Press Release: Inaugural Davidoff Art Weekend in the Dominican Republic

March 24, 2014 (Basel, Switzerland) — On February 28 through March 2, 2014, the Davidoff Art Initiative hosted the inaugural Davidoff Art Weekend in collaboration with Altos de Chavón School of Design and Casa de Campo in the Dominican Republic. The culminating event of the weekend was the groundbreaking of the new artist studio facilities for the Davidoff Art Residency at Altos de Chavón School of Design, which will welcome its first five international artists in January 2015, thus helping further the ties between the local art community and the larger art world.

“The establishment of the international residency program at Altos de Chavón is the next significant step for the Davidoff Art Initiative,” said Hans-Kristian Hoejsgaard, President and CEO of Oettinger Davidoff AG. “For Oettinger Davidoff, our aim is to give back to the cultural community, where much of our production and so many of our employees are based. The inaugural Davidoff Art Weekend brought the arts community together to focus on a shared mission. We are delighted to be working with Altos de Chavón School of Design and Casa de Campo to help make our long-term mission a reality in theDominican Republic.”

Among other events of the weekend were: the Davidoff Art Dialogue at the Museo de Arte Moderno in Santo Domingo; a private preview of the solo exhibition by Dominican artist Jorge Pineda (who will be participating in the Davidoff Art Residency at Künstlerhaus Bethanien Berlin, in April 2014); and cocktails at the Museo de Arte Moderno, as well as several museum and gallery visits (Centro de la Imagen, Bellas Artes, Casa de Chavón, Lucy Garcia Gallery and Lyle O. Reitzel Gallery). Guests, including Amanda Coulson, co-founder/executive director of VOLTA and director of the National Gallery of The Bahamas, Holly Bynoe, co-founder and editor of ARC Magazine, Annalee Davis, founding director of The Fresh Milk Art Platform in Barbados, and Irene Hofmann, director/chief curator of SITE Santa Fe and SITElines, were introduced to the arts community, galleries and artist studios in Santo Domingo before traveling to Casa de Campo and Altos de Chavón in La Romana, on the southern coast of the Dominican Republic. The program was aimed at continuing the dialogue to bring critical attention to the arts and artists of the Caribbean and Dominican Republic, and to celebrate the groundbreaking presence of the Davidoff Art Initiative in the region.

“We are very impressed with the vision of Hans-Kristian Hoejsgaard to expand Davidoff’s involvement with the arts, and we are delighted that Altos de Chavón has been chosen as one of the initial locations for the Davidoff Art Residency,” said Dr. Claudio Silvestri, President and CEO of Premier Resorts & Hotels. “We strongly believe in this wonderful program and we are confident that it will be a great success.”

Brooks Whittington

I have worn many hats in my life up to this point: I started out as a photojournalist for the Dallas Morning News and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, then transitioned to photographing weddings—both internationally and in the U.S.—for more than a decade. After realizing that there was a need for a cigar website containing better photographs and more in-depth information about each release, I founded my first cigar blog, SmokingStogie, in 2008. SmokingStogie quickly became one of the more influential cigar blogs on the internet, known for reviewing preproduction, prerelease, rare, extremely hard-to-find and expensive cigars, and it was one of the predecessors to halfwheel, which I co-founded.