NETWORK FOR HUMANITARIAN AID

Working closely with the United Nation’s Development Programme, Fundación Amistad sent two ship containers full of medical supplies to Cuba.

Luly Duke personally delivered much needed medical supplies to Cuba’s most vulnerable population—young children, expectant mothers and the elderly—and met with Alfredo Petit Vergel, Auxiliary Bishop of Havana, to discuss how FA can help to provide critical assistance to the Catholic Diocese in Havana and to the elderly in Santiago de Cuba. To raise funds and increase visibility for these crucial programs. Fundación Amistad is working with Caritas-Cuba, the aid agency of the Cuban Catholic Church that is the only independent aid organization allowed by the government

INCOME FROM THE PRESIDENT’S DISCRETIONARY FUND

Fundación Amistad provided travel funds needed for seven Cuban archaeologists to join their counterparts from America and Great Britain at a symposium on Cuban archaeology, at the 71st Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology in San Juan, Puerto Rico, from April 26th-30th, 2006. Cuban participation in the annual meeting breaks down the barriers to academic exchange between Cuba and the U.S. and forges important intellectual and social bonds.

l Following the devastation visited on Cuba by Hurricane Wilma, a category 5 storm that was one of the most intense ever recorded in the Atlantic, the President’s Discretionary Fund supported a collection campaign of funds and supplies for the hurricane relief effort, and worked with the UNDP and Caritas-Cuba to ensure that those affected by the hurricane and other natural disasters receive vital supplies.

ANNUAL EVENT

In 2007, Fundación Amistad will celebrate its 10th anniversary by once again hosting its Images of Cuba event in East Hampton—a spectacular of fireworks by Grucci, barbecue, music and dancing on the Duke family lawn. This annual event was launched on July 23rd, 2006, with more than 400 guests and over 100 boats participating. Proceeds benefit Fundación Amistad’s programs. In April 2001, the East Hampton Town Board approved the town’s plan to become the sister city to Playa, the area of Havana with over 130,000 residents, beaches, marinas and universities.


BRIDGES TO CULTURE

The Multi-Arts Production Fund, a program of Creative Capital supported by the Rockefeller Foundation, awarded Fundación Amistad a major grant to support turning the literary work Revolution of Forms, based on the real-life events surrounding the creation of Cuba’s National Art School, into an opera by Robert Wilson, Anthony David and Gonzalo Rubalcaba. Along with the development of Revolution of Forms, FA is working on several other initiatives to bring Cuban art and culture to New York City. These include:

Crossing the Line: Cuban Art of the 80s, 90s and Today, an Exhibition of work by Cuban, Cuban expatriate and Cuban-American contemporary artists. The exhibition will explore the cultural and political circumstances of the artists while tracing the parallels and intersections of their creative development.

Habana/ Harlem is a collaboration with Harlem Stage/ Aaron Davis Hall that will premiere the first installment of what is poised to become a national and international series. The program will explore modern trends in contemporary Cuban music production.


Joined by a group of colleagues, Luly Duke visited the historic Calle Cardenas site in Havana, and met with the team responsible for the project, including representatives of the Office of Coordination of the Historian of the City of Havana, which is in charge of all documentation of the project and reporting to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Fundación Amistad. Calle Cardenas, a 20th Century architectural area, lies along the outer edge of Old Havana, linking the 20th Century with Old Havana’s historical architecture from the 16th, 17th, 18th and 19th Centuries. With support from the J.M Kaplan Fund and others, Fundación Amistad continues its work to restore and preserve the historical value of Calle Cardenas, and is also working with the UNDP to provide transitional housing for residents of Calle Cardenas.

Fundación Amistad is consulting and collaborating with the restoration team at Museo Hemingway, house in Finca Vigia, which was Ernest Hemingway’s home in Cuba.

Fundación Amistad sponsored a visit to the United States by Celida Alvarez, the librarian of Casa de las Americas, a prominent cultural and education institution in Havana. Ms. Alvarez visited over twenty libraries and museums across the country, for the purpose of setting up collaborative relationships between Casa and these American institutions. Initially this will include American libraries exchanging publications with casa and supporting Casa in the continued development of their collection.







