During his trip to Cuba to participate in the G77 + China summit, UN Secretary-General António Guterres visited on 14 September the rehabilitation works of the largest and oldest convent in Havana, located in the heart of the ‘Old Havana and its Fortifications System’ World Heritage property. These works are supported by the EU-funded UNESCO programme Transcultura: Integrating Cuba, the Caribbean and the European Union through Culture and Creativity to house a heritage restoration training centre for youth across the Caribbean.
Accompanied by Anne Lemaistre, Director of the UNESCO Regional Office for Culture in Latin America and the Caribbean, Isabel Brilhante Pedrosa, European Union Ambassador to Cuba, and Perla Rosales Aguirreurreta, Deputy Director-General of the Office of the Historian of the City of Havana (OHCH), the UN chief toured the main cloister of the convent where the works are currently concentrated and which will house most of the classrooms, workshops and laboratories of the future training centre. He also visited the area of the old church, which will serve as the main lecture hall, and which will be the first area to reach completion in 2024.
Transcultura provides technical assistance and complementary financing worth 5 million dollars for the procurement of materials and inputs for these works. To date, the programme has facilitated the acquisition of approximately 500 tons of materials such as wood, tools, flooring, paints, plumbing technological equipment and lifts, among others.
We are honoured that the UN Secretary-General has chosen to visit this project, the largest-scale UN initiative in Havana, which not only rehabilitates a building of great historical value, but also places heritage and culture at the service of capacity-building and job creation for young cultural professionals in the region.
The restoration of the Santa Clara Convent is one of the components of the Transcultura programme which seeks to strengthen capacities and to create professional opportunities in the cultural and creative sector in the Caribbean through cooperation and exchange in the region and with the European Union member states. To date, the programme has involved more than 3,500 stakeholders, out of which 1,300 are young Caribbean cultural professionals who have benefited from opportunities to develop their creative careers.
In order to strengthen capacity-building, the programme has created a Caribbean Cultural Training Hub, integrated by seven educational institutions, including the Santa Clara College for Training in the Arts and Restoration Trades of Cuba and the Caribbean, which will be hosted in the convent once refurbished. This hub offers online and face-to-face courses and has already trained more than 400 people in subjects related to cultural and creative industries and cultural entrepreneurship.
Transcultura goes beyond capacity-building, to provide concrete opportunities by promoting entrepreneurship, networking and the integration of cultural and creative industries and the tourism sector. The programme has supported 27 cultural and creative projects through incubators, accelerators and mentoring programmes, and has trained more than 200 young people in the submission of cultural grant applications. Through the organization of 25 cultural cooperation activities, including participation in high-level events in Europe, the programme has promoted networking and access to new markets for more than 400 young cultural professionals.
With 15 million euros (16.5 million dollars) from the European Union, Transcultura is UNESCO’s largest project in the Latin America and Caribbean region. Launched at the beginning of 2020, it targets young people aged from 18 to 35 from 17 countries in the region: Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Montserrat, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago.
