The City College Center for the Arts (CCCA) presents Elio Villafranca & The Jass Syncopators in “Crossroads from Cuba to New York”—a magical musical journey—on Friday, April 26, 2024, at 7:00pm. The CCCA’s Aaron Davis Hall is located at 129 Convent Avenue, New York, New York. Description: The concert is the return of two-time Grammy Award-winning jazz pianist and Steinway Artist Elio Villafranca and his group The Jass Syncopators in an exploration of the spiritual and musical connection of Cuba and New York and the diasporic Afro-Cuban musical forms intersecting with jazz t ..read more

The New West Indian Guide / Nieuwe West-Indische Gids (NWIG) has published a new issue, Volume 97 (1&2) now available online. This issue includes articles by Lauren Derby (“Stealing the Citadel”), Alexander M. Greene (“Planting Seeds in a New Land”), Felicia Fricke (“It Is Only Bad Priests and Outlaws Who Thrive NowAdays”) and Richard & Sally Price’s annual review of scores of new Caribbean novels, poetry collections, and miscellaneous non-fiction (“Bookshelf 2023”). The issue also features 50 full reviews of books (by experts in history, literature ..read more

As part of its 34th cycle of Caribbean Conferences—Conferencias Caribeñas 34—the Institute of Caribbean Studies at the University of Puerto Rico-Río Piedras (UPR-RP) invites the academic community and the general public to the online lecture “Cuba’s Ciénaga de Zapata: Despoiled Landscapes and Biodiversity Conservation,” by Dr. Lizabeth Paravisini-Gebert (Sarah Tod Fitz Randolph Distinguished Professor Chair, Vassar College). The commentator for this event will be Dr. Reinaldo Funes Monzote (Department of History, Universidad de La Habana). This event will take place via Zoom on Wednesday ..read more

Douglas Markowitz (Miami New Times) writes, “The films at Third Horizon aren’t typical blockbuster fare. Instead, the festival prioritizes innovative and experimental approaches to filmmaking.” See excerpts and list of films below. [The Third Horizon Film Festival takes place from May 9 through 12, at Miami Dade College Koubek Memorial Center, 2705 SW Third Street, Miami; and the Pérez Art Museum Miami, 1103 Biscayne Boulevard, Miami Florida. Many thanks to Peter Jordens for bringing this item to our attention.] After taking a year off, one of Miami’s most insightful and intriguing film festi ..read more

There will be a film screening of the 2022 documentary directed by independent filmmaker Craig Miller (Australia), Cuba My Soul. The event, including a discussion with the director, takes place on Friday, May 10, 2024, at 7:00pm, at the Graham Center (GC), Room 150, FIU Modesto A. Maidique Campus. [Florida International University is located at 11200 SW 8th Street, Miami, Florida.] Description: Cuba My Soul explores the heart and soul of Cuban music. Filmed over two eventful concerts in Havana, director Craig Miller invited many of Cuba’s finest musicians to share their passion on and of ..read more

“El Dorado: Myths of Gold,” hosted by the Americas Society/Council of the Americas, is on view through May 18, 2024. It features many artists from the broader Caribbean region and the diaspora, including Scherezade García, Hew Locke, Ebony G. Patterson, and Alberta Whittle, among others. See full list below. The Americas Society is located at 680 Park Avenue, New York, New York. [Many thanks to Peter Jordens for bringing this item to our attention.] Americas Society presents the second part of El Dorado: Myths of Gold, a two-part group exhibition exploring the legend of El Dorado as ..read more

In this excellent review of Julien Creuzet’s work, Skye Arundhati Thomas (Art Review) writes, “In a challenge to the Venice Biennale’s defining principles, the project for the French Pavilion is launched in Martinique.” Julien Creuzet’s project for the French Pavilion is on view in the Giardini, as part of the 60th Venice Biennale, April 20 to November 24, 2024. [Many thanks to Peter Jordens for bringing this item to our attention.] We are in a windswept, cliffside garden that tumbles down to a glossy ultramarine sea. Ultramarin is also another way of saying outre-mer, the Fren ..read more

Longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2024, Pam Williams’s A Trace of Sun was published by Legend Press in March 2024. Louise Hare (author of This Lovely City and Miss Aldridge Regrets) calls the novel “An unflinching look at one family’s experience of immigration, exploring mental health, identity and family.”  Description: ‘Don’t go Mammy please.’ Stuttered words filled her ears, sent frissons of guilt through her as she bent over him; held him to her thumping chest. Tears sliding from her face to his.’ Raef is left behind in Grenada when his mother, Cilla, follows her husband t ..read more

The full title of this article by Maximilíano Durón (ARTnews) is “At the Venice Biennale’s Contemporary Showcase, Living Artists Examine Queer and Indigenous Legacies.” Here are excerpts, including a section featuring Puerto Rican-born artist Pablo Delano. We highly recommend reading the full article at ARTnews. As the international art world has descended on La Serenissima this week, the 2024 Venice Biennale began the first of its preview days on Tuesday morning, with visitors heading to either (or both) of its main venues: the Arsenale and the Giardini. Curated this year by Adriano Pedrosa ..read more

[Many thanks to Mary Ann Gosser Esquilín for bringing this item to our attention.] The Little Haiti Book Festival, formerly known as the Haitian-Caribbean Book Festival, has been presented in part by Sosyete Koukouy of Miami, Inc. for the past eight years. Sosyete Koukouy now partners with Miami Dade College’s Miami Book Fair, widely considered to be the best book festival in the United States. Little Haiti Book Festival 2024. The festival takes place in person on Sunday, May 5, 2024, at Little Haiti Cultural Complex, and online on Sunday, May 19, 2024.  Description: Miami Book Fair  ..read more