Posted by Luly Duke on Wednesday, 01.17.07 @ 01:18 PM EST ________________________________

NETWORK FOR HUMANITARIAN AID

Working closely with the United Nation’s Development Programme, Fundación Amistad sent two ship containers full of medical supplies to Cuba.

l Luly Duke personally delivered much needed medical supplies to Cuba’s most vulnerable population—young children, expectant mothers and the elderly—and met with Alfredo Petit Vergel, Auxiliary Bishop of Havana, to discuss how FA can help to provide critical assistance to the Catholic Diocese in Havana and to the elderly in Santiago de Cuba. To raise funds and increase visibility for these crucial programs. Fundación Amistad is working with Caritas-Cuba, the aid agency of the Cuban Catholic Church that is the only independent aid organization allowed by the government

INCOME FROM THE PRESIDENT’S DICRETIONARY FUND

l Fundación Amistad provided travel funds needed for seven Cuban archaeologists to join their counterparts from America and Great Britain at a symposium on Cuban archaeology, at the 71st Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology in San Juan, Puerto Rico, from April 26th-30th, 2006. Cuban participation in the annual meeting breaks down the barriers to academic exchange between Cuba and the U.S. and forges important intellectual and social bonds.

l Following the devastation visited on Cuba by Hurricane Wilma, a category 5 storm that was one of the most intense ever recorded in the Atlantic, the President’s Discretionary Fund supported a collection campaign of funds and supplies for the hurricane relief effort, and worked with the UNDP and Caritas-Cuba to ensure that those affected by the hurricane and other natural disasters receive vital supplies.

ANNUAL EVENT

In 2007, Fundación Amistad will celebrate its 10th anniversary by once again hosting its Images of Cuba event in East Hampton—a spectacular of fireworks by Grucci, barbecue, music and dancing on the Duke family lawn. This annual event was launched on July 23rd, 2006, with more than 400 guests and over 100 boats participating. Proceeds benefit Fundación Amistad’s programs. In April 2001, the East Hampton Town Board approved the town’s plan to become the sister city to Playa, the area of Havana with over 130,000 residents, beaches, marinas and universities.













BRIDGES TO CULTURE

The Multi-Arts Production Fund, a program of Creative Capital supported by the Rockefeller Foundation, awarded Fundación Amistad a major grant to support turning the literary work Revolution of Forms, based on the real-life events surrounding the creation of Cuba’s National Art School, into an opera by Robert Wilson, Anthony David and Gonzalo Rubalcaba. Along with the development of Revolution of Forms, FA is working on several other initiatives to bring Cuban art and culture to New York City. These include:


l Crossing the Line: Cuban Art of the 80s, 90s and Today, an Exhibition of work by Cuban, Cuban expatriate and Cuban-American contemporary artists. The exhibition will explore the cultural and political circumstances of the artists while tracing the parallels and intersections of their creative development.

l Habana/ Harlem is a collaboration with Harlem Stage/ Aaron Davis Hall that will premiere the first installment of what is poised to become a national and international series. The program will explore modern trends in contemporary Cuban music production.


Joined by a group of colleagues, Luly Duke visited the historic Calle Cardenas site in Havana, and met with the team responsible for the project, including representatives of the Office of Coordination of the Historian of the City of Havana, which is in charge of all documentation of the project and reporting to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Fundación Amistad. Calle Cardenas, a 20th Century architectural area, lies along the outer edge of Old Havana, linking the 20th Century with Old Havana’s historical architecture from the 16th, 17th, 18th and 19th Centuries. With support from the J.M Kaplan Fund and others, Fundación Amistad continues its work to restore and preserve the historical value of Calle Cardenas, and is also working with the UNDP to provide transitional housing for residents of Calle Cardenas.

Fundación Amistad is consulting and collaborating with the restoration team at Museo Hemingway, house in Finca Vigia, which was Ernest Hemingway’s home in Cuba.

Fundación Amistad sponsored a visit to the United States by Celida Alvarez, the librarian of Casa de las Americas, a prominent cultural and education institution in Havana. Ms. Alvarez visited over twenty libraries and museums across the country, for the purpose of setting up collaborative relationships between Casa and these American institutions. Initially this will include American libraries exchanging publications with casa and supporting Casa in the continued development of their collection.







Posted by Luly Duke on Wednesday, 01.17.07 @ 01:13 PM EST ________________________________

View Photos from Christmas in Havana

Posted by Luly Duke on Wednesday, 04.19.06 @ 12:06 PM EST ________________________________

ENTRE NOS, ANA B. REMOS
Este lunes concluyó en Nueva York el proyecto The Gates en Central Park, otra de las instalaciones de Christo y su esposa Jeanne-Claude, quienes acapararon la atención mundial en la década de los 80 con su Surrounded Islands en Miami. La pareja rodeó en aquel entonces 11 de las islas de la bahía de Biscayne con vívidas cintas rosadas, creando una peculiar instalación que reflejaba el típico estilo de vida de los miamenses, siempre entre tierra y agua. Su reciente The Gates en el Central Park ha atraído miles de turistas y ha avivado el gélido y triste invierno del parque. La instalación, que se extiende 23 millas de paseos y veredas del parque, consiste en más de 7,500 palios de unos 16 pies de alto de los cuales cuelgan telas de un intenso color azafrán. Para celebrar The Gates, y también para recordar el éxito de las Surrounded Islands, el Miami Art Museum (MAM) ofreció recientemente en sus predios un Pink Jam at MAM, cóctel que se llenó de gente.

