The province of Holguin is one of the most important cultural centers in the country, and 2025 was no exception, as Holguin’s artists once again demonstrated this.
At the beginning of the year, the Holguin public enjoyed the return to the stage of the Codanza Contemporary Dance Company. With the world premiere of the work “Kardia,” following a complete renewal of the dance cast and under the direction of Vianki González Miranda.
The “Magistral” concert by the Holguin Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of Mexican maestro Jorge Vázquez and with New Zealand violinist Amalia Hall as a guest. Became the Cultural Event of the Year 2024 in Holguin, an award given annually by the circle of cultural journalists in the province.
The Audience Award, meanwhile, went to the First Oral Storytelling Festival, “The World of Words,” for its Sociocultural and Community Impact. The festival was hosted by the Palabras al Viento Company in its twentieth anniversary year.
Dedicated to promoting and showcasing the work of young Cuban filmmakers. The seventeenth National Audiovisual Festival, “For the First Time,” took place in the city in February. The festival featured film screenings, a competition for first-time directors, a pitch session, collateral screenings, workshops, and discussions.
The National Humor Festival, Satiricón, returned to Holguin for its eleventh edition. Bringing together renowned comedians from various regions of the country.
In March, Holguin experienced one of the most memorable cultural events of the last decade: under the artistic direction of Maestro Helson Hernández and the general direction of soprano Liudmila Pérez, the Rodrigo Prats Lyric Theater once again made headlines by staging the Cuban premiere of the Russian opera Eugene Onegin. With music by Tchaikovsky and based on the novel by Alexander Pushkin.
Also in March, our local chapter of the International Book Fair held its first meeting. Celebrating the work of the multi-award-winning poet José Luis Serrano and the literary promoter Joaquín Osorio.
April became a true celebration of cinema with the arrival of the 19th Gibara International Film Festival. A mega multicultural event that brought together filmmakers and film enthusiasts from Cuba and around the world for five days in the White City of the Crabs.
In April, the 42nd Holguin Culture Week celebrations took place, having been postponed due to the tragic events in Melones in January. The celebrations concluded with the long-awaited presentation of the Cemí Baibrama award to each of the City Prize winners.
The Romerías de Mayo, a world festival of artistic youth, once again filled Holguin’s streets and squares with young talent and creative spirit. The fifth month of the year witnessed the thirty-second edition of the most important event organized nationally by the Hermanos Saíz Association. Whose program focused on cultural industries in support of young artists.
June saw the return of the Taguabo National Audiovisual Competition, sponsored by UNEAC, which held its fifteenth edition with a completely revamped format. Also featured was a new edition of the Music with Humor event, promoted by the Faustino Oramas Osorio Music and Entertainment Marketing Company; and the 26th edition of the Celestino Short Story Prize, organized by La Luz Publishing House and the Literature section of the AHS (Hermanos Saíz Association) in Holguin, which is one of the most coveted prizes for young Cuban storytellers.
Throughout the summer, the Provincial Directorate of Culture deployed artistic brigades to diverse areas of Holguin province, with the aim of bringing art to communities and demonstrating its transformative power. As well as ensuring wholesome enjoyment for residents throughout northeastern Cuba.
The performing arts played an undeniable leading role during the summer season, with the Palabras al Viento (Words to the Wind) Oral Storytelling Company receiving special recognition for its premieres and revivals of classic works from its repertoire. In Gibara, the vibrant art of Holguin continued to resonate during the fourteenth edition of the Stereo G International Electronic Music Festival, the most important of its kind in Cuba, which returns annually to the Caletones beach resort.
August was also particularly noteworthy for the return of the Popular Festivals to the city’s cultural scene, which were met with a massive turnout from Holguin residents.
At the National Ceremony commemorating the 48th anniversary of the National Union of Cultural Workers, Holguin was recognized as an outstanding province in the first annual evaluation of the Culture in Revolution emulation movement, an achievement it regained in the second evaluation.
The Holguin Provincial Center for Visual Arts hosted the 31st Provincial Visual Arts Salon, an event that awarded printmaker Yosvany Rodríguez. Also director of the El Alba Regional Academy of Visual Arts, for his work “Fragments of Reality.”
The 2025 Symphonic Festival returned to its usual venue in Carlos Manuel de Céspedes Park in the city of Holguin and once again featured the members of the Provincial Symphony Orchestra along with a large group of art students, all under the general direction of Maestro Oreste Saavedra.
The Expo-Holguin fairgrounds hosted the 23rd edition of the Iberoarte International Handicrafts Fair in October, the most important of its kind in eastern Cuba and the second largest in the country after FIART.
A wide-ranging program of activities took place throughout the Holguin province during the celebrations for Cuban Culture Day. Holguin hosted the National Ceremony commemorating the anniversary of the founding of the José Martí Brigade of Art Instructors. In recognition of the excellent results achieved by the instructors from our region throughout the year.
The Casa de Iberoamérica, one of the province’s most important cultural institutions, held a special event at the end of October to mark the 31st edition of the Ibero-American Culture Festival, which was closed early due to the severe weather that struck eastern Cuba at that time. During the recovery phase, the cultural sector played a prominent role in supporting those affected who remained in evacuation centers through artistic brigades, with activities especially led by members of the José Martí Brigade of Art Instructors.
2025 was also an intense period for Holguin artists and groups of the caliber of the Rodrigo Prats Lyric Theater, the Codanza Contemporary Dance Company, the Feeling Voices vocal quartet, the Palabras al Viento Oral Storytelling Company, and the Bella Voce Project. As well as the Arcai Artistic Creation Project, belonging to the Holguín branch of the Cuban Fund for Cultural Assets, among many others, who had 12 months of incessant creative work.
2025 was another year in which art did not stop in the province of Holguin. Creators and promoters continue to guarantee the development and success of events that reaffirm Holguin as one of the nation’s cultural epicenters.
By: Melissa Laura del Cerro Figueredo
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