Culture is not an abstract universe or meaning for elites. She is in everything, and understood in the best way –the emancipator, the exalter–, she serves to live. That is why the Revolution has always fueled the carelessness to educate women and men from every space of society; and today, when the roots of the spirit are so necessary, the Island emphasizes that commitment.

This is what the first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party and President of the Republic, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, recently said during a meeting held by him, from the Palace of the Revolution, with a group of prominent creators and directors of the sector of Culture:

"Here -said the head of state- what we are trying to promote is how people become from a perspective, from a way of doing things to bring, from culture, Martí's thought, history, but in a way that delights : creative, and that this then complements what we do at school, the work of the family, and the other spaces that exist at the level of society".

In line with keeping alive the ideas of the IX Congress of the Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba (Uneac) -which was an invitation made by the President of the Republic to the participants of the conclave-, this type of meeting is already common from the Palace of the Revolution. And the most recent issue has been how compliance with the agreements and approaches of the IX Congress, related to the Permanent Commission on Education, Culture and Society, is progressing.

Luis Morlote Rivas, president of Uneac, reminded the meeting that on the agenda of that organization "the permanent analysis of the relationship between education and culture prevails, based on the idea of ​​having the school as the institution most important culture of each community, because it is, together with the family, not only the space where knowledge is acquired but also where civic, ethical and aesthetic values ​​are formed, and emerging generations are prepared for life in our society" .

In the preparatory process and during the celebration of our IX Congress - Morlote Rivas pointed out - the importance of education in the formation of new generations was widely discussed, and the contributions of the Permanent Commission of Education, Culture and Society, made up of recognized members of our organization and outstanding education professionals, almost always with significant responsibilities in the transformation processes of the Cuban school and in the improvement of general education programs.

This "has been possible thanks to the establishment of a communication channel between Uneac and the Ministry of Education (Mined), and the spirit of collaboration prevailing in said relationship," he said.

Those words –in a session that also included from the presidency the member of the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the Party and head of the Ideological Department, Rogelio Polanco Fuentes– gave way to valuable reflections on the scope of culture in educational activity.

The first dissertation was given by Carlos Alberto Cremata (Tin), founder and director of the children's company La Colmenita, who shared the experience he lives while carrying out the defined task together with the country's leadership, of doing everything possible in after "the spiritual transformation of the Cuban school".

José Martí was at the center of his speech, because, for Tin, the exchanges with various groups in society to whom he has gone to talk about the Apostle are proving impressive. He has already been to more than 40 places, and he knows that the "Martí keeps coming to my house" movement, with which he plans to reach schools, military units, factories and other spaces throughout the country, will bear fruit.

Cremata longs to see reissued that exquisite book that is Martí a flor delips, by Froilán Escobar – "at least the 55 I need to leave for the East" – and explained that the movement consists of four stages: diagnosis (to see who can be the replicators of Marti's ideas); the pedagogical one ("where we show others how we do it since 2014" to promote values); that of artistic practice; and that of committed practice (carrying out small actions "that bear witness to a fraternal, loving and dignified society").

"I feel immensely happy with this mission - confessed Cremata-. I feel, as Martí said, that I am watering good souls, I feel that this is happening"

José Manuel Espino Ortega, playwright, poet and cultural promoter of the Athens of Cuba, said that "in Matanzas, in a natural way, the encounter between education and culture is taking place." He shared experiences of the territory and spoke of music students participating in jazz concerts, of the Book Fair as a "very special moment", of "open schools" – an idea supported by the Party and the Government, consisting of going on weekends week to underprivileged places – because, as he said, "the word heals, the word helps".

Pedro de la Hoz González, journalist and art critic, stated, among other ideas, that "regardless of whether there is a working system between the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Culture and the cultural and educational institutions, I believe that each writer and every artist can do a lot, in the extracurricular field, to enrich people's lives, to form better citizens, and to entertain people in a healthy way"

He remembered that singing saves. And that well promoted is "a tremendous strength to improve people's aesthetic taste", of human beings "who have reasons to live, who know how to appreciate art". Consonant with such certainty spoke the director of the National Choir of Cuba, Digna Guerra Ramírez, whose "experience in working with the singing has really been very enriching"

"I think that Cantorías (a project of the National Choir of Cuba, which brings together hundreds of children and whose essential promoter was Commander in Chief Fidel), (...) has been a unique experience. We had a great movement from San Antonio to Maisí , of children's songs; we need that to be recovered, because singing in a choir dignifies and exalts", he affirmed.

