Cuba Before the Dawn is an international platform of artists, activists and intellectuals, created to support independent Cuban art, to empower human rights and democracy in Cuba,  and  to promote truthful representation of Cuba in the world.

 

We believe in global responsibility, the centerpiece of Václav Havel’s philosophy, to promote democratic transition in totalitarian countries . We believe in the power of individual to challenge a dictatorship and we believe in the potential of a free artistic expression to help dismantling a totalitarian regime. We believe in our responsibility as citizens of the free world to empower the powerless. 

 

Cuba Before the Dawn consists of following projects:

NOT A USEFUL ARTIST is an exhibition and a guidebook to the independent Cuban art and artivism

NOT A USEFUL IDIOT is a  responsible tourist‘s travel guide to Cuba

MUSICA O MUERTE is a film documentary about the power of music against the dictatorship in Cuba

CUBA: Before the Dawn is also a title of Hana Jakrlova‘s photography book

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Cuba Before the Dawn was presented at the Oslo Freedom Forum in May 2017, and the projects will be shown at the Forum 2000 Conference in Prague, in October 2017. We are working towards creating a travel exhibition which would enable to present the Cuba Before the Dawn projects in other countries around the world, and we are preparing presentation of Cuba Before the Dawn at the European Parliament.   

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The project was named Cuba Before the Dawn in honour of Reinaldo Arenas, Cuban visionary writer and intellectual, and his novel Before Night Falls - a book about being free.