Cuba needs more art for promoting community social development, Culture Minister Abel Prieto said at a graduation ceremony for future concert band members.

Prieto made his remarks at the graduation of 164 young people who will join municipal concert bands in this province, 267 miles east of Havana.

The minister stressed the need for strengthening cultural projects that promote social development in communities, and increasing people's quality of life.

After three years of study, the young musicians are now responsible for promoting the values of universal and Cuban music, to enrich the cultural heritage of local residents.

The concert band project began in 2005 as an idea of the leader of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro, and it is linked to the country's cultural policy of incorporating young people who were not working or studying into a very beneficial activity, he said.

In Cuba, concert bands have been created in every province for a total of 117, consisting of some three thousand young people. Seven of the bands are for children and four are in prisons, said Esteban Quesada, a specialist with the program.

Quesada said the new young musicians will have the task of bringing back the traditional open-air concerts, accompanying singers, performing educational concerts and promoting traditional Cuban music in their respective municipalities.

He stressed the need to create new repertoires, play for children and bring live music to people in remote areas.