Nelson Simón González, poet, narrator and playwright from the province of Pinar del Río, and president of Uneac in the territory, clarified: "We are not here to supplant spaces, but we are here to complement each other, to contribute from the knowledge of culture to this whole process." The experiences related to the promotion of books and libraries have been beautiful and very gratifying, he said.

"We are working very closely with the school," he said proudly, highlighting "literature as a vehicle for transmitting cultural, ethical, and civic values."

Nuria García Reyes, who coordinates from the Mined the work with the culture area and the projects of the Uneac –who holds a distinguished project last year with the National Prize for Community Culture–, recalled that she grew up with the Cantorías movement childish. She also spoke about the importance of strongly resuming choral work: "In all schools there must be a choir"

"Since 2009, he narrated, we have a guitar orchestra that made history in (the capital's municipality of) La Lisa: we started with eight children; after three months there were 28, and after eight months we gave our first concert with 20 works. Many They cried there, many of us cried, it was something incredible. Today we are 13 years old, and we have 401 children…". The idea, he affirmed, "is not that they play perfectly. The idea is that they love music, that they know the history of Cuba. When you know the history of Cuba, your identity, your roots, logically you have to love this beautiful country ".

For his part, Iván Barreto Gelles, director of the Computer and Audiovisual Media Company (Cinesoft), referred to the importance of audiovisual education, and highlighted the urgency that "the boys" learn to look, to observe a world of images and sounds, to be able to understand it and to be able to deal with it. And Fernando Echevarría, theater, film and television actor, with more than twenty years of teaching under his belt, defined that "ethics has to be our backbone", while asserting that "an extraordinary job must be done with the cultural horizon of our young people"

The Cuban actor and humorist Osvaldo Doimeadiós alluded to the value of "articulating ourselves between different manifestations, disciplines; also articulating ourselves with teaching." He said it from the experience of his own work, the one that makes one think and raises so many questions, as President Díaz-Canel Bermúdez reflected.

"When we discuss these issues - reasoned the head of state - what I think is how we encourage people to have a cultural baggage that allows them to appreciate art".

He stressed that this strength must be created from childhood, throughout the school system, throughout the institutional system. It is something, he valued, that although it has been in the dream of the Revolution and Fidel was the first to defend it, it still does not manifest itself in the way it has been dreamed of: "These are challenges that we have; and now we see more, now we need more have that formation that we are discussing here.

A concern wanted to share with those present the poet, narrator, essayist and ethnologist Miguel Barnet Lanza. "Everything that has been said here has a powerful political charge. We have to rescue the true contents of that concept of politics, which is inextricably linked to ideology and poetry. On the internet, when they defame the Revolution, or the revolutionaries, they do it from a so-called apolitical position, according to the slanderers, and they do not know that the Cuban nation was conceived with a poetic seed whose fruit was political."

"The most beautiful work of the Cuban nation - continued Barnet - is the Revolution, which is in turn a poetic act, or the greatest poetic act in our history. Our heroes, from Carlos Manuel de Céspedes to José Martí, are politicians because they carried poetry in their hearts. Politics belongs to the true revolutionaries and not to anyone else. Let's remove that halo of negativity from the word politics. She, like the country, is a plow and not a pedestal "

President Díaz-Canel thanked everyone for having attended "the call to have this meeting", to "follow up on the agreements of the congress, and that the congress truly continues to contribute and does not remain a dead letter"

"The issue is what we lack so that these good experiences do not continue to be exceptional," said the president. He alluded to the need to take them to all places, taking care of the characteristics of each setting at all times. And he spoke about an acknowledgment, by everyone, "of current challenges, of training challenges, of training dissatisfactions that we have"

"I believe – he affirmed – that there are training organizations, both the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Higher Education, that have been receptive to this encounter with culture. I believe that we have overcome other moments, where we were more located on plots, on farms, where it was more difficult for us to interact". What is it that we lack?, he asked, and then answered: "What we lack is to integrate, articulate more, socialize, listen more to the people who want to propose projects; help them, open doors for them, project, that others can advise on the basis of experiences.

The president did not forget that the communities are scenarios that wait for all that force of knowledge and culture. And he returned to the concept of politics about which Miguel Barnet spoke. He spoke of defending ways of doing politics based on the concept of Armando Hart Dávalos, "which of course he conceived from the study of Martí and the study of Fidel." He mentioned the premises of culture in its broadest sense, ethics, law (because it encompasses the concept of fairness), and all of that, integrating it in solidarity.

It is time, he emphasized, to continue working to implement ideas, and to amplify good experiences.

