On Thursday, September 12, the second edition of the malaYerba contest was inaugurated in the White Room gallery of the Fondo de Arte Joven (FAJ), located in the Convent and Basilica of San Francisco de Asis.

The event was attended by guests from the diplomatic corps, project partners, and members of the jury, made up of prominent essayists, critics and art curators, such as Corina Matamoros, Sandra García, and Nivaldo Carbonell, who is also president of the Los Carbonell Foundation / NG Art Gallery.

The event has been organized since 2023 by FAJ and the Los Carbonell Foundation / NG Art Gallery, partner and manager of the visual arts profile of the platform, and the space was propitious to award the artists selected by the jury, from a list of 29 young creators participating in the exhibition.

As a result of an exhaustive evaluation process, the jury awarded the Grand Prize to "Palimpsesto", by Airel Suárez, while the First Prize went to "Espectáculo #65", by Miguel Reyes, while "Ajuste de cuentas", by Karla Betancourt won the Second Prize. Third Prize went to "Merchandising", by Karolyn Sánchez. The jury decided to award two mentions to the pieces "Para que no me olvides", by Yeinier Nuñez and "La muerte de la certeza", by Enrique Lisdán.

Referring to the particularities of the second edition of the contest, curator Sandra Garcia highlighted the increase in the number of participants in this edition compared to the previous one, in which 65 artists' applications were submitted, of which 24 were finalists. "On this second occasion, 82 applications were received, of which 29 artists and their works were finalists; which speaks of the artists' confidence in FAJ's work," she said.

For this occasion, the organizing team has planned an extensive program of collateral actions, including in the coming months the presentation of the catalog of the first edition, lectures, workshops and theoretical exchanges for young creators.

A year after its creation, malaYerba has consolidated itself as a space where the voices of emerging art find a place to express themselves and connect with the public; and aims to continue generating habitats for young art in Cuba in the various cultural manifestations and forms of exhibition of creative content, in alliance with Cuban and international projects, institutions and artists. The idea is to promote opportunities for professional development and cultural interactions.