Lourdes Casal (b. 1938, Havana - d. 1981, Havana): A writer and political activist, Casals received a Ph.D. in psychology from the New School of Social Research. She was the founding editor of the magazine Areíto, and was a frequent contributor to the magazine Nueva Generación. Casal wrote several books, including El caso Padilla, Los fundadores: Alfonso y otros cuentos, and the poetry collections Cuadernos de agosto and Palabras juntan revolución, which was published posthumously and won the 1981 poetry prize for poetry from Casa de las Américas. In 1982, the Instituto de Estudios Cubanos, based in Miami, published an anthology of her work, titled Itinerario ideológico. (Cintas for literature, 1974-75)

Untitled (Portrait),1974, Oil On Wood Panel, 16.25” x 13.25”

Zita Gómez De Kanelba (b. 1932, Paris) Gómez had a show at the Ars Atelier in Union City in 2000. (CINTAS for Visual Arts, 1974-75, 1976-77)

Farewell Gift, 1972, hand-colored lithograph on paper, 29.75” x 24.25”

Juan J. González (b. 1942, Camagüey - d. 1993, New York) The super-realist artist Juan González participated in group shows such as Painting and Sculpture Today‑1974 at the Indianapolis Museum of Art; Looking Inside: Latin American Presence in New York; Ancient Roots/ New Visions, which traveled to several cities in the United States; Hispanic‑American Artists of the United States, at the Museum of Modern Art of Latin America in Washington, D.C., The Figure in the Twentieth Century at the New York Academy of Design, Outside Cuba, The Miami Generation traveling exhibition and the Cuba-USA: The First Generation traveling exhibition. He had solo shows in the United States and abroad in venues such as the Center for Inter‑American Relations and the Nancy Hoffman Gallery in New York, the Cleveland Center for Contemporary Art, the Meadows Museum in Dallas and the Center for the Fine Arts in Miami. He was the recipient of a Creative Artists Public Service (CAPS) Fellowship and of a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. His work is in the permanent collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, The Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C., the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Miami-Dade Public Library and the Smithsonian Institution, among others. González was one of the artists featured in Wayne Salazar’s 1985 documentary Cuba-USA: Three Cuban Artists in New York City. From 1984 to the time of his death, González was a member of the board of governors of the New York Foundation for the Arts.  He received a Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of Miami. (CINTAS for Visual Arts, 1972-73, 1974-75)

Carlos Gutiérrez de la Solana (b. 1947, Havana) An artist, writer and curator, Gutiérrez’s work includes photography and installation art. He is the winner of an Art Matters award, and was the director of Artists’Space in New York. He was a participant in the Light Work's Artist-in-Residence program and his work was included in the Outside Cuba exhibition. Gutiérrez received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the Kansas City Art Institute and a Master’s degree from the University of California Art Institute. (CINTAS for Visual Arts, 1974-75)

José Kozer (b. 1940, Havana): A prolific poet, Kozer has published more than 30 books of poetry, including Padres y otras profesiones, Y así tomaron posesión en las ciudades, El carillón de los muertos, Trazas del lirondo, Et mutabile and Una huella destartalada. His work has been translated into several languages. Kozer is also an essayist and translator, and taught Spanish and Latin American Literature at Queens College (CUNY) for 32 years. In 2013, he won the Pablo Neruda Ibero-American Poetry Prize. (Cintas for literature 1974-75)

Tania León (b. 1943, Havana): A classical composer and conductor, León became the first musical director and composer in residence with Dance Theater of Harlem in 1968. Since then, her pieces have been performed by some of the world’s top musicians. Scourge of Hyacinths, an opera based on a radio play by Nobel Prize-winner Wole Soyinka, won the BMW Prize as best new work in the 1994 Munich Biennale. One of its arias, Oh Yemanja, was recorded by Dawn Upshaw. Other works include Inura, a composition for voices, strings and piano that was nominated for a Grammy and a Latin Grammy in the category of Best Classical Contemporary Composition;the ballets The Beloved (with Judith Hamilton), Haiku, Dougla (with Geoffrey Holder) and Tones; the orchestra pieces Batá, Carabalí, Concerto Criollo, Kabiosile, Para Viola y Orquesta and Seven Spirituals, as well as many pieces for instrumental ensemble and vocal ensemble and solo. She is a professor of music at Brooklyn College and the recipient of an ASCAP Victor Herbert Award and a Symphony Space Access to the Arts Award. Sponsored by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, León was a visiting scholar at the Witwatersrand University in South Africa. As a conductor, she has appeared with the Kwazulu Natal Philharmonic Orchestra, in Durban, and the Johannesburg Academy Orchestra, both in South Africa; the Orquesta Sinfónica de Guanajuato, in Mexico, and the Orquesta Sinfónica de Bogotá, in Colombia. León is the founder and artistic director of Composers Now, an annual, month-long festival that celebrates living composers, their diversity and the significance of their work. (Cintas for music, 1974-75, 1978-79)

Hervin A. Romney (b. 1941, Havana): A former student and teaching assistant of Charles Moore and Vincent Scully, Romney went on to become a principal and founding architect of Arquitectonica – the noted firm responsible for buildings such as The Atlantis, The Palace and The Imperial on Miami’s Brickell Avenue. His Coral Gables firm, Hervin Romney Architect, Inc., is responsible for many notable projects in the United States and abroad. Romney lectures widely on architecture and design. He has received awards from the Miami Design Preservation League, the Florida AIA and the Public Schools Centennial Competition, among others. Romney began his architecture studies at Villanueva, in Havana, received a bachelor degree in architecture from Catholic University and has a master of environmental design degree from Yale. (CINTAS for Architecture & Design, 1974-75)

 Mario Sotolongo: Sculptor. (Cintas for art, 1974-75)

Sounds and Rediscovery of America, 1975,Pastel, silver spray paint on paper, 22” x 29.5”

Ricardo Viera (b. 1945, Ciego de Ávila): A professor of art at Lehigh University and the director/curator of the university’s art galleries since 1974, Viera has curated many exhibitions, including Cuba‑USA: The First Generation(co-curator) and American Voices: Latino Photography in the U.S. Viera was  consultant/curator of the Smithsonian Institute Project Our Journey/Our Story: Portraits of Latino Achievement, part of the Center for Latino Initiative. Among his recent publications are the essays Silvia Lizama: Photographer, Explorations, and American Voices: Cuban-American Photography in the U.S. His work is in the permanent collection of the Miami-Dade Public Library. He has a Bachelor’s degree from Tufts University and a Master of Fine Arts degree from the Rhode Island School of Design. (Cintas for art, 1974-75)