(Taken from the Site of the Presidency of the Republic)

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"Culture is not an abstract universe or meaning for elites," said President Miguel Díaz-Canel. Photo: Revolution Studios

Culture is not an abstract universe or meaning for elites. She is in everything, and understood in the best way –the emancipator, the exalter–, she serves to live. That is why the Revolution has always fueled the carelessness to educate women and men from every space of society; and today, when the roots of the spirit are so necessary, the Island emphasizes that commitment.

This is what the first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party and President of the Republic, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, recently said during a meeting held by him, from the Palace of the Revolution, with a group of prominent creators and directors of the sector of Culture:

"Here -said the head of state- what we are trying to promote is how people become from a perspective, from a way of doing things to bring, from culture, Martí's thought, history, but in a way that delights : creative, and that this then complements what we do at school, the work of the family, and the other spaces that exist at the level of society".

In line with keeping alive the ideas of the IX Congress of the Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba (Uneac) -which was an invitation made by the President of the Republic to the participants of the conclave-, this type of meeting is already common from the Palace of the Revolution. And the most recent issue has been how compliance with the agreements and approaches of the IX Congress, related to the Permanent Commission on Education, Culture and Society, is progressing.

Luis Morlote Rivas, president of Uneac, reminded the meeting that on the agenda of that organization "the permanent analysis of the relationship between education and culture prevails, based on the idea of ​​having the school as the institution most important culture of each community, because it is, together with the family, not only the space where knowledge is acquired but also where civic, ethical and aesthetic values ​​are formed, and emerging generations are prepared for life in our society" .

In the preparatory process and during the celebration of our IX Congress - Morlote Rivas pointed out - the importance of education in the formation of new generations was widely discussed, and the contributions of the Permanent Commission of Education, Culture and Society, made up of recognized members of our organization and outstanding education professionals, almost always with significant responsibilities in the transformation processes of the Cuban school and in the improvement of general education programs.

This "has been possible thanks to the establishment of a communication channel between Uneac and the Ministry of Education (Mined), and the spirit of collaboration prevailing in said relationship," he said.

Those words –in a session that also included from the presidency the member of the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the Party and head of the Ideological Department, Rogelio Polanco Fuentes– gave way to valuable reflections on the scope of culture in educational activity.

The first dissertation was given by Carlos Alberto Cremata (Tin), founder and director of the children's company La Colmenita, who shared the experience he lives while carrying out the defined task together with the country's leadership, of doing everything possible in after "the spiritual transformation of the Cuban school".

José Martí was at the center of his intervention, because, for Tin, the exchanges with various groups in society to whom he has gone to talk about the Apostle are proving impressive. He has already been to more than 40 places, and he knows that the "Martí keeps coming to my house" movement, with which he plans to reach schools, military units, factories and other spaces throughout the country, will bear fruit.

Photo: Taken from Radio Rebelde

Cremata longs to see reissued that exquisite book that is Martí a flor delips, by Froilán Escobar – "at least the 55 I need to leave for the East" – and explained that the movement consists of four stages: diagnosis (to see who can be the replicators of Marti's ideas); the pedagogical one ("where we show others how we do it since 2014" to promote values); that of artistic practice; and that of committed practice (carrying out small actions "that bear witness to a fraternal, loving and dignified society").

"I feel immensely happy with this mission - confessed Cremata-. I feel, as Martí said, that I am watering good souls, I feel that this is happening"

José Manuel Espino Ortega, playwright, poet and cultural promoter of the Athens of Cuba, said that "in Matanzas, in a natural way, the encounter between education and culture is taking place." He shared experiences of the territory and spoke of music students participating in jazz concerts, of the Book Fair as a "very special moment", of "open schools" – an idea supported by the Party and the Government, consisting of going on weekends week to underprivileged places – because, as he said, "the word heals, the word helps".

Pedro de la Hoz González, journalist and art critic, stated, among other ideas, that "regardless of whether there is a working system between the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Culture and the cultural and educational institutions, I believe that each writer and every artist can do a lot, in the extracurricular field, to enrich people's lives, to form better citizens, and to entertain people in a healthy way"

He remembered that singing saves. And that well promoted is "a tremendous strength to improve people's aesthetic taste", of human beings "who have reasons to live, who know how to appreciate art". Consonant with such certainty spoke the director of the National Choir of Cuba, Digna Guerra Ramírez, whose "experience in working with the singing has really been very enriching"

"I think that Cantorías (a project of the National Choir of Cuba, which brings together hundreds of children and whose essential promoter was Commander in Chief Fidel), (...) has been a unique experience. We had a great movement from San Antonio to Maisí , of children's songs; we need that to be recovered, because singing in a choir dignifies and exalts", he affirmed.

