Art and teaching in Cuba

Tradition and present

Abstract

This text tells about the Cuban experience in the field of teaching current art in the course of Arts History of University of Havana, pointing out the close relation among teaching at university level, the teaching of arts, and the very development of contemporary arts. The first segment praises the long and steady pedagogical tradition that goes back to the first public courses of Arts History taught in Cuba in the early 1930’s. This is followed by emphasizing the positive effect that teaching arts at university level had on the artistic movement that took place in the island from the 1980’s onwards, and the resulting improvement in the curriculum of the course Arts History. The text ends with comments on the pedagogical experience of teaching current arts in Cuba, interacting with other fields of study such as Theory, Research, and Art Critic, pointing out the importance of preparing students to become professionals by implicating them in the dynamics of social practice.