Art and literature, for any country, reflect customs, ideologies, and collective sentiment. Therefore, recognizing the work of artists and protecting them from a legal and institutional standpoint is of vital importance.
In Cuba, those dedicated to the arts have an organization that unites them and safeguards their interests: the Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba, better known by its acronym, UNEAC. It was founded on August 22, 1961, and thus has been active for over 60 years.
It is a professional, cultural, and social association that brings together writers and artists of different genres, of Cuban nationality or at least with strong ties to the nation. It also has its own legal personality and full legal capacity, established during the First National Congress of Writers and Artists of Cuba, held in Havana between August 19 and 22 of that year.
The principal architect of this association was Cuba’s National Poet, Nicolás Guillén, who presided over its inception and whose vision was linked to “preserving the project of social justice and national independence to which so many generations of Cubans have dedicated their dreams and efforts, through art and culture.”
Its steering committee has included important figures in Cuban culture, from Alicia Alonso, Alejo Carpentier, and José Lezama Lima to Roberto Fernández Retamar and René Portocarrero, among others, representing the cultural vanguard on the island.
The UNEAC also bears the imprint of Fidel Castro in its actions, as he was, from the very first moments of the revolutionary triumph, a tireless defender of art as a tool for the defense of the homeland and the intangible well-being of the Cuban people.
Among its main objectives are the stimulation, protection, and defense of intellectual and artistic creation, and the recognition of the broadest freedom of expression. Likewise, it aims to promote the study, critical evaluation, and dissemination, both nationally and internationally, of representative works of Cuban culture.
The UNEAC thus constitutes a means for the preservation and dissemination of the intellectual and artistic values of the Cuban people and the most representative aspects of the cultures of the world’s peoples, who are responsible for contributing to art in a conscious way.
On this anniversary of its founding, Cuba expresses its gratitude to its artists and writers for the impact of their work on culture, and for the support that art provides to humankind, especially in times of globalization and the accelerated development of digital technologies.
