Havana, June 7, 2017



“Year 59 of the Revolution”



Esteemed students, professors and other workers of Cuban arts education,



The founding of the National Arts School in 1962, the fruit of one of Fidel’s greatest dreams, is among the most important events of revolutionary culture. Its construction on the grounds of the aristocratic Country Club was of high symbolic value, as that exclusive fiefdom, reserved until then for the most long-established oligarchy, was filled with the children of campesinos and workers who arrived from all over the country to train as artists of the new Cuba.



For the last 55 years this institution, which later branched out into a whole system, has worked to cultivate technical and artistic rigor in its students, as well as ethical, patriotic and revolutionary principles. It has trained several generations of excellent musicians, visual artists, dancers, actors, audiovisual directors and circus performers, many of whom are today recognized and celebrated across the most demanding circuits in the world.



For all these reasons and for continuing to be a source of pride for national culture, I congratulate you and send you a strong embrace.

Raúl Castro Ruz



