To Our Friends

After more than a decade covering conflict, photographer and filmmaker Ami Vitale noticed that the less sensational, but equally true stories were not getting told—the wedding happening around the corner from the revolution, or the small triumphs amidst seemingly endless devastation.

The 14th Librarian of Congress Dr. Carla Hayden and bestselling author, curator, and Harvard University Assistant Professor Sarah Lewis engaged in a far-reaching conversation about the vital importance of the Library of Congress as an ultimate resource of cultural history, collective memory, and visual culture, as well as a vast photographic archive for the American people and the world.

Alexis Rodriguez-Duarte and his husband, Tico Torres, have worked together for over 30 years.

David Alan Harvey’s discussion of his work in Cuba for National Geographic will be informed by his years instructing young photographers in New York City.

Over the course of six years and 12 month-long trips to Cuba in the 1990s, photographer Tria Giovan returned home to New York City with over 25,000 images of the Caribbean island.

Photographer Greg Kahn discusses how youth identity in Cuba is rapidly evolving and redefining what it means to be Cuban.

Michael Christopher Brown discusses his ongoing “Paradiso” project, capturing the lives of Havana youth and the underground electronica music scene populated by “frikis.”

Anna Mia Davidson discusses how her black-and-white photographs reflect the resilience, ingenuity, and spirit of the Cuban people.

In this lecture he simply calls, “Personal Best,” Elliott Erwitt will show and speak about a selection of his most favorite photographs from his visits to Cuba in 1964 and 2015.

Juliet Schor discusses the consequences of a consumer culture obsessed with wealth and “fast fashion,” outlining a better path for society that is grounded in true materialism and ecological sanity.

Renée C. Byer speaks about her internationally acclaimed book, Living on a Dollar a Day: The Lives and Faces of the World’s Poor, which illuminates the stories of people living on the brink of survival and invites us to put an end to extreme poverty.