Cuba hosts 23rd International Conference on African and Afro-American Culture

 

SANTIAGO DE CUBA, Cuba, Apr 15 (ACN) As part of the 23rd International Conference on African and Afro-American Culture, the panel "Women on Stage", a space full of history, reflection and feminine strength, was held at the Museum of Music in this eastern city.

The event, led by Fatima Patterson, National Theater Award (2017), and Gretel Quintana Velez, researcher at the Center for Documentation and Research of the Performing Arts, was a call to rethink the role of women in the performing arts and the responsibility of theater as a platform for visibility, denunciation and empowerment.

From her experience as an actress, playwright and director of Estudio Teatral Macuba, Patterson told the Cuban News Agency that she has always defended women in her work, and also highlighted the role of art in the fight against racism and for gender equality.

She said that programs such as the Advancement of Women or the fight against racism, so important for the country, must achieve greater integration with culture as an essential actor.

Culture is essential in all the phenomena of change; many times it is believed that each one, from their own space, can achieve it separately, but this is not the case, we need more links and joint actions, she added.

Patterson pointed out the importance of maintaining and expanding spaces such as the African and Afro-American Culture Conference, since it is a necessary platform and addresses essential issues for the development of society.

The 23rd International Conference of African and Afro-American Culture, which from last Saturday until tomorrow celebrates in a special way the 510th anniversary of the foundation of the town of Santiago de Cuba, is dedicated to African women and women in the Diaspora, their role in the family and society.