The Copperbridge Foundation is a 501(c)3 non-profit founded in 2010 by Geo Darder to promote cultural exchange through artistic expression. It focuses on acquiring, conserving, exhibiting, and interpreting art from Caribbean, African, North and South American cultures, with an emphasis on Cuba given its proximity and cultural influence. Through its People to People license, Copperbridge further acts as a cultural bridge by facilitating trips for people to experience Cuban art and culture firsthand.

1. The Copperbridge Foundation is a 501 (c) 3 non-profit organization with a mission to promote
cultural and educational exchange through the medium of artistic expression.

2. Copperbridge Foundation was founded in 2010 by Geo Darder, who also serves as
the President. Darder’s vision was to create a foundation that would serve the
public through the acquisition, conservation, exhibition and interpretation of
significant works of art from a broad range of Caribbean, African, North and South
American cultures; with a special emphasis on Cuba. Given the island nation's
proximity to Florida, its incalculable impact as a cultural muse and its superlative
artists, Copperbridge provides passage and furthers cross currents of cultural
interchange between Cuba and the USA.
Through it’s People to People license the foundation has been able to further act as
a bridge of understanding by taking people to experience art and culture in Cuba.
WHO WE ARE

3. By building a cultural bridge, art acts as a
conduit between cultures, uniting people of
different backgrounds, religions and
beliefs in a myriad of ways.
!
Art is our common language helping to
create a dialogue between people who may
have more in common than they suspect.
Creating Dialogue
Through the Arts
Colonial Architecture
Old Havana, Cuba

4. Copperbridge Foundation, is a 501 (c) 3 non-
profit organization with a mission to
promote cultural and educational exchange
through the medium of artistic expression.
We are a non-political organization and our
belief is that through the arts we are able to
build a bridge that moves people towards a
better understanding of each other.
!
As a non-profit, we depend on the financial
and in-kind support from individuals,
foundations, corporations, and our
volunteers to bring important programs to
life.
Support Dialogue
Through the Arts

5. • We curate and present art exhibits, dance,
music, films and books.
• Provide a platform for international
artists, art scholars, and educators to
share their works and knowledge in the
USA.
• Introduce our supporters to the arts,
cultures, and peoples of Cuba, Brazil, and
Argentina.
• Create exchange programs with
established arts organizations in the USA
and organizations abroad.
• Present ongoing programs like Cultural
Evolution in the USA.
• Through our People to People license, we
act as a bridge of understanding by
taking people to experience the art,
culture and people of Cuba.
What we do
Havana | Harlem
NY, NY

6. CULTURAL EVOLUTION

7. In 2013 we launched the Cultural Evolution series. Over 300 people attended our
inaugural event in Miami on June 29. This event was free of charge for our Copperbridge
members and select guests. The evening included food by celebrity chef, Douglas
Rodriguez and performances by Cuban modern dance company DanzAbierta, Latin
Grammy nominee Descemer Bueno, and an art exhibit by Noel Morera Cruz, Meme
Ferré and Sounds Like Art, vinyl records painted by José Fuster and signed by
Advisory Board Member Jackson Browne.
!
In September, Havana | Harlem featured Cuban modern dance company Retazos and a
screening of the documentary Detrás del muro followed by a Q&A with the artists.
We finished the 2013 series in October with Havana Love Affair, an intimate evening at
the home of Copperbridge founder Geo Darder featuring a performance by Retazos.
Cultural Evolution 2013

8. What’s NEW for Cultural Evolution 2014?
An impressive line up of artist, dance, music and cultural exchange

9. MalPaso
Cultural Evolution 2014
Miami - Friday June 6, 2014
To kick off the 2014 season of Cultural Evolution, Cuban contemporary dance
company MalPaso will perform Osnel Delgados’ 24 Hours and a Dog and a new
dance piece especially created for MalPaso by renowned U.S. Choreographer,
Ronald K. Brown, Porque Sigues (Why You Follow). Both Miami premieres will be at
The Light Box Theater 404 NW 26th St, Miami, FL 33127 on Friday June 6, 2014 at
8:00 PM immediately followed by a reception.

10. Founded in 2013 under the artistic direction of Osnel Delgado, MalPaso Dance
Company expresses the passion and uncertainties that define Cuban life and
are embodied in the country’s rich dance tradition.
For its New York debut, the company exhibits its trademark fresh
contemporary spirit in Porque Sigues (Why You Follow). This piece fuses
African, American and Cuban influences and was commissioned by The Joyce
Theater for this 6 night engagement.
In Miami, MalPaso will perform for one night, 24 Horas y un perro (24 hours
and a dog) and .
MalPaso
MalPaso
PERFORMANCEVIDEO

11. Sintesis
Sintesis is an Afro-Cuban Rock Band based in Havana, Cuba. The band formed in
the 80s and continues to win the hearts of music-lovers worldwide. They have
created a beautiful mix of rock, pop, and Afro-Cuban religious music with a variety
of instruments and breathtaking harmonies.
PERFORMANCEVIDEO

