BMAC is pleased to offer this unique ARTravel cultural exchange program designed for practicing and aspiring artists, art enthusiasts, 
and collectors. The program’s main focus is on Cuba’s vibrant contemporary art scene, featuring informal daily encounters with talented Cuban artists. Meet with members of artists’ cooperatives in Havana and Cienfuegos to discuss their work, the role of art in Cuban society, and the interplay between art and politics. Visit artists’ studios and galleries, hear street music and performances, go to a dance company rehearsal or a choral music concert, and spend time visiting Havana’s world class Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes with an informative Cuban art expert.
This is a unique opportunity to join a small group of arts-oriented travelers exploring a rapidly changing country that has been inaccessible to most U.S. citizens for over half a century, in ways not available to mainstream tourists. Our itinerary includes Havana, Cienfuegos, and other culturally rich and fascinating locations. Each day there will be one or more meetings with Cubans: artists, academics, musicians, dancers, foundation officials, craftsmen, and entrepreneurs. Visit legendary Finca Vigía, where Ernest Hemingway lived and wrote for more than two decades. Participate in culturally interactive educational field visits and informal seminars on such topics as Cuban art history, the history of the Cuban Revolution, Santería, US-Cuba relations, and new directions in Cuba’s vibrant contemporary art scene.
In addition to a full daily schedule of arts and cultural exchange activities, participants will have the opportunity to sample some of Cuba’s famous paladares (officially sanctioned restaurants located in private homes), and, of course, to experience Cuba’s famous music scene. For those interested in collecting art, there will be opportunities to purchase art in a variety of price ranges directly from Cuban artists in their studios.
PROGRAM DETAILS
Dates: November 3-10, 2013
Lodgings: We stay in carefully selected, well-located hotels that provide a comfortable base for daily cultural immersion and travel activities.
Price per person: $3,950 for double occupancy (single supplement: $600), includes round-trip airfare from Miami to Havana, visa, top-quality Cuban-owned hotels with breakfast, most meals, ground transportation, local guides and experts, museum entrance fees, and a $250 tax-deductible contribution to the Brattleboro Museum & Art Center.
Some independent meals give participants the chance to get a break from the group and sample Cuba’s famous paladares (restaurants in private homes) on their own.
Space is limited to preserve the intimacy and flexibility of the experience, so apply early.
This program is contingent upon approval of a people-to-people travel license from the Office of Foreign Assets Control, U.S. Department of the Treasury.
Getting There: The program begins and ends in Miami. Flight and check-in details will be available at least 6 weeks before departure. Travel to Cuba often involves time-consuming check-in and customs reentry procedures, so please check with us before booking domestic tickets.
To Register:
Non-refundable deposit of $800 must be paid by August 1, 2013
Release form and full payment must be received by September 3, 2013
Group Leader
Tim Weed is a Vermont-based author and educator with extensive experience in Cuba, who has spent his entire career developing and leading educational travel programs abroad. He graduated from Middlebury College and holds master’s degrees from the University of California, San Diego, and the Warren Wilson College MFA for Writers program. As a founding director of National Geographic Student Expeditions, Tim played a key role in developing new photography, archaeology, and wildlife conservation programs in Iceland, Peru, Ecuador & the Galápagos, Spain, the Yucatán Peninsula, Alaska, and Yellowstone and Grand Canyon National Parks. From 1999 to 2004, he headed up a series of pioneering educational programs for American students in Cuba, including a four-week mobile writing workshop that traversed the island from Santiago to Havana. Since then, Tim has led numerous cultural, arts, and choral music programs in Cuba for National Geographic Expeditions, the Grand Circle Foundation, and Educational Travel Associates. Tim’s articles on travel and the outdoors have appeared in many national magazines, and his essay, “Embargoed Brothers: An American in Off-Limits Cuba,” won a 2012 Best Travel Writing Award. He teaches an honors global engagement course on the U.S.-Cuba relationship at Keene State College, and is a lecturer in Western Connecticut State University’s MFA in Creative and Professional Writing program. Tim is fluent in Spanish and conversant in Italian and Portuguese.
Click here to register now!
Brattleboro Museum & Art Center
10 Vernon Street
Brattleboro, VT 05301
802-257-0124
802-258-9182 fax
info@brattleboromuseum.org
http://www.brattleboromuseum.org/