Arroyo Naranjo Begins to Change the Image of its Cultural Institutions
Arroyo Naranjo is different today: culture is experiencing with intensity the transformations require by image, comfort and quality of the services that culture offers a part of its corporate network
By Francisco Delgado
The determination of social policies in Cuba, and in particular in Havana, leads us to consider culture in the first place in many of its municipalities. A reason that seeks to penetrate the paths of neighborhood transformation for a wider integration of the subject to the inevitable existing corporate network, which gradually leaves aside the “cannot” philosophy to include “initiative and creativity in the mentality,” in order to satisfy the spiritual needs of the population.
With the participation of the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba in Havana Mercedes López Acea and the President of the Provincial Assembly of People’s Power Reynaldo García Zapata, the new places that are reopened in Arroyo Naranjo Municipality, seek to retake the identity and sense of belonging of its inhabitants, especially when they promote the sense for life: the spirituality.
The Manuel Cofiño Municipal Public Library and the theater located in the basement of this same space at the María Auxiliadora Avenue in the Arroyo Naranjo Southern Municipality, have been receiving from the investor hand, since several month, the response to a remarkable change in the image and comfort of their properties.
As part of the Provincial Book Fair, the venue of the library was reopened with new services, that are required by the digital era, accompanied on this occasion by a sample of visual arts by the artist Jacinto Jim Díaz, having the possibility of accessing digital books, downloading audios, learning more about local history, its protagonists, and especially, enjoying the universal world of literature and artistic creation. The renowned center now has a much more comfortable design, tailored to the demands of its audience.
” During these years, the library has been keeping a systematic work with the readers and students of the municipality, in order to promote the interest in reading until the point that the Amiguitos por el libro (the Book Little Friends) was created, as well as the establishment of community work with health institutions like the Arturo Aballí Children Hospital, with the participation of multidisciplinary teams, ” said the Literature Specialist Ana María de Rojas Berestein, who warned of the importance of continuing supporting the institution in the services it provides, so that reading will be not an act of complacency; but an act of consciousness and learning as it’s shown by Platero y yo (Platero and me) book.
In addition, the inauguration of the municipal theater helped the little children to show their happiness and smile in their faces, when they received the new space in the neighborhood of Víbora Park, which allows them to promote well-known theater plays and the most important authors, with the participation of socio cultural projects like Cascabelito and El hombrecito verde, belonging to the Culture Centers.
In this theater, the visitors can enjoy a variety of gastronomic offerings at its cafeteria and a room with more than 150 lunettes.
The existence of a large green area also allowed the design of a “small sports complex” for the enjoyment of collective and traditional games like soccer, softball, volleyball and table tennis, which cause admiration to the children in the community who did not have spaces for the sporting socialization.
Thus, to rescue from oblivion the cultural institutions that give welfare to the community is possible when the local government and the authorities in Havana join efforts to continue promoting the social work of the Revolution.
Carmen García, motivated by her young children, highlights: “Cuba must continue with this work design. Children deserve the best. Cultural and recreational activities in the municipalities surrounding Havana are necessary. Not all people and families have the same economic possibility. In fact, many of the proposals presented today are unknown, in the first place because of the lack of promotion and second because of the deterioration that exists in different public spaces in the city. “
This year, Havana is advancing with the program of socio-cultural development, based on the existing priorities in the rescue of heritage, in the processes of artistic creation that take place in the Culture centers, in the art manifestations that are taken places in the different municipalities in Havana and in the transformation of the education and the formation of values, the Provincial Director of Culture Mayra Lasales noted.
Translated by ESTI