renewal leads us to build a new organization all the time, especially at a time like this in which the creators have shown that, beyond any shortage, there is the will to grow and continue offering great art for all because it is the right of all.

«I am confident that it will be a Congress with solutions, not only with questions and searches for new projections for UNEAC.»

Important steps have been taken towards that front thanks to which the organization shows greater maturity, responsibility and commitment with the purpose of consolidating itself as the entity that brings together the artistic vanguard in Cuba’s Athens.

«It has gained a lot in recent times, UNEAC today has a visibility that it did not have before, there is a very respectful look for UNEAC and we must respond to that respect from the work and it is up to us to build.»

Trova concert, usual spaces inside the Milanés house, recognition to founders and outstanding members, are some of the activities that the provincial branch of the UNEAC in Matanzas dedicates to its anniversary.

The time elapsed has served to reaffirm the importance of the founding, 63 years ago, of the organization as a permanent space for exchange, analysis, discussion and promotion of the most revolutionary ideas.

It has been an intense and essential trajectory when talking about Cuban culture in the last half century. Culture is the very support of the project, the backbone of ideas and the satisfaction of the spiritual demands of the people. Hence the importance of the Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba.

Written by Jessica Mesa.