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04/24/12 - CNN - Cuban artists find financial support online

Havana (CNN) -- Rafael Villares is a talented Cuban artist who appears to
work effortlessly in mediums such as painting and sculpture.

But for years, he has had an even more ambitious project in mind, one that
seems like a fantasy from a [1]Gabriel Garcia Marquez novel.

"The idea would be to follow in the footsteps of the first explorers to
Cuba and photograph the northern and southern coasts to create one
panoramic image," he said. "It would be one horizon, so you can't tell if
it's an island or a continent. It's a search to capture Cuba's geography
in 2012."

Villares never attempted his journey though, and not just because of the
immense logistical challenges and government restrictions.

His biggest obstacle was there was zero funding available for the trip.
While artists abound in Cuba, they, like everyone else, face constant
shortages in materials and a United States economic embargo that
complicates the sale of their work.

But now, two years after scrapping his plans to travel and photograph the
island, Villares has the $1,300 he needs for his journey.

The funds came from an unexpected source, a website called [2]Yagruma.
Named for a tree native to Cuba, Yagruma is the first crowd-funding
website aimed at helping artists finance projects in Cuba.

"Everyone's talking about Yagruma," Villares said. "That's the fun part,
how it's getting buzz among young artists who have ideas for projects but
don't have the funds to do them."

On Yagruma, artists approved by the website's creators upload a sample of
their work -- a challenge itself given the island's scarce and mostly
dial-up Internet. Yagruma then publishes their work along with their
biography, a description of their next project and a request for
contributions. The artists typically wait about 30 days as donations
trickle in.

As with many crowd-funding sites, only projects that are fully financed
receive Yagruma's backing. The website keeps 5% of the funds to cover
operating costs.

So far, Yagruma [3]has financed five projects and has another 10 in
various stages of fundraising. The projects range from a documentary on an
iconic Cuban song to a stop-motion short film of a man being chased by
scissors and a straight razor.

Site creators say the artists they feature express themselves freely and
represent the incredible variety of Cuba's independent art scene.

"The way people use Yagruma so far has exceeded my expectations," said
Ubaldo Huerta, one of the site's co-creators along with fellow Cuban Hiram
Centelles Rodriguez. "I see people who understand how to use it perfectly
and how to compete for funding, present a project to attract backers and
very quickly learn."

Huerta and Rodriguez live in Spain but are drawn to the notion that the
Internet can improve the lives of Cubans back home.

An earlier site they collaborated on, [4]El Revolico, is the closest thing
Cuba has to Craigslist. Even though the site is blocked by the government,
Cubans still find ways to access El Revolico so they can sell cars, houses
and just about everything else.

Huerta said he is concerned that Yagruma might also run afoul with
authorities.

"In Cuba, everything in a way is mediated by the government, the cultural
establishment," he said. "We are more than happy to talk with the
government if they show an interest in who we are, how the site works."

Yagruma, he said, is a rare example of what many Cubans on both sides of
the Florida straits say they seek to accomplish: reconciliation.

"What I am hoping is to foster creativity in Cuba to create a bridge
between Cubans like me in the diaspora and Cubans on the island," Huerta
said. "It costs us nothing to shell out $20-$30, and it goes a long way in
Cuba."

>From his small art studio in the apartment he shares with his relatives,
Villares is already at work trying to stretch the funds he received from
Yagruma.

He is excited "to see the whole country, travel all of Cuba -- not just
know it from outside, but meet the fishermen, the farmers who live there,
the out-of-the-way places ... all the places in Cuba that you don't even
imagine."

Villares is hoping to begin traveling the island this summer, when the
ocean is calmer. Until then, he researches the software and cameras he
could use to create a sprawling panorama of the island.

And when he finally completes the odyssey, Villares will upload his
finished work to Yagruma, in the hopes of attracting more financing for
Cuba's independent artists.

References

Visible links
1. http://www.themodernword.com/gabo/
2. http://www.yagruma.org/
3. http://www.yagruma.org/projects
4. http://www.revolico.com/


Original Source / Fuente Original:
http://www.cnn.com/2012/04/24/world/americas/cuban-artists-crowd-funding/ind
ex.html