Diplomacy Through Culture

The Foundation for a Civil Society (FCS), doing business as the Foundation for Culture and Society (FCS) and its President Wendy W Luers and her husband Ambassador William Luers recognize that, during this period of normalization with Cuba and the US, Culture provides the space where common ground is found easily and has a real impact on official and civil society. Ambassador Luers negotiated the opening of the Cuban and US Interest Sections in 1977 when he was Acting Assistant Secretary for Latin America.

We are conducting a three part program with Cuba which commenced in 2015 with our trip to visit Ambassador Jeffrey de Laurentis in Havana.

BRINGING MAJOR ARTS FIGURES TO CUBA

From March 8-12, 2016 Frank and Harriet Stella were in Havana speaking at the Museo de Bellas Artes, our partner the Ludwig Foundation and visiting art schools and artists. Accompanying was a group of collectors and patrons. As a direct result of this visit, a major retrospective of Frank Stella’s work is planned for 2018 or 2019 at the Museo de Bellas Artes at their request: The first in over 50 years. We made several planning trips with Frank Stella in July and November 2018 until Frank Stella cancelled the show in protest of Decree 349.
November 16-20, 2016 we hosted esteemed sculptor Joel Shapiro in Havana and another group of collectors. He, too, spoke at the Museo de Bellas Artes and the Ludwig Foundation. And visited San Alejandro and ISA art schools and graduate programs.
November 27-Dec 2, 2017, acclaimed artist and photographer Carrie Mae Weems did programs and visits with artists and photographers in Matanzas and Havana. We brought a group of collectors and people of influence. Matanzas was especially impactful as the entire arts community turned out to celebrate her. As a result, Carrie Mae participated in 2018 in the Havana Bienal and brought 12 students and 2 professors from the Carr Institute, Detroit – all African Americans – to create an installation. She also participated in Matanzas and has been invited to have an exhibition at the Museo de Bellas Artes.
January 13-17, 2020, major artist and photographer, Clifford Ross, came with a group of collectors to Havana. He gave presentations at the Museo de Bellas Artes and a spectacular presentation and performance of his digital work with music by Phillip Glass at the Fabrica de Arte attended by hundreds of Cuban artists and curators. A hugely talented young Cuban pianist followed with an improvisation accompanying his video on a huge screen. He also has been offered an exhibition at the Museo de Bellas Artes.

FotoFest 2016 and FotoFest/FCS/Cuba

In March, FCS provided scholarships for two Cuban women photographers Cirenaica Moreira and Leysis Quesada as well as Ricardo Viera, professor and Director of the Lehigh University Art Gallery to Houston for FotoFest Meeting Place and Portfolio Review. There were 500 photographers and 150 reviewers from 34 countries participating in 4 sessions. FCS sponsored FotoFest co founders Wendy Watriss and Fred Baldwin trip in April with Wendy Luers to Havana to plan future programs. They presented FotoFest International at the Ludwig Foundation April 2 to a large group of artists and photographers. They also reviewed portfolios.
FotoFest/FCS Workshops in Cuba – July 2016—organized with UNEAC – the Union of Artists and Writers with Professor Ricardo Viera in Matanzas, Santa Clara and Havana. Approximately a hundred photographers, curators and arts professionals participated. Professor Viera has been invited to return in Summer 2017.
FCS/FotoFest Program for FotoNoviembre with Fototeca, Havana, November 16-20, 2016. FCS sponsored Wendy Watriss & Fred Baldwin, Ricardo Viera, and Luis Delgado, a successful and multi-faceted Mexican American artist based San Francisco to do workshops, fora and round tables.
June, 2017 Ricardo Viera returned to Havana and Matanzas with Wendy Watriss and Fred Baldwin to do portfolio reviews and select Cuban photographers to attend FotoFest in 2018 and participate in the Meeting Place portfolio reviews. List of photographers who have participated with FotoFest.

2016

Leysis Quesada
Cirenaica Moreira

2017

Rene Pena - exhibit at FotoFest

2018

Ramon Pacheco (Matanzas)
Linet Sanchez (Santa Clara) - also exhibited at Annenberg
Ossain Raggi
Nelson Ramirez - also exhibited at Annenberg
These four artists were also selected for the FotoFest 2020 Fine Print Auction

2020

Adrian Fernandez - MFAH has bought work and Malcolm Daniel doing essay for his new book
Alejandro Gonzalez -
Alfredo Sarabia - MFAH is buying work
Irolan Mauroseli - MFSH interested in buying work

As a result of their participation in FotoFest 2020, the four Cuban photographers were connected to FestPOA, an important Brazilian international photo festival in Porto Alegre and they were given fellowships to participate in the 2020 FestPOA festival and virtual portfolio review in July 2020. Adrian Fernandez, Alfredo Sarabia, Irolan Mauroseli participated. As part of this program, FotoFest was invited to do a special talk and panel on contemporary Cuban photography, including FotoFest's role in supporting Cuban photography since the 1990s and the current Foundation for a Civil Society program in Cuba funded by the Ford Foundation. Adrian Fernandez and Alfredo Sarrabia presented their work on this international online forum.

Because of the Foundation for a Civil Society-FotoFest program in Cuba and FotoFest's long engagement in Cuban photography, art collector Madeline Plonsker was inspired to offer her collection of Cuban photography to the Museum of Fine Art Houston. This collection will be joined to earlier works bought by and donated to the museum from FotoFest's curated exhibition The New Generation, Cuban Contemporary Photography in 1994-95 - a ground-breaking exhibition that was the first international showing in the U.S. of young Cuban photographers of the 1980s-90s, who were the first generation who followed and broke free of the traditions of the famous Cuban revolutionary photographers.

ARTS PROFESSIONAL EXCHANGES BETWEEN THE US AND CUBA.

Wendy Watriss and Fred Baldwin , co-Founders of FotoFest; Maria Hambourg, who established the Photography Department at the Metropolitan Museum and noted author; and Virginia Heckert , chief curator of the Photography Department at the Getty Museum came to Cuba February 24-March 1, 2019 to do portfolio reviews, presentations, studio visits and collaborative visits to arts institutions especially Fototeca. They returned November 18-24 2019 to conduct more portfolio reviews and select the photographers for FotoFest 2020.
Virginia Heckert arranged a grant to bring the 4 Cuban photographers selected to Los Angeles to present at the Getty Museum and meet with artists, collectors and gallerists in March 2020. Unfortunately COVID meant that only Adrian Fernandez and Alejandro Gonzalez were able to get to Los Angeles.
Wendy Watriss and Fred Baldwin also accompanied Count and Countess Arco in April 2016 to Havana to purchase photography for their collection managed by their daughter Olympia .
We will bring directors, curators, collection managers, archivists, conservators, registrars and other arts professionals for professional exchange at major US institutions. Most all we have spoken with have agreed to invite someone if we will facilitate the vetting and arrangements.