(Prensa Latina - Cumbancha) Havana, Cuba - Cuba´s School of Arts has opened the International Fine Arts and Music Department with an artistic ceremony at the Havana Fine Arts Museum. The President of the Cuban Parliament Ricardo Alarcón, who addressed the event on Tuesday night, said this is an example to save culture and achieve the survival and growth of people´s identity. The department will offer 20 scholarships every year and expect to increase the number of member countries and students. This first course will grant 19 scholarships to students from Mexico, Canada, Haiti, Brazil, Nicaragua, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Ecuador and Bolivia.
One of the promoters of the project, Puerto Rican singer Danny Rivera told stories when he was a boy and was linked to the Cuban music. Rivera said the opening of the new department is a dream come true. Puerto Rican painter Pablo Marcano -other promoter of the project- said excited that his only desire is to see in the future the students beginning the course today teaching many others in all America. The idea to create the department came up during the second Hemispheric Meeting against the Free Trade Area of the Americas held in Havana in November 2002.
World Music Central
http://worldmusiccentral.org/article.php/20040401080652563