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PrintCuban vacation to be raffled off
Wet Paint, Sonoma Valley Museum of Art’s annual gala and auction, is Sunday, June 17, at Ramekins Culinary Center at 450 W. Spain St. This year’s theme “Feast on Art” pulls together the Valley’s culinary and arts communities and features live and silent auctions of artwork, vacation packages and entertainment experiences.
But one of the most sought after items this year is not on the auction block. The museum is raffling off two seats on an art trip to Cuba planned for next spring. Although the drawing will be at Wet Paint, tickets are available prior to the event by calling the museum at 939-7862 or visiting www.svma.org. Ticket holders need not be present to win. No more than 250 tickets will be sold.
“This really opens it up to the community,” says Kate Eilertsen, museum director. “Imagine, a chance for two people to spend a week in Cuba, seeing renowned artists in their studios, visiting the Rum and Fine Arts Museum, and dining in the fabulous home restaurants – all for a $100 ticket.”
Travel plans also include a two-day side trip to 16th-century tiny Trinidad with its Valley of Seventy Sugar Mills and French-inspired Cienfuegos.
This trip is coordinated by the California Building Bridges Foundation, a group dedicated to creating cultural connections between Americans and Cubans on a meaningful, interactive level. Ramekins co-owner Darius Anderson sits on the board of the foundation and is a supporter of many arts and cultural activities in the Valley.
The winner of the package will be part of a group of 20 from the museum going on the excursion.
Wet Paint, held at the museum the past two years, moves to Ramekins to take advantage of the courtyard space and connections to Sonoma’s culinary community. The event starts at 5:30 p.m. on June 17. Event tickets are $250 and, at press time, a few tickets remained available by contacting the museum.
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Kate Eilersten implies that going to Cuba is such an exciting visit and I wonder if this is a case of one upmanship over mere travel mortals. Miss Eilersten, you know nothing about Cuba and to promote its thrills makes me disgusted.
I lived in Cienfuegos with my Aunt and Uncle who was the branch manager of the Bank of Nova Scotia which was not seized and nationalized. His brother lost a drug store which was newly built, another brother lost a Carrier Air Conditioning business and another brother lost a Chevrolet dealership. All but my uncle and aunt fled Cuba, leaving behind choice property, businesses and accumulated wealth which was honestly gained.
Political opponents of the Castro regime were given 30 years in prison and Fidel Castro remarked that 30 years meant 30 years and nothing less.
Just last week, 20 Cubans who fled Cuba for refuge in the Cayman Islands were deported and returned to Cuba. This happens from time to time. Any country that does not allow its citizens to pack up and leave freely to any other country that will accept them is a political prison.
Cuba has a 2 tiered currency system, one for citizens, the other for foreigners. Dollars are still allowed but not officially and the Euro is the currency required to pay bills. Tourists are shuttled about in a controlled regimen and not exposed to the poverty and oppression that has existed all these years. Some people say tourism will bring a loosening up of repression while others say that tourism supports the regime which has been in decline ever since Russia pulled out of being a financial sponsor. Apparently they got wise to the Cuban mentality while the Museum Director is just feeling thrills from its potential.