A major international photography exhibition opened Wednesday, 12 August 2026 on Havana's historic waterfront, bringing award-winning images to Cuban viewers without admission fees or advance booking. The World Press Photo Foundation's Con los pies en la tierra, or Down to Earth, features 21 photo stories about climate change mounted as an open-air installation on the esplanade of the Castillo de San Salvador de la Punta.
The exhibition runs through Monday, 7 September 2026. Because it's outdoors on a public promenade at Prado y Malecon, visitors can walk past at almost any hour. The best light comes early in the morning or in the golden hour before sunset.
Partnership Model
The show represents collaboration between Cuba's Fototeca de Cuba, the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Cuba, and the Office of the City Historian, with support from the EU Delegation in Cuba. The images and curation come from World Press Photo itself, based in Amsterdam. This partnership approach allows international cultural content to reach Cuban audiences through local institutional frameworks.
Photographers featured include Lalo de Almeida, Ami Vitale, Kadir van Lohuizen, Luca Locatelli, Amber Bracken, Matthew Abbott, Sandra Mehl and Simone Tramonte, among others. The projects cover wildfires, floods, disappearing ice, drought and the ways communities are adapting.
Location and Access
The exhibition occupies the esplanade of the Castillo de San Salvador de la Punta, the small stone fortress at the mouth of Havana harbor where the Prado promenade meets the Malecon at the northern edge of Old Havana. It's easy to reach on foot from Old Havana or Centro Habana, or by shared taxi or classic-car cab.
The area is well used by families and couples into the evening. The Malecon becomes a gathering place at sunset. Visitors should wear a hat and sunscreen, carry water and comfortable shoes, and keep aware of their surroundings after dark.
Havana apartment rents run somewhere around US$300 to US$800 a month. The waterfront location provides free cultural access in a city where economic conditions shape how residents engage with international exhibitions.
Why This Matters:
This exhibition demonstrates how private foundations and diplomatic partnerships can deliver cultural programming without government funding or ticketing infrastructure. The open-air format eliminates barriers to entry while leveraging existing public spaces. For Cuban residents facing economic constraints—reflected in monthly rents that range from $300 to $800—free access to internationally recognized photography matters. The partnership model also shows how European institutions engage with Cuba through cultural diplomacy rather than direct government-to-government programs. The exhibition's focus on climate adaptation, rather than climate policy mandates, emphasizes community responses and individual resilience. The waterfront venue itself, a colonial-era fortress now serving as public space, reflects how historical infrastructure can be repurposed for contemporary cultural use without major capital investment.