When at six in the evening I arrived and saw a hundred people move towards the ruins of what was once a heritage house, I realized that the goal of the artists had been accomplished. They, fourteen Matanzas youngsters dedicated to the arts, had decided to exhibit their works in the rubble, as a way to draw the attention of the citizens towards the house located in the number 20 of the Rios Street, with its back toward the San Juan river. This is a tenement-store built in the first half of the nineteenth century, when the economic boom the region lived transformed the urban environment, thus resulting in the so- called Golden Blocks, one of the most remarkable architectural ensembles in Matanzas and country. Crushed by the passage of time, apathy and lack of resources, these homes that once filled us with pride were deteriorating at the sight of all, and quite a few collapsed. Other suffered the same fate, being erased from memory and real life, turned into parks. The Rios 20, used as a private medical clinic and that later housed the offices of the provincial department of education till its collapse, could have the same fate....

Another edition of Matanzas’Spring Choral Concerts was opened with a speech by PhD. José Antonio Méndez Valencia, this time at Matanzas’ Baptist Church. The event, a tradition deep-rooted among the inhabitants of the city, had a happy beginning in charge of two children’s choirs directed professors Vanesa Herrera andVaniaFundora. I have to confess that, with all the experience I have gained over the years, I felt like alittle girl again and I wanted to be one of those girls in Vanesa’s choir, who made such good interpretation of Vitier’s and de Brahms’ pieces, and of the Mexican or Italian repertoire. Then, when Vania’s students performed, I was able to see myself again playing children’s games between songs. The work carried out by these two professors, friends, is an invitation for children to enjoy their childhood through singing and for adults to never letting their inner children go away. A lot has been said about providing children and teenagers with music and songs in accordance with their age. This is an endless struggle in the midst of so much mediocre material bombing us on a daily basis from loud speakers, tape recorders, etc. in homes, taxis, buses, cafeterias, bars, restaurants or...

Can bronze be kneaded as life is? Can it be shaped between the hands like senses, desires… like a lifetime dream? The answer is yes, but you have to become a master to make it. Today, I met two of them, who share the same name and passion for the beauty and malleability of metals. Their name is Israel, Israel De Leon and Israel Rufin. Part of their pieces make up a recently opened exhibit with the tittle Broncean dos, at the Cuban Association of Craftsmen Artists (ACAA by its acronym in Spanish) in Matanzas province. The exhibit displays 14 pieces, including “Como pez en el bronce”, “Inexorable”, and a very Cuban farmer with a guitar like if singing about the good and the bad things of life, which are some of the adjectives that describe bronze. In general, there is an amazing combination of lights and shadows, in details, in the well-planned use of patinas that give blue, red, black shades to bronze with such mastery that make amateur spectators wonder: is this mud? How old is this piece? Is it really not that old? The thing is these men are virtuous. For De Leon, recycling is the first...

The 11th International Puppet Workshop and UNIMA Council 2014 wraps up in Matanzas They've hit a homer" Manuel Duran, Vice President of UNIMA Council said. "The greatest in this twenty-year history," René Fernández, president of the Workshop said. There was a wolf. And the wolf ... Jaam!, ate the duck. Then the boy took him up and tied and pulled the duck out of the belly of the wolf ... And the duck was alive! That’s how the small Ernesto Raúl, three years old, sums up the plot of the play Peter and the Wolf, by Sergei Prokofiev, carried on stage by renowned Matanzas Teatro de Las Estaciones Group, one of which became the host of the newly completed International Puppets Workshop and 2014 UNIMA Council. He loves animals. Now he's waiting to see the giraffe and the huge butterfly of the Gigantería group, Ileana, his mom, told me while trying not to be driven by the child toward the stage assembled under the trees of the Park of La Libertad, where one of the last said works would take place. For them, as for several hundred spectators who filled every room, public space, cultural centers and theaters where the...