EL ACERCAMIENTO/THE APPROACH

​

EL ACERCAMIENTO/THE APPROACH is a groundbreaking multimedia transnational project conceived by Evelyn Serrano with La Habana-based artist and educator Yamile Pardo, that investigates the past, present and possible futures of Cuba-U.S. relations.  In La Habana, the current process of normalization of relations between Cuba and the United States is termed “el acercamiento," the slow and cautious act of getting closer. Professional artists and arts students from the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) in Los Angeles, and Academia Nacional de Bellas Artes San Alejandro and Instituto Superior de Arte (ISA) in La Habana, collaborate to develop proposals for an acercamiento between our two countries in the form of urban interventions, workshops, performative actions, public dialogues, and arts exhibitions that are beginning to give shape to a multiplicity of potential futures. The project challenges participating artists and audiences to insert themselves in the process of visioning and enacting of these futures.

 

El Acercamiento/The Approach is a 4-year project. Each year, a group of arts students and professional artists create, collaborate on, and present new original visual and performing arts works in La Habana, Los Angeles and Miami. El Acercamiento is part of CalArts Center for New Performance (CNP)/Duende CalArts' artistic initiatives. 

​

​