NEW ORLEANS – The Warren Easton Charter High School and The CubaNOLA Arts Collective will announce a three-year music and art cultural exchange with students from the Conservatorio Estéban Salas in Santiago de Cuba on Thursday, January 14, 2016, at the Warren Easton Charter High School Auditorium, 3019 Canal St., at 2:00 p.m.
Santiago de Cuba is considered the New Orleans of Cuba because of their Carnival celebrations, their second line style “Conga” processions and because it’s the birthplace of many of Cuba’s most important styles of music. This initiative will bring together students to study the rich histories of each city and to share creative visions of the future.
The Easton students will visit Cuba this May and in July 2017 for the Festival del Caribe. The Cuban students will visit New Orleans in April 2017 and during 2018 for the Tricenntennial celebration.
At the announcement, there will be a performance of traditional Cuban Music with Papo Guevara & Son Mandao, and traditional selections by the Warren Easton Jazz Band.
Warren Easton, the oldest public high school in the state, is an “A” rated, U.S. Department of Education National Blue Ribbon School. Easton reps said the school develops a strong sense of responsibility, respect and courtesy in each student, keeping them engaged with a rigorous and relevant curriculum. Easton boasts strong business, technology, arts and educational opportunities for all of its students. It has a high graduation rate, and a dropout rate of less than one percent.
