Gaia (arts venue)

Gaia is an arts centre in Havana, Cuba, set up on January 1, 2000, as a not-for-profit collaboration between Cuban and international artists.

The centre offers theatre, music and dance performances, workshops, programs for children and the physically disadvantaged, and exhibitions of works by young artists. Gaia Teatro, the centre's resident theatre company, has produced some interesting works: Las cenizas de Ruth was director Esther Cardoso's radical reinterpretation of the biblical story of Ruth. Los Reyes was a staging of Julio Cortázar's version of the tale of Theseus and the Minotaur. And Reciclaje used recycled items for wardrobe to explore environmental themes. In collaboration with the British Council, Gaia staged a rehearsed reading of Cooking with Elvis, by Lee Hall, directed by British director Sebastian Doggart, in the Teatro Nacional in 2000. Eight years later, on October 4, 2008, the show finally premiered, in the Sala Avellaneda at the Teatro Nacional. It was the first new British play performed in Cuba since An Inspector Calls opened in 1947.