Help with a donation

In addition to cables and other items, journals (like Mix, CMJ, Electronic Musician, whatever), and books, audio catalogs (Sweetwater, Guitar Center etc) are extremely valuable and difficult to get in Cuba. So these too are wonderful things to take with you and leave with the Cubans, as much as you can fit in your suitcase.

The LNME Laboratorio Nacional de Musica Electroacustica is small but in the other hand a very active Computer Music Center and a very important key institution for Cuban Composers.Composers are sometime coming from other cities and sometime from other Latin American countries, in order to work in these studios that are FREE to use for every Cuban composer that need them. This is a great opportunity given to the artists, by a country that could easily give up on this considering the economical troubles is going through. A lesson also for some richer countries....i may say.

As you probably know the economical situation in Cuba is not as good as most of the countries were the majority of you are coming. Even if, since the dramatic economical crisis in 1992 (a fall down by 80% of their Internal Gross Product), the situation has drastically changed for the better, many things that we are used to consider " easy " and obvious in other countries are not in Cuba. If it happens that you are looking for a mini jack to RCA cable adaptor, you could have very hard time to find one in the ALL island....something that, for example, you could find in any Radio Shack store in United States.

What we are asking to you it is a very simple and cheap thing. If you are coming to the ICMC 2001 you could take with you either a cable (audio or power or any cable adaptor), or an adaptor, or blank CDs for CD writer, or a tape, or a DAT tape, or a DA-88 tape, or any kind of these simple utilities you may use daily and that are usually very cheap.In few words, whatever it comes to your mind.

You can maybe thing " This is too little " or " Someone else will take this " " Ah this part is so common that they will certainly have it " or " Isn't it ridiculous that i donate a $2 cable? ".
Well, the answer to all these questions is: NO!.
Nothing is too little, everything is very welcome, even if it looks that is too cheap to you. If everybody will bring a little contribution, LNME and the Cuba musicians will receive a lot and a great help and they will be very great full to you.

Last request, generally addressed to larger institutions. I got the chance to work in great institutions/universities in two of the three so called richest area of the world, US and Europe (i didn't have the chance to work in Japan... yet). We always had access to the best and latest technologies, in terms of computers and audio cards, video cards etc.
Very, or quite often, all these systems that become "obsolete" are upgraded, and computers considered too old, hard disk considered too small etc... are put in a corner and they will stay there forever.
It happened that i worked in studio where "old" NeXT were piled in a corner (Juan Blanco in Cuba is still working and composing with a NeXt Cube), as well for "antique" pentium 100Mhz 133Mhz etc.
If your institution owns any kind of hardware that is considered obsolete but it still may be used and useful you could maybe consider to donate it.

ICMC 2001

Help with " parts " donations Donate a cable!!

Help with " parts " donations
Donate a cable!!