Join us for the New York premiere of STREET SMART: Lessons from a TV Icon, a new feature documentary that celebrates Sonia Manzano—known to millions as “Maria” from Sesame Street—who made history as the first Latina on American television in a regular role. Through candid interviews, archival footage, and animation, STREET SMART explores Sonia’s groundbreaking … Continued
Did you know Bilingual Education in New York has direct ties to the struggle, leadership, and advocacy of the Puerto Rican community? From Sonia Nieto, Diana Caballero, Alice Cardona, Evelina Antonetty and more, the fight for equity and accessibility in bilingual education lives on today! Skip class 😉 and RSVP today to celebrate the 25th … Continued
Moderated by Jessica Lopez Lyman, this panel features muralists Olivia Levins Holden and Colectivo Moriviví, and highlights how artivism—a combination of art and activism, solidarity movements, and mural traditions rooted in Chicanx feminism—is essential to how they work in community. Co-sponsored by the Katherine E. Nash Gallery at the University of Minnesota. This event is … Continued
Looking to expand your reading list? Join CENTRO for a virtual Library & Archives Lunch Hour on December 2nd as we highlight new books in Puerto Rican Studies. The field of Puerto Rican studies is rich and diverse in both its subject matter and those who write about it, and there’s something for everyone this … Continued
On December 3 at 4:00pm at the Seminario de Historia del Arte in the Faculty of the Humanities, join us for a screening of West Side Story (1961), a film based on a musical of the same name released in 1957, precisely at the time when the relocation of the Puerto Rican neighborhoods of Lincoln Square and San … Continued
Immerse yourself in the vibrant world of cultural paintings made by Nelson Host Santiago, Nuyorican artist. Deeply rooted in my heritage. Spreading the love of my people through my artwork.
Puerto Rican music has made many headlines over the last few years due to its global cultural impact. However, the influence and development of Puerto Rico’s musical genres, rhythms, and songs have roots that have evolved over and across generations. Don’t miss this Cafecito con…Professor José Cruz and moderator Elena Martinez as they discuss Cruz's … Continued
Sentido is a word layered with meaning. Sense, feeling, awareness, direction. It’s also a way of moving through the world. Join author Alison Rand for a conversation exploring how sentido shapes how we make sense of who we are, where we come from, and the systems we’re part of. Drawing from her forthcoming book with … Continued
Join CENTRO and El Museo del Barrio for the exciting book launch of P FKN R: How Bad Bunny Became the Global Voice of Puerto Rican Resistance! Through a series of original interviews that include artists like De La Ghetto, iLe, Jowell & Randy, Tainy, MAG, and others, this book traces Bad Bunny's career from … Continued
Pivotal Puerto Rican feminist figures like Julia de Burgos, Yolanda Sanchez, Antonia Pantoja, and countless others have laid the groundwork for community-centered activism. Don’t miss our upcoming panel with authors Vanessa Pérez-Rosario and Emma Amador as we work to understand and contextualize the stories of women like Burgos, Sanchez, and Pantoja and how they overlap … Continued
First-ever Puerto Rican film to win a Spirit Award, ESTA ISLA, Opens March 20th in theaters in NYC at Village East by Angelika Winner of Best Director, Best Cinematography, and the Jury Award at the 2025 Tribeca Festival! Filmmaker Q&As with Directors Cristian Carretero & Lorraine Jones: Friday, Mar. 20 @ 7:20pm; Saturday, Mar. 21 … Continued
First-ever Puerto Rican film to win a Spirit Award, ESTA ISLA, Opens March 20th in theaters in NYC at Village East by Angelika Winner of Best Director, Best Cinematography, and the Jury Award at the 2025 Tribeca Festival! Filmmaker Q&As with Directors Cristian Carretero & Lorraine Jones: Friday, Mar. 20 @ 7:20pm; Saturday, Mar. 21 … Continued
Tune in as we explore the Fall 2025 CENTRO Journal on Puerto Rican migration. Recent decades have witnessed economic, political, ecological, and socio-demographic changes that have engulfed Puerto Rico, with out-migration being a common response to such transformations. While the Puerto Rican diaspora was once concentrated in New York City and Chicago, Puerto Ricans from … Continued
Historias is excited to partner with MCNY to present a conversation on Printing Nueva York with author Kelley Krietz. Krietiz’s groundbreaking study maps the vibrant world of nineteenth-century Spanish-language print culture in New York, tracing networks of Cuban émigrés, political exiles, and Puerto Rican intellectuals who used newspapers, pamphlets, and literary journals to shape public … Continued
Join CENTRO Rooted + Relational Archives Fellow, Gianna Brassil, as they explore the connections between the Raquel Ortiz Mi Puerto Rico Film Collection and the Cerro Maravilla Hearings VHS Video Recordings Collection. Brassil seeks to understand how each collection contributes to distinct yet important facets of Puerto Rican history, especially in relation to US imperialism … Continued
