The Florida International University (FIU, for its acronym in English) has opened the call for scholarships for Cuban artists, writers, academics and journalists who face “serious threats to their life, liberty and well-being.”
The program, managed by FIU’s Cuban Research Institute, will provide “a temporary refuge” for one semester for academics and artists from the Island who are at risk of persecution, imprisonment or exile for their ideas, work or for participating in peaceful demonstrations.
The requirements of the program establish that the participants must reside outside of Cuba at the time of their candidacy, since the US State Department included the Island in January 2021 on the list of State sponsors of terrorism and Florida law prohibits universities from paying any travel expenses to and from Cuban territory.
Each scholarship recipient will have covered the transportation expenses to Miami, in addition to their relatives. They will also receive a $48,500 stipend for room, board and academic support for up to one semester. During their stay, they will have access to a personal computer, internet and library resources, as well as assistance in accessing contacts within the university and administrative support.
“Fellowship recipients are expected to return to their original country of residence upon completion of their fellowship or seek employment at another U.S. institution,” the FIU notes.
The FIU hopes to be able to host a total of 12 Cubans over three years, starting in August 2023.
The university will help the scholarship recipients obtain an appropriate visa to carry out their work during their stay in Miami. “Fellowship recipients are expected to return to their original country of residence upon completion of their fellowship or seek employment at another U.S. institution,” the FIU notes. in the bases of the program.
The fellowships, made possible by a $750,000 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, are aimed at academics who have faced “serious threats” or journalists who “have defied the status quo” in Cuba, according to the director of the Cuban Research Institute, Jorge Duany.
Recipients of this scholarship will be asked to give lectures, participate in panel discussions, and organize art exhibitions, concerts, film screenings, and other educational or cultural activities, all of which will be free and open to the public.
Those interested must send the institution the artistic, cultural or academic project that they intend to develop during their stay at FIU, as well as their curriculum and letters of recommendation.
The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has awarded the FIU Cuban Institute a total of one million dollars, following a first grant awarded last August to study Latino identities, specifically those of Cubans, Dominicans and Puerto Ricans in Miami, the city of New York and Orlando.
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