Cubaocho
Museum and Performing Arts Center

Roberto Ramos is a Cuban historian, cultural advocate, and passionate preserver of fine art. His life’s mission has been to protect and share the soul of Cuba through the legacy of its great artistic masters. Specializing in Cuban art from 1800 to 1959, Roberto has spent decades rescuing paintings and stories that were nearly lost after the revolution, works once silenced now shine again thanks to his efforts.In 2007, he founded Cubaocho Museum & Performing Arts Center in Little Havana, not just as a museum, but as a living cultural space where all seven arts come together: painting, sculpture, music, dance, theater, literature, and film. Cubaocho is also a gallery, a gathering place, a stage, and a home for creativity.He dedicated himself to rescuing Cuban art through painting and historical memory, working closely with his brother, historian Carlos Ramos, and esteemed scholar Zeida Comesañas Sardiñas. Together, during years of research and recovery, they developed the academic text Great Masters of Cuban Art—a labor of love born from their mission to preserve the legacy of master Cuban painters who were forgotten or erased after the triumph of the Cuban Revolution. Thanks to Roberto’s tireless efforts, research, and curatorial leadership, the art of Cuba from 1800 to 1959 can now be studied and appreciated in universities and fine arts programs across the United States through this foundational academic work.Roberto’s dedication to cultural preservation has earned him recognition as a speaker and expert across the country. He has shared his voice and vision at respected institutions such as: The Smithsonian Institution, where he contributed to discussions about the Cuban diaspora and cultural identity.Freedom Tower at Miami Dade College, where he’s played a key role in exhibitions about Cuban exile history. The Museum of Arts & Sciences in Daytona Beach, where his curatorial work highlighted the evolution of Cuban art beyond the island. The Frost Art Museum at FIU, where he has supported academic dialogues on Cuban and Latin American modernism.His journey, filled with courage, memory, and purpose, was captured in the biography The Painting by Michael Reid, a book that tells the true story of Roberto’s escape from Cuba by sea and his transformation into a protector of Cuban cultural heritage. But perhaps more than titles or institutions, Roberto Ramos is known for his presence: his warmth, generosity, and storytelling. In Little Havana, he is not only a curator but a cultural soul, a man who brings people together through beauty, music, memory, and truth.At Cubaocho, he continues to do what he does best: create a space where Cuba’s past is honored, its present is celebrated, and its future is alive with possibility.