12. DanzAbierta
DanzAbierta is a Cuban pioneer company on the Avant Garde of the contemporary
dance. It was created in 1988 by the renowned dancer and choreographer
Marianela Boan, who decided to change the dance scene, turning the
choreographic process into a dominated art by the use of the Cuban cultural
memory, adopting positions unforeseen by the Cuban artists that preceded her.
PERFORMANCEVIDEO

13. La Madre de todos los cubanos
This art exhibit dedicated to La Caridad del Cobre will feature the artwork of:
!
Noel Morera (Matanzas, Cuba)
Morera is a painter, draftsman, engraver, gold-silversmith, ceramist, and set
designer. He has always shown himself to be a noncoformist, ready for change
but without renouncing his own style, a very peculiar poetry.
!
Nicomedes Diaz Gijon (Holguin, Cuba)
Diaz’s work demonstrates his mastery of many disciplines with an emphasis on
painting, ceramics, work with precious metals, polychromatic wood sculptures,
and restoartions. He focuses on religious themes and has dedicated the majority
of his time to creating images of La Caridad del Cobre.
!
Alan Manuel Gonzalez (Havana, Cuba)
Gonzalez aims to “savor the simplicity of truth” with his artwork. Through
difficiult times in Cuba, Gonzalez believes people want to rest in a piece of
artwork that is sincere and calm.

14. Retazos
The Retazos Dance Theater Company was created in Havana City in January of
1987 by the choreographer and professor Isabel Bustos Romoleroux.
!
This artistic initiative was born of the necessity to find, through a natural and daily
gesture, a language able to express contradictions and good and bad decisions of
our times. Bustos invents an intimate language from a creative Avant Garde and a
singular scenic projection.
!
Retazos expresses in a reflective dance, unpredictable and vital that with its
images and gestures reveals a path into the Latin American spirituality.
PERFORMANCEVIDEO

15. Carlos Alberto Rodríguez
Carlos Alberto Rodríguez is a professor of drawing and ceramics at the Institute of
Superior Arts in Havana, Cuba. Copperbridge Foundation is working to bring him
to Miami, Florida to participate in a Ceramics Exhibition for a Cultural Evolution
event.

16. Detrás del muro
Detrás del muro (Behind the Wall) is a documentary film inspired by the largest art
installation of the 11th Havana Biennial, Detrás del muro. This large scale
installation was composed of works by 25 artists, under the direction of Juan
Delgado and the support of CBF, along the Havana Malecón (seaside). The
Malecón is the most democratic stage of the Cuban capital: it is there that lust and
contemplation, commotion and retreat, dissidence and affirmation, flight and
refuge, death and civic resurrection are accepted within view of the local, tourist
and police. Everything openly and crudely, without an infrastructure to favor
those escapes of utopian violence.

17. Oshuns 11
11 Americans fly from Miami to Havana to learn about the spiritual relgion of the
Orishas. At first strangers, this sacred journey transforms them and creates a life-
long bond of friendship. Oshuns 11 is a spiritual pilgrimage that could only take
place on the mysterious and beautiful island of Cuba, amongst her incredible
people.

18. DECEMBER 2015
MARCH 4, 2014
OCTOBER 11, 2013
SEPTEMBER 4, 2013
SEPTEMBER 1, 2013
JULY 2, 2013
APRIL 8, 2013
NOVEMBER 24, 2012
AUGUST 8, 2012
AUGUST 8, 2012
JUNE 11, 2012
MAY 6, 2012
APRIL 16, 2012
NOVEMBER 25, 2011
SEPTEMBER 28, 2010
JULY 20, 2010
Some of our Projects Havana Urban Design
Havana, Cuba

19. A Bridge of People
Through it’s People-to-People license, the foundation has been able to create travel
programs that create a bridge of understanding by taking people to experience the
people of Cuba. Additionally, the foundation is active in Brazil and Argentina.
!
By visiting grassroots organizations like La Colmenita, Narciso Medina Dance
Company Community Project, Museo de Guanabacoa, artists’ studios and scholars
we help to create an open and honest dialogue between people.

20. La Colmenita
Havana, Cuba
People to People Travel
Copperbridge Foundation provides one-of-a-kind People-to-People* trips to Cuba
creating dialogue through the arts. *Copperbridge Foundation conducts legal
People-to-People travel programs to Cuba under the auspices of our OFAC
license.

21. “My wife and I participated in one of your People-to-People programs in Cuba this past May. It was one of
the most memorable trips we have ever been on! …….The work you do foster interaction and better
understanding between the people of both countries is outstanding! Keep up the good work!
!
Thank you for the opportunity to meet such wonderful people.”
!
Joe and Ann Hitter
People to People Travel

22. “When we visited the Art School we were hosted by “Oz” a former student and now teacher. After our tour, he and I
talked a bit. I gave him a gift of photograph notecards that I make and sell in the US … he insisted on giving me a gift of
one of his prints. I recognized it as a head that reflected a map of Havana. He was pleased that I knew what he wanted
to convey; I was touched that he wanted to give me a gift. “The universal language of the Arts” touched us both.”
!
Rosalyn Pachter
What do People Say?

23. Narciso Medina Dance Company and Community Project
Havana, Cuba
People to People Travel

24. Contact:
Geo Darder - President & Founder geo@copperbrdige.org
Maria Botta - Executive Director maria@copperbridge.org
FOR MORE INFORMATION