Uno de los temas de conversación fue, precisamente y tal vez por la conexión del tema de la velada con Nueva York, la fiesta Images of Cuba que la Fundación Amistad ofreció en el Calle Ocho Supper Club de Nueva York y de la que aún se habla. La Fundación Amistad, creada en 1997 por la cubanoamericana Luly Duke para proporcionar ayuda humanitaria, médica, educativa y cultural a la isla, cuenta tanto con seguidores como con acérrimos opositores, ya que gran parte del exilio la acusa con disgusto de mantener una política antiembargo. Nacida en Cuba, Luly Alcebo de Duke creció en Miami, se graduó del Miami-Dade College y en 1975 se casó con Tony Duke, heredero de una de las fortunas (amasada gracias a la industria del tabaco) más antiguas de este país.

Los Duke acabaron convirtiéndose en unos de los mayores filántropos de los EE.UU. Duke University, sin ir más lejos, lleva desde 1924 este nombre en reconocimiento a los millones que le donó la familia. La pareja, que viven en East Hampton, tienen 10 hijos, incluyendo los de los matrimonios anteriores de él. Un hermano de Tony, Angier Biddle Duke,fue embajador norteamericano en Madrid y en 1990 visitó Cuba. Su experiencia allá y el relato que de ella le hizo a su cuñada, dejarían en ésta una profunda huella. Ni su rica vida (familiar, social y profesional), ni el golf ni los yates ya la llenaban, y emprendió la labor de ayudar a su pueblo cubano, sueño que se concretó en la Fundación Amistad. La organización ha llevado médicos, arquitectos, científicos, profesores, bibliotecarios, artistas, etc. para intercambiar conocimientos, y también proporcionado equipos y ayuda médica, pero su posición antiembargo le ha ganado el profundo rechazo de gran parte del exilio.

Aún así, la fiesta recaudatoria que la Fundación ofreció en Nueva York congregó un nutrido grupo de nombres de peso. Artistas como Arturo Cuenca, José Iraola, Tania Bruguera, Yoán e Iván Capote, Sandra Ceballos, Alexandre Arrechea, Fernando Rodríguez, Abelardo Morell y Bruce Buck donaron sus obras para la subasta. Entre los invitados: Michael Connors, autor del libro Cuban Elegance; Manuel González y María Elena Lagomasino, ambos del JP Morgan Private Banking; Elizabeth de Cuevas (hija de la chilena Margaret Rockefeller de Larraín, Marquesa de Cuevas), la diseñadora de carteras Sylvita Fernández-Freyre (cuya madre, Sylvia Freyre, fundó el Hispanic Institute de Nueva York y la organización Casita María que ayuda a los emigrantes), el inversionista Eduardo Mestre (hijo de Goar Mestre, que fue dueño de la CMQ), Christie Alcebo, el marchante de arte Raúl Suárez, la mexicana Yolanda Santo de Garza (gran coleccionista de arte, esposa del magnate mexicano David Garza y fundadora y presidenta del Ballet de Monterrey), María Pessino Gómez del Campo, John Ryan (viudo de María Luisa Lobo); su esposa Jacqueline y su hija Vicky Ryan Lobo quien, tras haberse marchado unos años a Cuba, acaba de regresar a Miami, se ha comprado un apartamento en Key Biscayne y planea dedicarse a temas relacionados con el arte; Lisandro Pérez y su esposa Lisa Carbajo, que viajaron desde Miami, al igual que Cristina de Cárdenas, una de las agentes (de bienes raíces) estrella de Cervera Real

Posted by Luly Duke on Wednesday, 04.19.06 @ 12:05 PM EST ________________________________

J.M. Kaplan Fund awards Fundación Amistad $250,000 Grant

Posted by Luly Duke on Wednesday, 04.19.06 @ 12:05 PM EST ________________________________

Fundación Amistad raises $152,000 at Images of Cuba Luncheon

Fundacion Amistad receives Social Science Research Council Cuba Grant Competition Fellowship award

Fundación Amistad, Casa de las Americas, and the Office of the Historian of the City of Havana: "Workshop: Management of Archival Collections."

