Cuba Educational Travel AND The Trombone Shorty Foundation Present:
JANUARY 16-20, 2025
esto es lo que hay
A Cultural Exchange Like No Other
Join us for the 4th Annual Getting Funky in Havana Cultural Exchange Trip and Music Festival, a celebration of the music and culture of the United States and Cuba. Confirmed artists include Cimafunk, Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue.
Look forward to:
Impactful school visits, youth performances, and workshops
Engage with Cuban artists, entrepreneurs, and members of the cultural community
Intimate jam sessions; rooftop and living room performances
Behind-the-scenes cultural experiences and informative panel discussions
VIP access to large, outdoor concerts by Cimafunk, Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue, and top Cuban and New Orleans artists.
Make a difference: your trip supports Havana and New Orleans youth musicians, schools, and community programs. Plus, it makes you a part of the New Orleans-Havana cultural bridge.
The Artists
Cimafunk
Grace Potter
Julius Rodriguez
Keyon Harrold
Robert Randolph
Taj Majal
Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue
Yola
+ More to be announced soon
Past Artists Include: Alian Perez, Alexander Abreu & Havana D’Primera, Big Freedia, Ibeyi, Interactivo, Ivan Neville, Los Muñequitos deMatanzas, Los Van Van, Mannie Fresh, Michael Brun, Nik West, Pedrito Martinez, PJ Morton, Tank and the Bangas, The Soul Rebels, Wampi, X Alfonso, Yissy Garcia
Dates: January 16-20, 2025
“A week full of high emotions, amazing music and a constant reminder that Havana and New Orleans are, in fact, connected by a history that goes back centuries.”
The exchange is organized by Cuba Educational Travel and the Trombone Shorty Foundation, organizations with long histories of cross-cultural exchange, community engagement and arts development. It is supported by the Gia Maione Prima Foundation, a foundation dedicated to fostering music and the arts at a youth and community level, as well as Horns to Havana, a New York based group that has been working with the music schools in Havana for the past 10 years.
Cimafunk, the groundbreaking Afro-Cuban funk artist, will serve as the local host and work with Havana’s booming music community. The Havana program will include visits to local schools and community projects and be heavily focused on supporting the Cuban people and will support dozens of young New Orleans musicians from the Trombone Shorty Foundation, who will travel with the bands.
Cultural exchanges by day, jazz & funk concerts by night
Getting Funky in Havana Program Highlights
Hang with Cuba’s hottest artist Cimafunk, New Orleans great Trombone Shorty, the legend himself Taj Majal, plus the other amazing artists joining the Funky Havana Get-together. Also confirmed are Grace Porter, Julius Rodriguez, Keyon Harrold, Robert Randolph, Yola and a number of Cuban legends, including original members of the Buena Vista Social Club.
Nightly once-in-a-lifetime “Getting Funky In Havana” concerts, where you’ll share music and magical moments under the start with thousands of Cubans.
Behind the scenes art studio and gallery visits. Take part in a Cuban music and dance workshops. Choose from activities like Havana bike rides, AfroCuban percussion classes, conversations with independent journalists and entrepreneurs, architecture walking tours and more.
Get off the beaten track and into the community, meeting Havana’s movers and shakers that power the cultural community and growing private sector.
With your trip, you support the students of the Trombone Shorty Foundation, New Orleans- and Havana-based musicians, and strengthen the New Orleans-Havana cultural bridge.
Join Us
Support the Mission
Your travel to Cuba is authorized under one of the 12 legal categories which Americans can legally travel visit the island. The “People-to-People” travel category, authorized by the U.S. Treasury Department, requires U.S. travelers maintain a full-time schedule of activities that involve meaningful interaction with the Cuban People.
Funds secured form the travel package will be used to subsidize musician and student travel and support cultural projects in New Orleans and Havana. We’re grateful to travelers for taking part in a life-changing cultural trip that supports the arts and artists in both countries.
A New Orleans Welcome for Cimafunk. Photo: Erika Goldring
NOLA Jam Session with the Soul Rebels and Cimafunk. photo: Erika GOldring
Cimafunk sells out Tipitina’s. Photo: Erika Goldring
Cimafunk Ft. The soul rebels and Tarriona “Tank” Ball: Caliente
Filmed in Havana, Cuba during Getting Funky 2020
¡A calentar!
January 2020, 2023, and 2024 - We Got Funky In Havana!
From The Archive:
Tank and the Bangas perform at La Tropical. Photo: Daniel Perez Rigual
The Soul Rebels take part in Second Line Meets Conga Parade in Old Havana. Photo: Rolando Cabrera
Image from Second Line Meets Conga. Photo: Jafar Pierre.
Tank and the Bangas, The Soul Rebels, Cimafunk perform for a large crowd in Havana. Photo: Wajiros Films
Cimafunk performs at Getting Funky Finale. Photo: Daniel Perez Rigual
The Soul Rebels in Havana. Photo: Giselle Gallego
Chief Monk Boudreaux at Second Line Meets Conga Parade. Photo: Jafar Pierre
Trombone Shorty performs at La Tropical. Photo: Danny Perez Rigual
Trombone Shorty meets with Cuban students of the Amadeo Roldan School.
“I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world, to experience this here in Cuba. The meeting of the cultures, we have the Cuban musicians jamming out with us...We’ve got the kids here from the foundation playing the second line, along with the Soul Rebels brass band helping us out and it’s just a beautiful thing. It’s unbelievable.”
Press
WWL: 'Us and the Cubans, our music and our people are the same'
When a group of New Orleans musicians made the trip to Cuba, there was no need for an interpreter.
