Luis Cruz Azaceta in New Orleans. From collapsing economies to the consequences of climate change, the instability of global affairs has been, for many of us, a cause of alarm and despair. But for Luis Cruz Azaceta, it’s been a source of artistic inspiration—particularly the way individuals across the world have been rising up to demand change. In Luis Cruz Azaceta: Shifting States, he tackles this ongoing global transition in paintings and drawings that reflect his signature colorful style. The show opened in New Orleans this past Saturday at the gallery Arthur Roger@434, where it’s on view through February 18.

U.S. Photographers Snap Cuba. This fall, an organization of professional women photographers sponsored two week-long, members-only trips to the island. The results are now on view at New York's Cuban Art Space in Imaginings of U.S. Photographers. The show opened Friday, but you can still make the artists' reception scheduled for this Thursday, January 12, from 6 to 8 p.m. Featuring work by 22 of the tours’ participating photographers, the show includes shots of Havana, Trinidad, and Cienfuegos. It runs through January 20.

Havana Charrette Coming Soon. Every spring, the International Network for Traditional Building, Architecture & Urbanism—better known as INTBAU—presents an international urban design intensive in Havana. Each year, the weeklong intensive, or charrette, zeros in on a different part of the city, taking a close look at the character, challenges, and unique potential of that particular district and proposing a plan for its future. The process brings together international architects, urban planners, students, and other interested participants, along with their Cuban counterparts and local residents. (Cuban Art News readers may recall John H. Pilling’s report on the 2011 Havana Charrette, and our two-part interview with the Charrette’s Havana organizer, urban planning scholar Julio César Pérez.)

The focus of this year’s charrette is Centro Havana, one of the city’s oldest, most diverse, and most densely populated districts. The Havana Charrette runs February 19-25; Following the charrette, INTBAU is sponsoring a weeklong study tour of Havana, giving an introduction to the history of the city’s urbanism and architecture, February 26-March 3. Details about the charrette and study tour are available at the INTBAU website.

Garciandía in Los Angeles. Early last month, Cuban Art News posted a “save the date” note about Flavio Garciandía’s upcoming solo show at Couturier Gallery in Los Angeles. It opens this weekend, with a reception on Saturday, January 14, from 6-8 p.m. A solo show of recent paintings of acrylic on aluminum—in a style he wryly calls “New Tropical Abstraction”—Flavio Garciandía: No Man Is A Brush runs through February 25.

Extended run for Fonemas y Morfemas I. Last month, artists Yoan Capote and Iván Capote opened Part I of their exhibition Fonemas y Morfemas (Phonemes and Morphemes) at Galería Habana. Part II was scheduled to start tomorrow, but that show has been rescheduled for February 3-March 3. The good news: Part I will remain on view through the end of January.