Posted by Luly Duke on Wednesday, 04.19.06 @ 12:04 PM EST ________________________________

In September 2001 Fundación Amistad opened an office at Duke University with the goal of facilitating institutional linkages and collaborative research between Duke scholars and Cuban counterpart institutions and individuals. Fundación Amistad will work closely with and advise Duke faculty, students and staff on such collaborative enterprises as well as encourage campus-based cultural and artistic events, academic exchanges and conferences on relevant topics concerning the island.

Posted by Luly Duke on Wednesday, 04.19.06 @ 12:03 PM EST ________________________________

The 7th Havana Art Biennial has been arranged by the Wilfredo Lam Art Center in Cuba through UNESCO and took place in November 2000. This year's event has been titled, "Closer to the Other," and over 170 artists, designers, and architects from more than 40 countries are expected to participate.

Fundación Amistad invited various professionals and members of the art community to attend the Biennial and participate in moderated working sessions. In additional to the official Biennial events, Fundación Amistad, in conjunction with the Ludwig Foundation, has arranged an organized visit for delegates to Cuban galleries, studios, and cultural events throughout Havana.

Posted by Luly Duke on Wednesday, 04.19.06 @ 12:03 PM EST ________________________________

Fundación Amistad invited and sponsored the trip to the United States of Ernesto Sierra and Orlando Oliva, of the Library of the Casa de las Americas, a multi-faceted cultural and arts institution in Havana. While in the U.S. the librarians participated in the REFORMA Second National Congress on The Power of Language: Planning for the 21st Century in Arizona during August 3 - 6, 2000. Reforma is the acronym for the Asociación Nacional para Promover Servicios Bibliotecarios a la Población de Habla Hispana. Mr. Sierra made a presentation at the Congress about the library at Casa de las Americas. This visit was a component of a larger capacity building project with Casa de las Americas in Havana, organized and implemented by Fundación Amistad.

After the Congress, Fundación Amistad together with the Northeast Chapter of REFORMA arranged visits and meetings at other libraries in the New York City area, as well as the Smithsonian Institutions, the Library of Congress, and the libraries of Duke University and the University of Chapel Hill.

Posted by Luly Duke on Wednesday, 04.19.06 @ 12:02 PM EST ________________________________

In June 1999, Fundación Amistad sent a delegation to La G¸inera, a community of 24,000 residents located on the outskirts of Havana. Fundación's delegation studied the community center's various programs designed to address the special needs of its young people. At that time, the community leaders expressed their desire to begin organizing baseball teams as a healthy recreational activity for youth, but they noted the lack of equipment as a serious obstacle.

Subsequently, Fundación Amistad has collected baseball and other sports equipment for La Guinera's six primary schools and two secondary schools through a collection campaign launched in August 2000 in the Long Island, New York. The enthusiastic response was reflected in members' willingness to volunteer, as well as provide equipment and monetary donations. This equipment was delivered in conjunction with the Salvation Army. September 2000

Posted by Luly Duke on Wednesday, 04.19.06 @ 12:02 PM EST ________________________________

In July, 2000, Fundación Amistad sponsored a visit by Dr. Fernando de la Conception Garcia Yip, a radiologist from the Cuban National Institute of Oncology and Radiology, to attend the Chicago 2000 World Congress on Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering. While in Chicago he also attended a pre-Congress short course on "New Techniques in Radiotherapy." Fundación Amistad, together with the architectural and planning firm of Hardy Holzman and Pfeiffer Associates (HHPA), also invited and co-sponsored Adriana Choy, a Cuban graduate architecture student, to participate in an educational internship at HHPA. While there, she worked directly with the director of planning and urban design on design issues and projects.

Posted by Luly Duke on Wednesday, 04.19.06 @ 11:51 AM EST ________________________________

In 1999, Fundación Amistad began to implement a new program entitled, "Towards a Happy Adolescence in the Year 2000" at the ClÌnica del Adolescente in Havana, Cuba. The program, which is headed by Drs. Elcida Alvarez and Elsa Gutierrez, has trained more than 20 professionals to work in schools on various issues surrounding child and adolescent mental health. The grant also allowed the ClÌnica to purchase much needed equipment and to implement an after-school program for children. Fundación Amistad has worked with UNICEF to coordinate the project with the Clínica. In July 2000, Fundación Amistad expanded the "Towards a Happy Adolescence" program into more schools and began to train teachers and other child mental health workers. To date, over 150 children have been helped through the transition from childhood to adolescence, and many more are in line to be assisted by this program. The ClÌnica would like to expand the program into another five schools and train another 20 professionals in the course by the end of 2001.

