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Matanzas and Varadero to be the main seat of the International UNIMA Council

Fuente: www.cubaescena.cult.cu | 18 de Junio 2012

The International Puppet Union (UNIMA in Spanish), created in Prague in 1929 will hold its coming International Council in Matanzas and Varadero in 2014.

The Cuban UNIMA Center, which was re-structured in 2010 won the venue of this important meeting which will bring together in our country in two years’ time, puppet masters from all five continents. The request was presented by Rubén Darío Salazar, general secretary of the Cuban puppet association, on May 31, within the 21st World Congress and Puppet Festival, which took place in Chengdu, China. The other competing proposal was presented by the city of Sofia, Bulgaria.

Cubans aim to undertake this meeting in the modern Plaza América Conventions Center, found in the beautiful Varadero Beach, with the bluest waters in the world. The artistic events will take place in the 11th International Puppet Workshop in Matanzas, which will be celebrating its twentieth anniversary. The national organizing committee will award councilors, journalists, theater workers and other guests a distraction and culture trip to Havana, the Cuban capital. There is expected to take place a show, exhibition and theoretical encounter schedule that may show the potential of puppet art from Alaska to the South Pole, all of America present with its different aesthetic principles and stage propositions with figures.

The cultural tradition of the so called Cuban Athens, the weather and the nature of Varadero and the populated capital city, will surely be an inspiration and attraction for the visitors who may come to the UNIMA 2014 International Puppet Council and Workshop. The tender and country like smile of Pelusín del Monte, the puppet presented with the candidature handed over in China, was surely one of the main reasons for the Cuban win, together with the image of warmth and human greatness that distinguishes the Cuban people.

Translation: Karen López (Cubarte)