The theme of the triennial is “all a top the water.” “Within 50 years, humanity’s wars will not be about petroleum, they will be about water,” he declares.

As part of the triennial, artist Genaro Reyes (Cayuco) will sail along the route of the virgin of the Cayucos from Miches, along the East Coast, to Puerto Plata on the North Coast. He sees this as a homage to the artist he admires most, the late Silvano Lora, who made a daring journey in the footsteps of the Indian Hatuey who crossed from Puerto Plata to Santiago de Cuba in a rowing boat.

The Centro de Arte Contemporaneo Caribeno is organizing the triennial that will bring together people from Bonao, Santiago, Moca and Puerto Plata. Among these are Hedi Gomez, Genaro Reyes, Felle Vega (who will participate with a concert on the waters), Radhames Carella, Ernesto Rodriguez, Pedro Mendez and Joan Padovani (from Peru). Another innovative project in the pipeline is the Colson Project, scheduled for 5 February 2006 at several points across the province of Puerto Plata, in honor of Puerto Plata’s greatest arts master Jaime Colson. The project aims at ensuring that young people learn about his international fame, serving as an example to the new talents. “If Ramon Pena can connect with those who can lend the support to turn this project into reality, it would be a milestone for Puerto Plata,” comments Lillian Russo, director of the most important cultural center in the city, Sociedad Renovacion.

Dona Lillian Russo highlights that only those older than 70 know the work of Colson, making the project even more important for the new generations. “It is a challenge to convince the great collectors of the works of Colson, such as those at the Bellapart Museum in Santo Domingo and the Grisolia family, to participate so this project can become a reality,” she says, while lending her full support to the effort.

Dona Lillian Russo admires the efforts of Ramon Pena. “He is a country boy, a brave fighter, willing to take on everything, seeking new horizons, fully into culture,” he says.

Ramon Pena self-describes himself as a “cultural promoter and very creative.” He admits that he thinks of more things than he actually does. “It is a problem; one has to be careful to not talk too much, to not do things,” he comments when he recalls all the activities he has planned.

Pena thinks that much more could be done if grassroots artists had the support of the art critics. He would like these art critics to visit the towns and the artists’ workshops. He laments that the newspapers’ cultural supplements have been replaced with the very commercially successful social pages. He explains that the cultural supplements used to serve as a link between the artist and the press.

“We have been boxed away and told that culture does not sell,” he says. But he quickly counters: “The only place that culture does not sell is here.”

He would like to motivate the critics to travel to the provinces to see what is happening. He says his own work has shown that provincial artists can make it. Meanwhile he works night and day in the hope that tourism can be the catalyst to project the art of the talents of the people of the small towns abroad.

Every barrio has its own Ramon Pena, calling out for a chance at making it. “The country needs to understand that its cultural potential is endless,” he concludes.