In this paper it is argued that participation and public art contribute to sustainable community development. This is a study of four Community Projects in Havana made during a two month stay during summer 2009. The study is based on a number of interviews with people involved in the community projects. By using the Cuban culture and participation as a platform for sustainable community development the Community Projects have created a sense of belongingness and identification in each neighbourhood. This in turn has the ability to join the people together in participatory development work. The Community Projects also function as free space since they are one of the few places where Cubans are allowed to make their own initiatives. This has opened up a discussion between the citizens and the authorities which is important for future urban development. The Community Projects also work with public art in a participatory way that has contributed to place identity and public dialogue in Havana.

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The objective of this thesis draws on my experience acquired during the internship in Galeria De Arte Servando in Havana, where I have been given the opportunity to learn about Cuban culture as well as to witness the restrictions and difficulties in gallery activities due to the communist government. The first part of the thesis focuses on historical facts highlighting the art exchange between Czechoslovakia and Cuba, a common part of running the state institution in the past. It was a common practice both in Havana´s House of Czechoslovak Culture and in the House of Cuban Culture in Prague. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, both houses were closed and the Czechoslovak-Cuban relations in art and culture have never been restored. The study subsequently discusses the concept and realization of the exhibition prepared in collaboration with Cuban curator Yenisel Osuna Morales. The aim of the thesis is to try to initiate a dialogue between two countries, Cuba and the Czech Republic (former Czechoslovakia), countries with many differences, and probably even estranged nowadays. However, their relations were warm before, and they could be in many ways an inspiration. The primary outcome of this thesis is the exhibition project aimed at the topic of censorship in independent art, its influence on gallery activities and freedom of artistic expression in Cuba. The selection of cuban artists carried out by curator Yenisel Osuna Morales represents the topic of pluriculturalism, migration and diaspora. By means of exhibition exchange, I would like to refer to the terminated friendship between Cuba and former Czechoslovakia in the field of art. The purpose of these exhibitions is not only to present Czech contemporary art in Cuba but also to present Cuban art in the Czech Republic without any restrictions.