Based on the success of this program, the ClÌnica staff is developing a formal curriculum for the schools of child and adolescent mental health issues. Dr. Gutierrez is authoring a book titled, Adolescence: Life Phase 13 - 19. The book will include topics that both teachers and children consider as relevant to this crucial period of human development.

Posted by Luly Duke on Wednesday, 04.19.06 @ 11:50 AM EST ________________________________

In June 2000, Fundación Amistad sponsored the participation of Dr. Elsa Morse and Dr. Elissa Zelman in the first Cuban Congress on Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. The conference included lectures, workshops and visits to community-based mental health clinics. Many of the other American delegates to the Congress were members of Fundación's January 1999 American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry delegation to Cuba. Fundación is pleased to note the development of such subsequent, independent projects from one of our past projects.

In addition to attending the congress, Drs. Morse and Zelman conducted an evaluation of the ClÌnica del Adolescente s program, Towards a Happy Adolescence in the Year 2000. Both doctors are staff members of the Boys Harbor's Mental Health Clinic and are familiar with community and school-based mental health programs. They concluded that the program is being well-managed and is a valuable asset to the communities it services.

Posted by Luly Duke on Wednesday, 04.19.06 @ 11:49 AM EST ________________________________

In an exchange developed directly as a result of the February 2000 Environmental Educators Delegation's trip to Cuba, Fundación Amistad, in conjunction with the National Aquarium of Cuba, sponsored a student delegation of inner-city children from the Boys Harbor Academy for Environmental Studies and the Environment. The students traveled to Havana to attend the " Jornada CientÌfica Infantil: Los Niños de Hoy por el Mar del Futuro." The group, composed of 5th and 6th graders, had been studying fresh water pond and salt water coastal and bay ecology through their work at the Harbor Academy in Central Park and at the Boys Harbor Camp located on Three Mile Harbor in East Hampton, NY. The students presented their class work and the methodologies to children, teachers, and professionals at the conference.

While in Havana, the student group also gave a workshop at the Metropolitan Park for students, teachers, and school administrators on their studies in New York City's Central Park. The goal of this workshop was to demonstrate to the Cuban educators and children the Harbor's use of an urban park as a powerful setting and tool for environmental education. The goal of the exchange was to promote this type of community project in the Metropolitan Park and in other urban parks throughout Cuba.

Posted by Luly Duke on Wednesday, 04.19.06 @ 11:48 AM EST ________________________________

In 1999, Fundación Amistad organized an exploratory delegation from the Ford Foundation to meet with the executive and operational management of Casa de las Americas to discuss the need and viability of a resource development training program. As a result, a program was designed to help Casa de las Americas achieve its most pressing goal, which is to develop and modernize its library. The Resource Development Training Program was designed to provide Casa the means to secure funding for the future of the library, and for the future of the organization as a whole through prudent and effective policies and fundraising.

In April, 2000, Fundación Amistad implemented a week-long comprehensive training program led by Michael Seltzer, former Acting Chair of Nonprofit Management at the New School University, and a team of professional consultants and educators in the fields of non-profit management, resource development and fundraising. The team worked directly with approximately 20 of Casa de las Americas staff members. The program consisted of workshops, seminars, and presentations on the following topics:

Project Planning, Assessment, and Development
Resource Development: Sources, Strategies and Planning
Resource Development Planning
Capital Campaign Planning
Grantsmanship

Posted by Luly Duke on Wednesday, 04.19.06 @ 11:47 AM EST ________________________________

In February 2000, Fundación Amistad organized a delegation of professionals in the field of environmental education, including: Dr. Norman L. Christensen, Dean and Professor of Duke University's Nicholas School of the Environment; Dr. Cynthia Thomashow, Co-Director of the Center for Environmental Education and Professor at Antioch College; and Dr. Robert James Wallace, Director of The Harbor Academy for Environmental Studies and the Arts at Boys Harbor in East Harlem, New York. Their Cuban hosts were Enrique Dalmau and Dolores Rico of the Cuban Environmental Information Management and Education Center. The delegation explored the priorities of Cuban environmental groups, promoted collaboration with U.S. scientists, and studied environmental education and awareness programs on the island.

The delegation met with professionals from government agencies in Cuba that set environmental policies as well as organizations involved in environmental education and the study of soil and the atmosphere. These included the Metropolitan Park, the National Zoo, the National Aquarium, the Museum of Natural History, and the Sierra de Rosario Biosphere Reserve.

Posted by Luly Duke on Wednesday, 04.19.06 @ 11:45 AM EST ________________________________