Company

Artistic and Literary Promotions Artex S.A, founded on April 1, 1989, has since its origins a very well-achieved mission: “to create, market and promote cultural goods and services that distinguish it in the market, for its value in satisfying the needs of clients and contribute to financing the cultural development of the country.”

Artex: 35 years of contributions to the art and culture of the nation

Between days of artistic activities in communities and cultural centers of the country, fairs, dancer rehearsals and recognitions on its 35th anniversary, Artex, Artistic and Literary Promotions, a company dedicated to the promotion and commercialization of Cuban cultural products.

The project materialized on April 1, 1989 and with only 48 workers, the present was cemented, making it the largest company in Cuban culture, made up of more than 4,000 workers who make up the various lines of business made up of seven agencies. , among them those of artistic representations Musicalia and Clave Cubana; Bis Music, record label and music publisher; I am Cuban, export agency; Ediciones Cubanas, a publishing label that sells physical and digital books; D’Arte, in charge of providing professional and technical services in different modalities, and Paradiso, the only cultural tourism agency in Cuba.

These are joined by the Lauros Commercial Division, the main importer of the Ministry of Culture; the Logistics Division, 15 branches, more than 260 stores and more than 80 cultural centers and tourism bureaus, which cover the entire national territory and are also present in the main tourist centers and airports.

In these years, Artex has expanded its scope and objectives at a national and international level, achieving relevant artistic, professional, economic, political and social results thanks to the union of its workers, musicians, plastic artists, writers and artisans, who have maintained the original objectives and values of its founders

Among its milestones are being the first institution to present the CD as a support to the market, obtaining the first Latin Grammy in the category of best folk album for a record produced by a Cuban record label, creating the first specialized music store and the largest specialized store in cultural products, obtaining the First Grand Prize of Cubadisco 2019 for the DVD Two Legends: De Revé a Van Van, compilation of the mega-concert offered by those flagship orchestras of Cuban music in Havana’s Ciudad Deportiva, and being the first cultural company in ventured into electronic commerce by creating the Soy Cubano agency in 2001.

Added to these are the creation of the Arte en Casa project, a leading product that inserted, in different utilitarian and decorative supports, works of applied art created by important artists of contemporary Cuban plastic arts and collections of Cuban and universal art from the Museum of Fine Arts, and to be the first company to design its cultural centers with artistic themes: Fresa y Chocolate, Barbarám Pepito’s Bar, Submarino Amarillo and Sala Juan Formell del Sauce.

Added to the list are the founding and materialization of projects such as Artex por los Barrios, Cultural Gastronomic Festival, Hoy como Ayer, La Clave del Éxito, Baila en Cuba and the International Meeting of Dance Academies and Casino Dancers, and counting in their catalogs with the most popular and popular orchestras and artists in the country, national awards for literature and plastic arts, as well as cultural personalities and icons.

Being part of the life and history of the nation, Artistic and Literary Promotions has faced difficult and tense situations during these years. However, continuing to focus on quality and maintaining unity within its diversity have allowed artists and workers to move forward.

Special mention within the challenges assumed for the pandemic: cultural centers became vaccination centers, television program sets, and even in very tense conditions they never gave up marketing, preparing food offers and carrying cultural products from the network of stores to work or isolation centers, settlements, communities and hospitals, in addition to providing services to the population.

Musicians starred in memorable online concerts, books were presented on digital platforms, and Bis Music created powerful programs, such as Súmate a mi Show.

The pandemic called everyone to creativity and humanism, allowing them to star in projects that remain valid today, forcing us to redesign Artex’s work strategy in marketing and rational management of human capital.

For the first time, services were organized for communities such as San Miguel del Padrón, contributing to their social and cultural resuscitation, a project that is maintained and to which cultural guerrillas join today.

As we reach this anniversary, we cannot fail to mention the young people, 43% of the company, a good part of them forming part of the artistic units and groups belonging to the agencies’ catalogs and others integrating the workforce.

Priorities and challenges for Artex include continuing to develop projects; revive the cultural life of the country and its communities; actively participate in the National Program for the Advancement of Women; contribute to the restoration of social works; maintain donations and visits to the cancer hospital, to schools for children without family protection, to the special school Solidarity with Panama; produce concerts in territories hit by cyclones or natural disasters.

And regardless of its mission as an institution, among its objectives is to pay tribute with its work to the sacred duty of taking sides and acting actively for the improvement of society, the economy, cultural policy and the human values of the nation. .

This is how the institution reaches 35 years of fruitful existence, which has among its greatest strengths the commitment, responsibility, discipline, unity and daily effort of men and women, from its founders to the youngest who recently joined, who have given it all to maintain the leadership and prestige achieved in the promotion and commercialization of Cuban cultural products, preserving the values, identity and culture of the country.

Downloads

Business

This is the only Cuban Agency specialized in cultural tourism. It banks on the immense potential of Cuban culture. Organizing and commercializing programs for participants to events and meetings associated to culture and creative spaces in festivals

This is the imports division, supplying cultural goods to the Artex stores network.Its innovative and creative products make it unique in the market

An agency with two main lines of business: a Publishing House, and Cartelera, a tourism, culture and trade magazine. The publishing house produces a host of publications of a varied nature, written by well-known authors.

This is the specialized exports agency for the commercialization and promotion of Cuban cultural products and services: literature, music, crafts, couture, and other.

BIS MUSIC, ARTEX´s record company and music producer, focuses on Cuban music and audiovisual material. It commercializes recordings in different formats and supports, master licensing, editing and subediting

CLAVE CUBANA is the agency which represents and promotes small and large format popular Cuban music bands and their performances and shows.

The Artex Cultural Centres are built to the rhythm of Cuban culture. These are establishments distributed all over the island that offer artistic shows of the highest quality, complemented with gastronomic offers for the most demanding tastes.

This agency promotes and commercializes Cuban art and professional services abroad. It is staffed by qualifies specialists, certified by the Cuban system of academic and cultural institutions.