The Brown University Jazz Band will travel to Cuba this week for a series of performances, lectures, and jam sessions with local musicians. The trip is a joint effort by the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies (CLACS) and the Department of Music with funding from the Office of the President. Fourteen undergraduate musicians and one undergraduate filmmaker will travel to Havana for one week, accompanied by Richard Snyder, professor of political science and director of CLACS, and Matthew McGarrell, Jazz Band director. Glenn Loury, the Merton P. Stoltz Professor of the Social Sciences, will also travel with the group, providing academic enrichment about the transformation of the Cuban economy. The students will perform at Casa de las Américas, the institution that has partnered with the University on the Brown in Cuba program, and at Sala Avenida in Marianao and Sala Cervantes in Paseo del Prado. They also will attend lectures about Cuba’s economy and political system and will have the opportunity to meet and jam with local musicians. Brown received a special federal license for the visit earlier this year. The Jazz Band will return on Sunday, Jan. 19, 2014.