Join FIT Associate Professor José Blanco F. and independent researcher Raúl J. Vázquez-López who will present their new book, Dress, Fashion, and National Identity in Puerto Rico, in conversation with MFIT’s Senior Curator of Education Tanya Meléndez-Escalante. The book explores national identity and nation formation as well as past and current practices in Puerto Rican … Continued
Come join Dr. Raquel Ortiz for a special book talk on When Julia Danced Bomba /Cuando Julia bailaba bomba at the Bronx Library Center Auditorium on October 10th. The booktalk will be followed by a screening of the award winning Julia's Dance: A Bomba Flamenco Bedtime Tale and an interactive dance lesson. Suggested ages prekindergarten … Continued
Little is published in both the academic and lay literature about the ties between Spiritism, women, and colonialism. However, Puerto Rican women as practitioners of Spiritism, helped transform Puerto Rican society during its disruptive colonial transition from Spain to the United States.Join Rooted + Relational faculty presider, Jillian Baez, and author Dr. Clara Román Odio, … Continued
Celebrate the work and legacy of photographer Frank Espada with his son & Poet Martin Espada alongside a multi-generational cohort of acclaimed Nuyorican photographers including Máximo Colón, David Gonzalez, and Erika P. Rodriguez! Nuyorican photographers have long sought to document and preserve Puerto Rican history in the city and beyond. Their talents have gifted us … Continued
A Celebration of the Life and Legacy of Blanca Vázquez Erazo Join us in celebrating the life of Blanca Vázquez: mentor, educator, activist, advocate, journalist, and creative spirit! Blanca Vázquez’s life (December 1947-July 2025) was defined by an unyielding commitment to justice and solidarity. She carried that same fierce energy standing against U.S. Navy bombings … Continued
Join CENTRO and the Nuyorican Poets Cafe for another exciting night of poetry! Come listen to (and recite!) some poetry and connect with your favorite poets in the heart of El Barrio. Across cities, islands, and generations, Boricuas remain connected - by memory, by struggle, by love. This open mic invites poets and performers to … Continued
The struggle of labor and workers’ rights is directly intertwined with the struggle of undocumented laborers - Kathy Andrade knew this and made an everlasting impact on the lives of all laborers in NYC. Grab your lunch and join CENTRO archivists Herbert Duran & Grace McKenna virtually for a Library & Archives Lunch Hour as … Continued
CENTRO and the International Puerto Rican Heritage Film Festival (IPRHFF) present a conversation with talented Puerto Rican actors and directors who will share their experiences, challenges, and insights into the future of Puerto Rican representation in film and television. Join us as we bring together some of the most talented Puerto Rican actors and directors to … Continued
The CENTRO Diasporican Arts in Motion Docuseries is being screened at Regal Battery Park as part of this years International Puerto Rican Heritage Film Festival! The DAM Docuseries presents in-depth testimonies from 10 Puerto Rican artists living and working in the NYC area, documenting their diasporic experiences while exploring how cultural memory, identity, and resilience … Continued
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