Join us in celebrating Dr. Arlene Torres, retiring associate professor in Africana, Puerto Rican and Latino Studies (AFPRL) at Hunter College. Dr. Torres has had a rich career and leaves behind a lasting legacy. Before her time in the AFPRL department at Hunter College, she served as University Dean of Recruitment and Diversity and the … Continued
“Julia VIVE” (“Julia LIVES”- in English) is an award winning feature-length dramatic documentary selected for the 2026 Latino Film Market's opening-night program in NYC. Our film harmonizes the narrative lyricism of fiction with the educational character of the documentary genre, in a joyous artistic convergence that honors the life, work & legacy of the iconic … Continued
Save the date for the official launch of the latest book released in the Diasporican Library collection of the CENTRO Press, ser islas/being islands by Victor Fragoso and translated by Paul Orbuch! Victor Fragoso (1944-1982), a Puerto Rican writer, made his mark in poetry, playwriting, and essays. His work traversed disciplines and boundaries, leaving an … Continued
Last Request presents the story of a corpse discovered in the lobby of a pre-war Bronx apartment building in the 1950s. Written approximately two years before his death in 2004, the play is a rare theatrical work by the Poet Laureate of the 1960s Puerto Rican revolutionary organization, the Young Lords. Last Request presents the … Continued
Last Request presents the story of a corpse discovered in the lobby of a pre-war Bronx apartment building in the 1950s. Written approximately two years before his death in 2004, the play is a rare theatrical work by the Poet Laureate of the 1960s Puerto Rican revolutionary organization, the Young Lords. Last Request presents the … Continued
Last Request presents the story of a corpse discovered in the lobby of a pre-war Bronx apartment building in the 1950s. Written approximately two years before his death in 2004, the play is a rare theatrical work by the Poet Laureate of the 1960s Puerto Rican revolutionary organization, the Young Lords. Last Request presents the … Continued
Last Request presents the story of a corpse discovered in the lobby of a pre-war Bronx apartment building in the 1950s. Written approximately two years before his death in 2004, the play is a rare theatrical work by the Poet Laureate of the 1960s Puerto Rican revolutionary organization, the Young Lords. Last Request presents the … Continued
We’re celebrating our Rooted + Relational Research initiative with the second annual symposium centering the 2025-2026 theme, Boricuas in Relation. We invited researchers, students, and artists to engage with the phenomenon of Boricua archipelagic and diasporic community formation with other racial and ethnic groups. Through special screenings, presentations, and panels, the current cohort of CENTRO … Continued
I am pleased to present Bajo el Lino: The Guayabera, Colonial Gender Systems, and the Decolonial Possibilities of Dress, my senior thesis project, realized as a one-night exhibition. Developed in collaboration with Seventh House Gallery and Julia de Burgos Bookstore at Taller Puertorriqueño, this project examines the guayabera as both a material object and a … Continued
Join a one-day educator institute exploring diasporic histories and identities through panels and workshops that engage with primary sources Join us for a full-day educator institute presented by NYPL’s Center for Educators and Schools in partnership with CENTRO (The Center for Puerto Rican Studies at Hunter College). This gathering invites educators to explore how diasporic … Continued
Join author Steve Howell and Professor Sandy Placido as we explore Howell's latest book, Cold War Puerto Rico: Anti-Communism in Washington’s Caribbean Colony, a gripping history of FBI surveillance, political repression, and the fight for Puerto Rican independence. In Cold War Puerto Rico, Steve Howell examines how J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI targeted Puerto … Continued
Join us for the launch of "Dome Cartographies" by artist Natalia Nakazawa at Jackson Heights! The Clemente Soto Vélez Cultural and Educational Center and Kinfolk Tech are excited to announce the Jackson Heights, Queens edition ofHistorias in Motion, featuring "Dome Cartographies," a new AR monument by artist Natalia Nakazawa paired with historical contributions from the … Continued
Join us for the launch of "Dome Cartographies" by artist Natalia Nakazawa at Jackson Heights! The Clemente Soto Vélez Cultural and Educational Center and Kinfolk Tech are excited to announce the Jackson Heights, Queens edition ofHistorias in Motion, featuring "Dome Cartographies," a new AR monument by artist Natalia Nakazawa paired with historical contributions from the … Continued
Join Mariame Kaba, Garrett Felber, and Corey Devon Arthur for a conversation about the life, work, and ideas of Black Puerto Rican revolutionary Martin Sostre. As a founding figure of both the prison abolition movement and contemporary Black anarchism, Sostre’s eminence as a political thinker and tireless activist continues to gain wider recognition. The event … Continued
Save the date for this 2-day symposium that seeks to bring together scholars, artists, and activists from the inhabited US territories and their diasporas to learn about shared struggles, relational coalitions, and expand networks of solidarity. For over a century, the U.S. federal government has defined the relationship of U.S. territories to the political, social, … Continued