Miramar Restoration: a dream come true

The Music Fund for Cuba's biggest and most ambitious project to date was the restoration of the Miramar Theatre in Havana.

The three year restoration programme cost more than £250,000 and fulfilled its aim to reinstate the building as a theatre, education resource and community centre in a district with no facility like it. 

The theatre renovation was proposed by Centro Nacional de Escuales de Arte (CNEArt) in 2006, as one of the most important projects for arts education in the country. CNEArt works in collaboration with the Fund to identify appropriate projects for support and stressed the obvious importance of the theatre restoration for local arts students - to provide rehearsal and performance space they just didn't use to have. But the final project is more far-reaching. The theatre acts as a bridge between arts and the community - with students themselves taking art to the local people, through workshops and education projects as well as performance.

"The theatre will be a beautiful link between the schools and the local community." Clara Gonzalez, Deputy Director, National School of Arts.

Background

The 600-seat Miramar theatre lies at the heart of the Playa district of Havana. Originally built as a theatre, over time the building was used as a cinema and meeting place for local people. Like most buildings in Cuba it had been battered by hurricanes and degraded by humidity. But due to a chronic shortage of funds the theatre never received the regular maintenance required in that climate, and fell into decay.