Please join us for a panel discussion focusing on the artist exchange program between the prestigious San Alejandro Academy of Fine Arts in Havana and the non-profit contemporary art space Tempus Projects in Seminole Heights, Tampa.

The Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes “San Alejandro” is the oldest and most celebrated fine arts school in Cuba, originally founded in 1818 under the Spanish Monarchy. Today, the school is one of seven institutions under the Cuban Ministry of Culture dedicated to the study of the arts and continues to be considered a politically and culturally important entity. The school is founded on the belief that all citizens should have access to art and, as per Director Sandra Fuentes, “if there is a talent, we have a responsibility to train.”

Established in 2009, Tempus Projects exhibits established and emerging local, national, and international artists through exhibitions and events. Located on Florida Avenue in South Seminole Heights, Tempus Projects has contributed greatly to the district’s emergence as a creative local destination and has grown to include an artist-in-residence program.

Moderated by Curator of Contemporary Art Katherine Pill, the panel includes Havana-based artist Marian Valdéz Rodriguez who will be in residence at Tempus Projects; Christina Humphreys, a now San Francisco-based artist who took part in the exchange program in the spring of 2017; and Noel Smith, Curator of Latin American and Caribbean Art at the Institute for Research in Art at USF Tampa, which includes Graphicstudio and the Contemporary Art Museum.

Funding for the exchange has generously been provided by the Florida Humanities Council.