There is always something happening at the Eduardo Leon Jimenes Cultural Center (Centro Leon), a 45-minute drive from Puerto Plata and an hour and a half from Santo Domingo. Centro Leon is the country’s most dynamic cultural center, bringing all aspects of culture to the entire country. This summer, the Center is presenting a varied and innovative cultural program with something for all the family.

Video Art
The summer began with an exhibition of the winning and selected works from the II Inter-American Development Bank Inter-American Video Art Biennial (22 June to 3 July 2005), a traveling exhibition also with presentations in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Panama, Italy and Spain. The exhibition showcases the particular characteristics and development of video art as a form of expression in the Latin American and Caribbean region.

A Dominican artist, Pascal Meccariello, one of the Biennial finalists, took part in the exhibition of 24 videos from 12 Latin America and the Caribbean countries.

This exhibition is innovative, because it contains art and installation art, attracting new- style artists and providing them with fresh means of expressing their ideas by combining several techniques at the same time.

Merengue in Painting
In contrast, focusing on traditional art, Centro Leon made its mark on Dominican national awareness with the celebration of the First Congress on International Music, Identity and Culture in the Caribbean during April 2005. The center