by Laura Coppi, Universal Civil Service volunteer in Cuba

The Casa de Todos project is approaching the completion of its third and final year. The strides made are amazing when approaching houses today. Not only for the aesthetic and building renovation, the provision of materials to work with, such as, musical instruments, cameras, canvases and colors, but especially for the organization of work, in which the exchange of best practices with the ARCS offices has been decisive.
It is exciting to see day by day the growth of the role of the communicator, recently included in the homes. It responds to a very important need, that of communicating to the world the identity of the houses of culture, telling about the activities, cultural proposals, and events, so that they can give back to the community, contributing to the welfare of the whole area.

Thanks to the trainings of various experts in the field of communication, and the work done jointly with Cuban partners, the communicators are increasing their skills and testing their newly acquired skills in the field every day.

I am very happy to be able to work with each and every one of them on a daily basis; it is an exchange from which I am learning so much. The Centro Habana House of Culture taught me the importance of using creativity in solving problems; in the Justo Vega House of Culture in Arroyo Nanjo, I learned, on the other hand, that patience, order and rigor are fundamental, especially when working in a group, they mirror respect for others. Finally, the Carlo Borbolla Cotorro House of Culture showed me how important it is to know how to ask for help, when one does not know something. One should not get discouraged, but on the contrary be persevering.

Our work is not finished yet. In these months we will focus on social communication, planning and management of materials and more technical aspects, such as shooting with the camera and photography or graphic design of posters.

Now, in the content published by the Houses of Culture, I notice the result of the reflections made together, the attention to how the photos are taken or the rigor in the use of the official logo. These small but important steps forward excite me and I am optimistic that we will soon be able to achieve the expected results of the project, together.