October 20 was established in Cuba as the ‘'Day of Cuban Culture'', honouring October 20, 1868, when the mambí troops under the leadership of Carlos Manuel de Cespedes set free Bayamo city (in Eastern Cuba) and people sang for the first time the National Hymn, La Bayamesa. This came 10 days after the declaration of the beginning of the war for independence from Spain.

Some recommended books on Cuban black history – history, politics, poetry, fiction, testimonial

We have a hot pair of tickets to see Cuban timba stars Alexander Abreu y Havana D'Primera in London on Saturday 21 October to give away, courtesy of Marco and HavanatoLondres!

We have a hot pair of tickets to see Cuban salsa star Maykel Blanco y su Salsa Mayor in London on Friday 20 October to give away, courtesy of Marco and HavanatoLondres!

This year's edition of the Havana Glasgow Film Festival, one of Scotland's youngest and most innovative film festivals, returns for its third edition this winter, running from November 9th – 12th.

Enmanuel Blanco, director of the National Laboratory of Electroacoustic Music (LNME), tells us more about Eyeife, an event that takes place in Havana from September 26 to October 1.

John Akomfrah presents: Memories of Underdevelopment (15)

In 1987, computer technology did not touch every aspect of daily life as it does today, and Cuba was no exception. Nevertheless, an ambitious social project that aimed to teach computers to the greatest number of children and young people possible was launched. On September 8 that year, the Computers & Electronics Youth Club (Joven Club de Computacion y electronica) was established, an idea that has reached its 30th birthday, and is being renovated in tune with the times.

Hurricane Irma damaged 211 cultural facilities across the country and several heritage centres, including the Lezama Lima house museum in Havana, where sea flooding reached documents by the Cuban author of 'Paradiso'.

20 October 2017 – 22 October 2017

Inspired by the story of Fidel Castro and the Cuban revolution in 1959, UK academic Denise Baden has written 'Fidel the Musical' with the help of school students around the UK. The very first 90 minute performances of the show will be premiered at Iris Theatre in Covent Garden on 16 November.

Theatre, society, resistance … These are the conceptual pillars of the next edition of one of the most important events of the performing arts in Cuba: The 17th International Theatre Festival of Havana.
It opens 20-29 October, in Havana and brings together almost 50 artists and groups from more than 12 countries in America and Europe.
The official selection has been recently announced: it aims to offer an integrative panorama of the art of representation, from more or less conventional works of theatre, to bold stage experiments, works for the street and squares and dance works …
A note from the National Council of Performing Arts (CNAE), the organizer of the festival, explains the backbone of the show:
"Today, as we perceive a world in constant mutation, whose impacts transform the civilizing order and the notions of art and culture, in the theatre reinventions connected to its ancestral resistance are imposed."
That is what it is about: theatre as an invitation to thought and social transformation, beyond mere entertainment.
The international participants sign up to "the intrinsic striving that involves making theatre from the rigor of the artifice," adds the note published on the website CubaEscena.

"There is only one style, which is making art"