Travel bucket list idea:
Havana’s Artist Studios
Havana, Cuba
Credit Shutterstock.com/Berna Namoglu
Last updated: 31 March, 2024
Havana brims with artistic talent, and while several artists have studios in Old Havana, most of the more well-known and emerging artists have studios squirrelled away all over the city.
Sussette Martínez Montero (sussem@gmail.com), a long-time Havana art curator, has extensive contacts in the Cuban arts world and access to studios others cannot reach. She offers fully customisable half-day, full-day and up to four-day insider art tours that take visitors to the private studios of Cuba’s top painters, photographers, sculptors and installation artists.
A Havana highlight, they offer the chance to meet the artists at work, and learn about their methods, inspirations and techniques.
Logistics
Price from: £30
Minimum age: 0
Age suitable: 13+
When: All year around
Duration: 4+ hours
Getting there & doing it
Half- and full-day tours are available. A half-day tour (10am-2pm) includes visits to four studios, a full-day tour to 6 studios (10am-6pm). If you’re interested in photography, sculpture, oil painting, say, Sussette can tailor-make your tour. Prices start from CUP 1000 (USD$40). Transport is not included but Sussette can arrange if needs be.
Serious artwork needs permission to leave the country. Sussette can arrange the necessary permits through the Registro de Bienes Culturales.
When to do it
Tours operate year-round, seven days a week, on request.
