Latin dancer, choreographer and teacher Becky Fleming has been encouraging the children at Garran Primary School to learn more about Cuba's musical traditions. "Their learning about the music and the rhythm and the timing and how to be little gentlemen and ladies," she said. "It is teaching them respect for each other.

The Orquesta de Cámara Concierto Sur — a chamber orchestra from Cienfuegos, Cuba, on a two-week cultural exchange with the United States — along with the Northwest Sinfonietta of Tacoma, highlight the evening.

At the beginning of 2012, we went to Buenos Airesto work with the communications teams across Latin America. We talked about lots of things, including the Falklands, but what really came out of it for me was a gem of an idea about using the GREAT campaign and our soft power to reach out to a new generation in Cuba.

“Subsequently, I have been asked via the Cuban Embassy in South Africa – my initial contact in South Africa – whether I would be able to have a performance dedicated to the ANC centenary celebrations in Bloemfontein on September 24. I have been working with the embassy and DAC on producing this tour which ends with this performance.”

Hopefully Mica’s story, which became about baseball as a metaphor for increased relations with Cuba, can thus join the continuum of using baseball for cultural exchanges...Along the way, he experienced a cultural exchange, and learned that when it comes to Cuba and the United States, there is much more that is similar than different.

The art exhibition, entitled Beyond the Frame...will show the work of 26 of the best-known Cuban artists and of 20 other international artists who have donated work to draw attention to the case. It is the largest collection of Cuban artists ever to be shown in the UK. Art was originally seen as a key part of the Cuban revolution.

“They are thirsty for information. They are thirsty for technology. Our big issue is access,” García Pérez said during a conference on the need for technological change in Cuba. He said, for example, Radio and TV Marti content is being distributed in Cuba via DVDs, flash drives and mobile devices.