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Cultural courses began in Havana to train more than 100 young people from the Caribbean sponsored by UNESCO-EU scholarships
The ancient convent of Santa Clara, located in Old Havana, hosted today the inauguration ceremony of the first round of presential courses of the Caribbean Cultural Training Hub created by the UNESCO programme 'Transcultura: Integrating Cuba, the Caribbean and the European Union through Culture and Creativity, funded by the European Union'.
A total of 132 students, from 17 Caribbean countries, will participate in 11 two-week courses in subjects related to design, music, restoration trades and crafts, thanks to scholarships provided by the programme. The courses will take place between October and November 2023 and will be delivered, in Spanish and English, by 4 Cuban institutions: the Higher Institute of Design, the University of the Arts, the Workshop School of Havana 鈥楪aspar Melchor de Jovellanos鈥 and the Cuban Fund of Cultural Assets.
The first 48 participants in the courses starting today (48 additional participants will start on 16 October and 36 participants on 30 October) were welcomed by Fernando Le贸n Jacomino, Vice Minister of Culture of the Republic of Cuba; Isabel Brilhante Pedrosa, Ambassador of the European Union in Cuba; Anne Lemaistre, Director of the UNESCO Regional Office for Culture in Latin America and the Caribbean; and Gladys Collazo, President of the Board of the Caribbean Cultural Training Hub.
It is a pleasure for us to welcome young people from the Caribbean and to facilitate, together with UNESCO and the European Union, this space for cultural exchange. We highly value this training experience because it not only contributes to sharing knowledge, but also to strengthening ties with other Caribbean countries.
The Caribbean Cultural Training Hub integrates seven key educational institutions from Cuba and the Caribbean: the University of the Arts, the International Film and Television School of San Antonio de los Ba帽os and the Higher Institute of Design (coordinated by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Cuba), the Workshop School of Havana 鈥淕aspar Melchor de Jovellanos鈥, the University College of San Ger贸nimo de La Habana and the Santa Clara College for Training in the Arts and Restoration Trades of Cuba and the Caribbean (coordinated by the Office of the Historian of the City of Havana), as well as the University of the West Indies.
Following a regional consultation on the cultural training needs of the Caribbean to strengthen its cultural and creative sectors, the Hub has identified strategic themes and subsequently designed 70 short and highly specialised courses, in online and face-to-face modalities. In addition, Transcultura has donated almost twenty tons of materials and supplies for the delivery of these courses, to guarantee state-of-the-art conditions to train young Caribbean professionals.
Through this tailored training, UNESCO and the European Union open up opportunities for young culture professionals not only to develop their creative careers, but also to build the future creative sectors in their countries.
The round of courses that began today is the third delivered by Hub institutions, the first in face-to-face format. In its two previous online rounds, 448 cultural professionals from 17 Caribbean countries were trained in film-related subjects (by the International Film and Television School of San Antonio de los Ba帽os) and in cultural and creative entrepreneurship (by the University of the West Indies). A new round of face-to-face courses on dance, cinema and heritage management is foreseen in 2024.
Culture connects people and communities, and that is one of the main purposes of the Transcultura programme. Through the launching of these face-to-face courses today, the European Union and UNESCO are building bridges, celebrating diversity and boosting future opportunities for young people in the Caribbean.
Training is one of the four pillars of Transcultura, UNESCO鈥檚 largest programme in Latin America and the Caribbean and the EU's largest cultural programme in the region. Launched in early 2020 and due to end in 2024, the initiative harnesses the full cultural diversity of the Caribbean to become an engine for sustainable development, through exchange within the region and with Europe. It targets Caribbean people aged from 18 to 35 years by offering them career opportunities through training courses, support for creative entrepreneurship and the development of new skills. The programme beneficiary countries are Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Montserrat, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Saint Lucia, Suriname, as well as Trinidad and Tobago.
