Starting this Friday, Cuba hosts the XXI World Congress of the International Association of Theater and Performing Arts for Children and Youth (Assitej), extended until June 1.
The forum is accompanied by the Festival of Performing Arts for Children and Youth “Voices of a New World”, and in total includes 29 performances from 15 countries, ten of which correspond to groups from the host country.
The activities begin this Friday with a Parade of Joy through the Historic Center of Old Havana, celebrating with the participating artists and groups.
The official opening will be at 7:00 p.m. local time in the amphitheater on Avenida del Puerto, with a show starring the children’s company La Colmenita.
Cuba is the only country in Latin America that has hosted a major Assitej event, and in 2024 the event will be held at the Hotel Nacional.
The Festival program is planned to take place in Havana at the Línea Street theater circuit and at the Argos Teatro headquarters; institutions of the Historic Center of the City, communities, schools and day care centers.
In this participatory context, professional exchange will be promoted through 61 proposals, including workshops, conferences and panels, including 10 workshops led by adolescents, young people and children.
These initiatives will meet in sixteen spaces in the capital; and thus the House Museums of the Historic Center of the City are added; House of the Americas, the House of Cultural Alba and the Martínez Villena Room of the Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba (Uneac).
According to what the National Council of the Performing Arts and Assitej Cuba, the main organizers of this edition, told the press, the rest of the Latin American countries have had a lot of weight in the programming because they are going to use the platform that Cuba creates to show their work, since Until now they have not had the opportunity to host a similar event.
Nations such as Spain, South Korea, Australia, Brazil, South Africa and Italy, among others, will be represented during these theatrical days.
The organizers also referred to the holding of a Post Congress, which from June 2 to 7 will bring the possibility of exchanging with visiting artists to the provinces of Villa Clara, Cienfuegos and Granma, in central and eastern Cuba.