Nelson Simón González, poet, narrator and playwright from the province of Pinar del Río, and president of Uneac in the territory, clarified: "We are not here to supplant spaces, but we are here to complement each other, to contribute from the knowledge of culture to this whole process." The experiences related to the promotion of books and libraries have been beautiful and very gratifying, he said.

"We are working very closely with the school," he said proudly, highlighting "literature as a vehicle for transmitting cultural, ethical, and civic values."

Nuria García Reyes, who coordinates from the Mined the work with the culture area and the projects of the Uneac –who holds a distinguished project last year with the National Prize for Community Culture–, recalled that she grew up with the Cantorías movement childish. She also spoke about the importance of strongly resuming choral work: "In all schools there must be a choir"

"Since 2009, he narrated, we have a guitar orchestra that made history in (the capital's municipality of) La Lisa: we started with eight children; after three months there were 28, and after eight months we gave our first concert with 20 works. Many They cried there, many of us cried, it was something incredible. Today we are 13 years old, and we have 401 children…". The idea, he affirmed, "is not that they play perfectly. The idea is that they love music, that they know the history of Cuba. When you know the history of Cuba, your identity, your roots, logically you have to love this beautiful country ".

For his part, Iván Barreto Gelles, director of the Computer and Audiovisual Media Company (Cinesoft), referred to the importance of audiovisual education, and highlighted the urgency that "the boys" learn to look, to observe a world of images and sounds, to be able to understand it and to be able to deal with it. And Fernando Echevarría, theater, film and television actor, with more than twenty years of teaching under his belt, defined that "ethics has to be our backbone", while asserting that "an extraordinary job must be done with the cultural horizon of our young people"

The Cuban actor and humorist Osvaldo Doimeadiós alluded to the value of "articulating ourselves between different manifestations, disciplines; also articulating ourselves with teaching." He said it from the experience of his own work, the one that makes one think and raises so many questions, as President Díaz-Canel Bermúdez reflected.

"When we discuss these issues - reasoned the head of state - what I think is how we encourage people to have a cultural baggage that allows them to appreciate art".

He stressed that this strength must be created from childhood, throughout the school system, throughout the institutional system. It is something, he valued, that although it has been in the dream of the Revolution and Fidel was the first to defend it, it still does not manifest itself in the way it has been dreamed of: "These are challenges that we have; and now we see more, now we need more have that formation that we are discussing here.

A concern wanted to share with those present the poet, narrator, essayist and ethnologist Miguel Barnet Lanza. "Everything that has been said here has a powerful political charge. We have to rescue the true contents of that concept of politics, which is inextricably linked to ideology and poetry. On the internet, when they defame the Revolution, or the revolutionaries, they do it from a so-called apolitical position, according to the slanderers, and they do not know that the Cuban nation was conceived with a poetic seed whose fruit was political."

"The most beautiful work of the Cuban nation - continued Barnet - is the Revolution, which is in turn a poetic act, or the greatest poetic act in our history. Our heroes, from Carlos Manuel de Céspedes to José Martí, are politicians because they carried poetry in their hearts. Politics belongs to the true revolutionaries and not to anyone else. Let's remove that halo of negativity from the word politics. She, like the country, is a plow and not a pedestal "

President Díaz-Canel thanked everyone for having attended "the call to have this meeting", to "follow up on the agreements of the congress, and that the congress truly continues to contribute and does not remain a dead letter"

"The issue is what we lack so that these good experiences do not continue to be exceptional," said the president. He alluded to the need to take them to all places, taking care of the characteristics of each setting at all times. And he spoke about an acknowledgment, by everyone, "of current challenges, of training challenges, of training dissatisfactions that we have"

"I believe – he affirmed – that there are training organizations, both the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Higher Education, that have been receptive to this encounter with culture. I believe that we have overcome other moments, where we were more located on plots, on farms, where it was more difficult for us to interact". What is it that we lack?, he asked, and then answered: "What we lack is to integrate, articulate more, socialize, listen more to the people who want to propose projects; help them, open doors for them, project, that others can advise on the basis of experiences.

The president did not forget that the communities are scenarios that wait for all that force of knowledge and culture. And he returned to the concept of politics about which Miguel Barnet spoke. He spoke of defending ways of doing politics based on the concept of Armando Hart Dávalos, "which of course he conceived from the study of Martí and the study of Fidel." He mentioned the premises of culture in its broadest sense, ethics, law (because it encompasses the concept of fairness), and all of that, integrating it in solidarity.

It is time, he emphasized, to continue working to implement ideas, and to amplify good experiences.

(Taken from the Site of the Presidency of the Republic)